Walking up one wash and another and another, I saw this “rabbit hole” that I soon followed. The sculpture and curve intrigued me, so I worked my tripod and self into a corner for this image. In reality, the soil is tan, not colorful, but all these colors jumped out with a curves contrast adjustment.
I tried to convey the steep staircase effect with lots of dodging and burning, but worry a bit that the texture and color distract from that.
24mm 1/10 sec; f/18; ISO 125
(If this is a composite, etc. please be honest with your techniques to help others learn)
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My suggestion is that because it’s a fairly uniform color, it might show better on sunnier days than cloudy ones. A bit more shadow and light might provide more for the eye. And golden hour in particular, although I don’t know what angle the setting sun would be at in this particular location.
I think this is a really interesting subject and the composition is quite good. I think it’s worth spending time on this. The llc seems a bit dark and all the smaller rocks on the bottom area make the image look busy. There is too much going on down there. I made a crop to simplify the comp to more basic components. The other thing is that all the parts have a similar tonal value and therefore blend into one another. I lightened the fg component to give some separation. I don’t know how successful I was. It was done carelessly but just to show the idea. The same technique can be used for some of the other components as you see fit. There is a lot of beauty in the texture of that sandstone. The far canyon is just slightly out of focus but not enough to really make a significant difference.
Igor, thank you. I very much like the crop of the bottom. I was too much in love with those stones. Your image has overall richer colors… I seem to have lost some of that richness in my jpg conversion. I think I will burn the highlights In the llc, as they are a bit too prominent. Will tinker with that. Again, warm thanks.
I’m really enjoying this. It is quite excellent for a number of reasons. The composition is solid and I like the subtle s-curve as the eye wanders through and yes, the “steps” are apparent and so you did well to bring that aspect out.
Colors are of course subjective. I appreciate that you mention that the “soil colors are tan” and you acknowledge the colors were brought out in processing. Mr. T.Kuyper pioneered this concept IMHO (although I’m sure there were others before him.) But in essence, his thoughts were that the colors existed within the image and just needed to be brought out. Another theorem, “Let the image take you where IT wants to go.” I think you’ve done that here. The colors may not be what you witnessed, but for me, they are certainly believable - and NOT over cooked by any stretch.
I like this as presented with perhaps a small modification and that would be a slight sliver crop off the top to remove the darker patch on the top middle edge. I too like the rock at the bottom. There are a few workable crops, including Igor’s suggestion, which works nicely as well.
Dick, this is a very interesting view with all of the erosion forms and the multiple rock layers. The soft lighting partially disguises the sense of depth, turning this into a somewhat abstract view. That small tree near the top is a good change-of-pace from all of the rocks. You’re showing off a lot of geology here, with the multiple layers of slightly rounded rocks/pebbles speaking of stream or flood deposition while the thin layers were probably sand dunes. The colors look reasonable for much of the 4 corners/red rocks area of the Southwest.
Thank you Lon. I did not notice the dark sliver … now gone.
Re: colors, for this image, I took a step from Guy Tal’s workflow and initially added a highly Saturated Hue/Saturation layer; that allowed me to see what colors I have to work with. In this case, I found that I had a lot of blue in some stones that I brought out.
I am happy you enjoyed the geology. Actually this is from Anza Borrego State park. The layers are formed by various eras of ocean shores and ancient rivers. If I choose to enter this in the Anza Borrego photo contest in December, the local judges will instantly see that the Colo Plateau colors are about 500 miles off from those in the park. Not sure if they can stretch that far … we’ll see.
