Image Luxor Nakht Tomb EG00674jhp by Jim Henderson

 
Egypt > Luxor Nobles Tombs > Luxor Nakht Tomb EG00674jhp
Photographs in this gallery are of the various Tombs of the Nobles on the West Bank if the Nile at Luxor in the area called Qurnet Murai
Luxor Nakht Tomb EG00674jhp 
 Egypt Luxor Nakht Tomb women servant lotus flower Colourful Reliefs is one of many beautiful tomb decorations amongst the Tombs of the Nobles on the West Bank of the River Nile at Luxor. The Nakht Tomb-Chapel is located in the Village area [Tomb 52] was the Astronomer of Amun during the reign of Thutmosis 1V around 1400BC. This was one of the first Tombs of the Nobles I visited in 1994 and I was taken immediately by the colourful painted reliefs but difficult to photograph as the lighting was extremely limited and only properly lit small areas of a scene. The area around the Tombs has now been greatly improved with removal of many of the old modern houses and entry to these fascinating burial sites made more accessible. Visits to these tombs tend to be privately organised rather than being part of a package tour but it is easily organised with a taxi from the East Bank hotels, payment for selected tombs is made at the ticket office beforehand near the Colossi of Memnon with the area being very close to the ticket office.

Photography certainly the last time I was in Egypt in 2007 had been banned in all the tombs so these photos although not very good technically are useful as a record of the nature of the tombs and especially their paintings. These images have not been sharpened during post production but will benefit from some USM sharpening prior to use. Hand held as no tripods were allowed and using slide film, Fuji 400asa, did not give great leeway to get decent photos, oh for my Nikon DSLR with 6400ISO. In this case I remember using a 80B Blue filter to try to counteract the very low grade tungsten lighting and because of the speed loss was using my 50mm f1.8 Nikkor lens wide open so had absolutely no Depth of Field to play with and a shutter speed of 30th second or less-really impossible to produce technically good images. 
The hand reflected lighting used in some tombs causes a hot spot so nothing by way of a balanced light but it is daylight balanced. However being direct sunlight reflected off tin foil would probably being doing more damage to the paintings than a suitable wide angle flash with UV filter. Given that most of the paints used in these tombs is mineral based then actually either method would do no measurable damage. The Perspex sheeting, however inconvenient, and not a problem from memory in Nakht’s Tomb, is to stop the physical touching of the paintings accidentally or otherwise, by inquisitive hands or swinging backpacks, and is absolutely vital protection to preserve these invaluable unique irreplaceable paintings. Some of the obvious damage to the paintings is not all modern. 
 Keywords: Egypt, Egyptian, ancient, Luxor, Tombs, Nobles, Thebes, River Nile, West Bank, Old Qurna, Sheikh Abd’el-Qurna, village, landscape, Nakht, wife, Tawi, Taui, God, Amun, deceased, Observer, Hours, astronomer, tomb, banquet, scene, painting, Tree, Goddess, Hathor, fruit-tree, headdress, sycamore, grapes, offering, fish, ducks, food, flowers, lotus, bread, loaves, wine, fishing, marshland, boats, agriculture, cattle, farming, girls, workers, colourful, colorful, colours, colors, painted, natural, light, 2000, Fuji, RHP, 80a, tungsten, filter, slide, film, scanned, scan, daylight, balanced, Nikon, FM2, 35mm
© Jim Henderson
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Photographer: Jim Henderson
Collection: Luxor Nobles Tombs
Filename:
Luxor Nakht Tomb EG00674jhp
Upload Date: 2016-01-25 09:51:32
Photo Size: 12mb 5311x3555 pixels
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Caption:

Egypt Luxor Nakht Tomb women servant lotus flower Colourful Reliefs

is one of many beautiful tomb decorations amongst the Tombs of the Nobles on the West Bank of the River Nile at Luxor. The Nakht Tomb-Chapel is located in the Village area [Tomb 52] was the Astronomer of Amun during the reign of Thutmosis 1V around 1400BC. This was one of the first Tombs of the Nobles I visited in 1994 and I was taken immediately by the colourful painted reliefs but difficult to photograph as the lighting was extremely limited and only properly lit small areas of a scene. The area around the Tombs has now been greatly improved with removal of many of the old modern houses and entry to these fascinating burial sites made more accessible. Visits to these tombs tend to be privately organised rather than being part of a package tour but it is easily organised with a taxi from the East Bank hotels, payment for selected tombs is made at the ticket office beforehand near the Colossi of Memnon with the area being very close to the ticket office.

Photography certainly the last time I was in Egypt in 2007 had been banned in all the tombs so these photos although not very good technically are useful as a record of the nature of the tombs and especially their paintings. These images have not been sharpened during post production but will benefit from some USM sharpening prior to use. Hand held as no tripods were allowed and using slide film, Fuji 400asa, did not give great leeway to get decent photos, oh for my Nikon DSLR with 6400ISO. In this case I remember using a 80B Blue filter to try to counteract the very low grade tungsten lighting and because of the speed loss was using my 50mm f1.8 Nikkor lens wide open so had absolutely no Depth of Field to play with and a shutter speed of 30th second or less-really impossible to produce technically good images.
The hand reflected lighting used in some tombs causes a hot spot so nothing by way of a balanced light but it is daylight balanced. However being direct sunlight reflected off tin foil would probably being doing more damage to the paintings than a suitable wide angle flash with UV filter. Given that most of the paints used in these tombs is mineral based then actually either method would do no measurable damage. The Perspex sheeting, however inconvenient, and not a problem from memory in Nakht’s Tomb, is to stop the physical touching of the paintings accidentally or otherwise, by inquisitive hands or swinging backpacks, and is absolutely vital protection to preserve these invaluable unique irreplaceable paintings. Some of the obvious damage to the paintings is not all modern.
Keywords: Egypt, Egyptian, ancient, Luxor, Tombs, Nobles, Thebes, River Nile, West Bank, Old Qurna, Sheikh Abdel-Qurna, village, landscape, Nakht, wife, Tawi, Taui, God, Amun, deceased, Observer, Hours, astronomer, tomb, banquet, scene, painting, Tree, Goddess, Hathor, fruit-tree, headdress, sycamore, grapes, offering, fish, ducks, food, flowers, lotus, bread, loaves, wine, fishing, marshland, boats, agriculture, cattle, farming, girls, workers, colourful, colorful, colours, colors, painted, natural, light, 2000, Fuji, RHP, 80a, tungsten, filter, slide, film, scanned, scan, daylight, balanced, Nikon, FM2, 35mm