Image: December Desert Frost
Description: Frost coats branches of plants, including this staghorn cholla, in the Sonoran Desert. In the desert, winter early morning temperatures often fall below freezing, even though daytime temperatures may be moderate, even balmy.
Specific Feedback Requested: Even with dodging, still too busy? Any comments helpful.
Pertinent technical details or techniques: Nikon D850, Nikon 70-200 mm f/4, ISO 1600, 84 mm, f/8, 1/40 sec.
Processed in LR, dodged grasses in the background, to bring out some of the cholla branches.
What an interesting image, Marlin. Such a contrast between the staghorn cholla and frost. Typically I don’t think of cactus and frost together. Great idea. I am not sure how to advise on how to process - I am hoping others will be able to address that - but I will say it is a bit busy and hard to read. Dodging seems to be a good start though. Perhaps blurring the grasses and maybe adding a bit of vignette? The Sonoran Desert sounds like a great place to be in the winter for wandering and photos.
Thank you for the review and comments, Linda. The desert can be a very frosty place, if there has been some recent moisture. We had a nice rain before this morning. This location is along a hill that overlooks the river valley which was filled with fog. I think that helped with giving enough moisture for the frost. I tried this as a monochrome image, but liked the bit of color better.
1 Like
