Earth From Above: Amazing Photos by Yann Arthus-Bertrand
by Michael Graham Richard, Gatineau, Canada on 10. 6.08
Earth From Above by Yann Arthus-Bertrand
Photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand will bring his Earth From Above exhibit to New York City next Spring, and there's a strong environmental angle to it. Here are a few of the photos that you'll be able to see (a cool high-tech extra: Each photo includes coordinates that you can plug into Google Maps. For example, the pic above was taken here).
Worker resting on bales of cotton
Taken in Thonakaha, Korhogo, Ivory Coast. "Cotton crops occupy approximately 335,000 square klilometers worldwide, and use nearly one quarter of all pesticides sold. Read on for more photos."
Confluence of the Rio Uruguay and a tributary, Misiones province, Argentina.
"Drastically cleared to make way for farming, the tropical rainforest of Argentina is now in some areas a less effective defense against erosion than it was in the past. The heavy rains in the province of Misiones (79 inches, per year) wash the soil and carry off significant quantities of iron-rich earth into the Rio Uruguay, turning the waters a dark, reddish color."
The Athabasca Oil Sands, Alberta, Canada.
"These oil deposits make up the largest reservoir of crude bitumen in the world, and as recently as 2006, produced over 1 million barrels of crude oil per day."
Iraqi tank graveyard in the desert near Al Jahrah, Kuwait.
"In 1991, during the first Gulf War, a million depleted uranium shells were fired at Iraqi forces, spreading toxic, radioactive dust for miles around. Such dust is known to have lasting effects on the environment and to cause various forms of cancer and other serious illnesses among humans. "
Waste from the copper mine at Chuquicamata, Chile.
"This giant scallop shell is made of earth. A crane deposits the earth in successive, slightly curved lines giving the appearance of sheets of sand lined up side by side. This earth is extracted with the copper, but it is separated from the ore by sieving."
You are strongly encouraged to check out Earth From Above!
Via Boston Globe
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Very nice. Somehow it looks different from most aerial photography. Anyone knows what kind of technique is used here?
Most likely there's some color saturation enhancements. Aerial photo's always have that washed out feel because of clouds and smog and general UV haze affecting image quality. Special filters could also be used to compensate before Photoshop.
Overall though their composition is fantastic and I'm sure that instead of just taking aerial photo's they had the pilot's readjust their flights to get good angles for the best repeating patterns. As I learned this week, painter's include things in their pictures for effect, photographers exclude for effect.
i saw the passing shadow of a hot air balloon in the video on the website.
don't know if that was his only means to get high though. ^_^
The photographer may be using High Dynamic Range (HDR) to get these shots. You set your camera to take 3 or 5 or 7 photos...one normal, then one more at a level over exposed, then under...Then using some software you essentially merge the highlights and shadows from the appropriate photos to bring the best information out of each photo to create one photo...the result is incredible detail. This may or may not be the way they captured some of these photos...Cheers,
For those interested in how he does it, everything is explained on his site (english available) :
http://www.yannarthusbertrand.org/
Click on the link under the 1, chose your language on the page that follows, then lclick on "Backstage".
Thanks Zap,
It looks like then he uses 8 camera's w/ high quality lenses, experienced pilots who in their travels have seen interesting things and communicate that with the photographer, perfect weather conditions, high shutter speed and perhaps the most important is 50ISO/ASA Slide Film which handles color and bright light perhaps better than anything else out there in the digital world.
The rest is his eye in humanizing and artistically depicting abstract landscapes once he's in position (and probably shoots hundreds of images where only a small few are selected for display.)
Incredible and inspiring photos...wow!
I just recently saw this exhibition in Oxford, UK. It is fascinating and truly beautiful, nothing compares to seeing these images in a large format and up close. Don't miss it!