Continuing on my Death Valley collection from this past winter… I have made plans to go back last weekend but coronavirus happens.
I have definitely taken a more creative approach to the colors here and I am not exactly a very good judge in that department. So, feedback on that and in fact, in all aspects of the image are more than appreciated.
D500, 300mm f/6.3, ISO 125, 1/320.
Moved the road to the left a little bit and reduced the saturation in the yellow/orange:
Adhika: I love the light and color palette on this but since I’m not familiar with this part of the park (I’ve only been there once) I can’t speak to the color fidelity. The textures and details are wonderful. Beautiful scene superbly captured and presented. >=))>
I think the image is served well by the matte. I really like the way the light falls through the middle of the frame and it feels pretty well balanced. Like Bill, I’m not familiar with this area so the color is unknown to me. If anything, I feel that the gold color might be a little to too saturated and I think the luminosity will still hold up if you pulled it back a little.
Oh, Adhika, I love this! Your processing is really lovely. The lower contrast makes this quite atmospheric. Whether the colors reflect “reality” is not relevant. They look believable to me. That is something I consider when fiddling with color - does it look believable, whether or not it reflects reality.
Have you added any vignette? The lower foreground looks to be in shadow. Perhaps darkening part of that mountain in the background would bring more attention to the warm highlighted slopes and wash in the center. At any rate, this is superb. 
Rarely is the desert a place of subtleties, but you found and nicely conveyed an example. I find the colors familiar and comfortable. Looks like the desert had received a bit of rain, with the green in the hills. The low light on the crest of the hills on the left is entrancing. To me, the road clipping the left edge invites the eye there, a bit of a distraction. Do you have a little more to the right that got cropped out? Or fiddle around with the curve by cloning and moving it to the left a bit. The steep hillside background invites the eye due to its mass, but there is not much to see. I tried some fiddling, but the only thing that satisfied me over the original was to gradually lower the exposure from the top down a ways. Bet it was cold!
Wow. This is perhaps slightly warmer than reality would have you believe but it is so beautiful Adhika. The small thumbnail was so captivating I had to check this out. I love the play of shadows and light in all the right places that lead the eye right through the valley and into the unknown. I agree with Bonnie about this being soft and atmospheric looking. Dreamy. Those ridgelines on the left collecting that buttery warm light leading down to the dry wash and through the frame front front to back really balances well with the darker shadow areas. Beautiful composition. Can’t say I’d change anything on this one but if I were to experiment I might reduce the warm tones and give it some blue cast just to see what it looks like.
@Bill_Fach, @Dan_Hawk, @Bonnie_Lampley, D Knudsen, @David_Haynes: Thanks so much, guys.
I think in general the color in this area is pretty boring. Unlike some other areas in DV, this area is quite monotonous. I am just taking advantage of a subtle light beam that I saw was coming as the storm system moved through the area. I attach the original below as a comparison.
This is something that I have only realized after the fact. The scene was pretty hazy as the storm was moving and I did not realize the edge of my frame was close to the road there and I did not have anything on the right anymore. I will fiddle around with the idea of moving it with a content-aware move.
Now, this part is interesting because I actually reduce contrast in the background hillside a little bit and thus effectively brightens it. My thinking is that I would emulate how things gradually fade away the farther they are from the viewer. That said, I would play around with some gradient burn from the top as well.
Thanks for these inputs, guys. I will fiddle with this. It seems like a good practice with the Selective Color adjustment as well.
I really enjoy this composition, @Adhika_Lie. You’ve kept it simple yet compelling due to the detail and patterns, the light is beautifully exposed and directed to the subject, and there’s nothing extraneous within the frame, except for the road. If this were my image, I would consider cloning that out. In it’s favor, though, is that it lends scale to the landforms. Your call.
I also really appreciate the low contrast you’ve maintained. So much is made of high-contrast that a well-done low contrast image is unusual and compelling. NIce work.
Adhika, I’m late coming here, but this is another wonderfully subtle image in your DV series, outstanding vision on your part to work in this style of image
[quote=", post:5, topic:12146"]
Rarely is the desert a place of subtleties, but you found and nicely conveyed an example
[/quote] his quote kind of sums it up well for me.
I may be an outlier here, but my personal taste leans to the colors and saturation as originally presented. I think the first image has more impact, and conveys the light better, while still being more understated (in a good way) than 99% of the DV images running around the internet.
Beautiful, Adhika!! Put me down for the original post. I am with @Matt_Lancaster and I would clone out the road rather than worry about where in the frame it belongs. I was also thinking along the same lines as Bonnie regarding darkening the background mountain just a bit. I really like this one!!
Adhika,
All I can say is you hit the jackpot with your recent DV images as they have all been rather striking. The clear winner for me is your original post as the light is simply outstanding. I have never been to DV, but the colors look believable to me. I only have one small suggestion and that would be to clone out the road if you were so inclined. I hope you have a few more for us!
Beautiful light and textures here and I really like what you’ve done. The image(s) just feel so warm and inviting.
For me, the ideal would be to have the saturation of the first image and the road placement of the second one. 
I must say you’ve hit your groove Adhika. Compared to the images you were posting even just a year ago these are really much better. An improvement so fast is unusual in my experience. These recent images are just art pieces. Clearly, you’ve been serious about your photography. I was going to write all this about your last work but this is another gem.
I like the brighter valley of the first image more than the second.
I favor not cloning out the road, as it provides a leading line parallel to the valley floor, and it breaks up the LL dark plateau.
The border … for me I see it as the brightest part of the image, attracting my eye and making the subtle tones seem dowdy. When I fiddled around with it, I substituted a buff-colored border that seemed to play more cooperatively with the desert.
Very appealing image. The warm light draws me in for sure. I like the sense of scale from the road too.
This is gorgeous, Adhika. I’m in the crowd that prefers the slightly more saturated image as it has more emotional impact and, IMHO, it’s an exceptional capture. The only suggestion I would have would be to clone the road out completely as it seems to take away the wilderness feel from the image. Your composition and processing seems top notch here.
Very beautiful soft light, I like the details in the shadows and the touch of blue there. Comparing both images, I like the second one best. Like @Bill_Chambers mentions in the comment above, removing the road completely is also a good option! Very nice scene!
Not much to add to the great comments above Adhika. Your series has been most enjoyable.
@Matt_Lancaster, @Ed_McGuirk, @Harley_Goldman, @Ed_Lowe, @Tom_Nevesely, @Igor_Doncov, @Tony_Kuyper. @Bill_Chambers, @Ron_Jansen, @John_Williams -
Thank you so much, guys! I am very encouraged by the kind responses.
Now I am seeing it again, I think I agree the more saturated version has a little more impact than the other one so I think I will revert that adjustment layer. The road doesn’t bother me much, so I will leave it there like on the second post.
Igor, thank you so much. Even though I am not aware of it, it’s good to hear there is progress in this journey. Most of it must have been serendipitous, too. I have been blessed with good light and interesting atmosphere this year in DV.
This is a good point. I am still experimenting with adding borders when posting here and a white border is just an easy way out for me. Something to consider on the next image!
