The other day, while editing some client photos from my last trip to Namibia a few months back, I stumbled across this shot and instantly felt the itch to tweak it a little.
Fog in the desert? You might be wondering.
Yes, absolutely. It’s a thing.
Funny enough, back in 2022 on a similar adventure into the vast unknowns of the Namib Desert, we woke up to thick fog on a few mornings. That surreal contrast between sand and mist stuck with me—and ended up inspiring this image.
So, what exactly did I do to this photo? Let’s break it down real quick:
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First, I used "Preset 9: Kalahari" from my Terra Tones collection. I added a few radial masks around the car to pull the focus inward, and warmed up the midtones and shadows just a bit.
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Next, I jumped into Photoshop Beta to clean up all the messy footprints and uneven tire tracks in the sand. If you know me, you know I like it clean.
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Finally, the fun part - freestyling with the brushes. I picked a warm-ish tone from the image to match the overall vibe and started layering in some cloud, fog, and mist brushes. Just enough to make it feel like they’re gently hanging in the valley. Oh, and yes, the foreground is on its own layer, of course.
Products used: ATMOS I Pro Terra Tones
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