I captured this image in Death Valley earlier this year. I struggled to find any trackless dunes and ended up walking over 3 miles round trip to the “far end” of the dune field. I didn’t come away with much but liked the layering in this frame.
5DSr, 70-200 f/4, polarizer
This is lovely. It definitely speaks of gentle folding, like fabric. The soft transitions from shadow to light give it that air. Hopefully it was an enjoyable hike, even if you didn’t come away with many photos.
Beautiful light, layering and depth. The background works great for this one. No suggestions here, I like this one quite a bit.
This must be “dune week” at NPN, and this is another worthy addition. The processing and colors look great. I like the strong contrast on the dunes, and the softer, diffuse look of the background mountains. The composition is really nice, the receding layers of light/dark are very striking visually, and the zig-zag dunes create a number of interesting triangle shapes. This was certainly worth a 3 mile hike, it is a lovely image with gorgeous light.
I have one nitpick, which is a thing of personal preference. I generally like to avoid having strong lines that intersect with the corners of the frame edge, it’s a matter of personal taste. The shadow line in the LLC comes right into the corner. My preference would be to crop a sliver from the bottom to avoid that intersection. It’s a minor nitpick though, overall this is a great image.
Stunning glowing light, lots of interesting lines, textures and nice details in the sand itself and a beautiful soft background… No nits from me!
It’s really too bad that we are forced to walk so far to reach areas without footprints. It’s been that way for years though. I last shot these dunes around 15 years ago when I still had the strength. The problem is that by the time you set up a good comp the light isn’t optimal any more. It’s so fleeting in those areas.
I played with this image a bit and decided it looks better with a bit more color, particularly in the background. I saw the bg as being a bit lighter and a more sky blue. I thought it would look better to offset those warm dunes. But in the end it seemed that it was just a different ‘style’ of interpretation and was just a judgmental call. But having some blue in those shadows was also a nice change. To color or not to color. When should you do it? I see most DV images these days as very colorful. Sometimes I think that if you’re going to color an image make sure the color is noticeable and prevalent. That’s part of the reason of going to color. And yet I dislike saturation as much as anyone on NPN. There are no rules in photography. Each is different and yet not all images are equally good. I’m rambling…
Very beautiful image, Dave. I like especially the contrast between the warmth of the desert sands and the cool hues of the distant hills. The processing is interesting, too, giving the sands an abstract feel
Hi @Dave_Dillemuth, it’s a really good image in my opinion. I love the shapes of dunes and how you processed them. I see a dominant dunes in the centre of the frame that stands out from the other because of the contrast with the background. Very nice image in my opinion, thanks for sharing.
Dave,
I just love the flow of light and shadow here; the eye just gently moves through the scene. and the bonus? Love that background up top. Just a superbly composed dune image.
Very little, if anything, to be critical of. I suppose you could raise the shadow detail a tad in the left, triangular shadow - just to bring in some texture, not necessarily luminosity.
Beautiful work.
Lon
This is a beautiful image Dave, The lighting is superb.
@Bonnie_Lampley, @Harley_Goldman, @Ron_Jansen, @Igor_Doncov, @Ian_Wolfenden, @masdamb, @Eva_McDermott, Thanks for your thoughts/comments. Appreciated.
@Ed_McGuirk, I see your point , Ed. I’ve played a bit and do prefer taking a small slice off the bottom. Thanks.
@Lon_Overacker, Thanks for the suggestion, Lon. I added just a touch of clarity to the dark foreground dune and it does a nice job bringing the textures out a bit more.
I love the way my eye passes through this image. And the background treatment supports the foreground well;I like that there is a lot of detail there. Great work.
