Evening light bathes the dunes.
D850, 70-200mm
Repost:
Original:
Wow, the layers of patterns/textures are really interesting, going from the sharp ripples in the foreground to the sensuous curved dunes in the mid-ground, to the tall, plain ones in the back. The sky feels a bit bright relative to the dunes, though; the sky has has a different mood than the dunes to me. The dunes feel a bit pensive, with that soft light, but the sky feels sort of cheerful. Maybe bring down the lights in the sky? I tried it to see what it looked like (hope you don’t mind). I also warmed the dunes just tad and brought up the highlights, more to even out the luminosity between the sky and the dunes, so the sky wasn’t so prominent.
Glad to see those dunes looking so clean! I would agree with Bonnie that the bright sky isn’t quite working for me and I would darken it a fair amount. Personally I would go B&W with this scene, gives you more latitude to significantly darken the sky without it looking fake. Here’s a really quick hack job to get across the idea.
Thanks, @Bonnie_Lampley and @David_Kingham. As always, NPN is a great “food for thought” resource. David, 95% of the time, I convert dune images to B&W, but for some reason, I am liking this in color. I did rework it a bit and hopefully the sky has not taken on a fake look. I am more than happy to hear opinions on the repost.
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@Harley_Goldman, darkening it made the blues more saturated, so perhaps desaturate the blues of the sky to put it more into the background…
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Terrific dunes image Harley but I can’t find your dog. 
I love the rework by @David_Kingham by far the best. It has so much more drama than either of the posted color shots however I do prefer the second color shot over the original and it doesn’t take on a fake look at all. I really like the juxtaposition of the contrasty rippled lower half of the image compared to the softer smoother dunes in the top portion o the image. Is this Death Valley? It doesn’t look like mesquite dunes. I love it.
I like your rework the most Harley. The b&w is really a totally different image for me. It’s good as well.
Harley, I like how this looks in color, since there’s a nice touch of warmth in the browns, especially the first few dunes. Your repost improves the luminosity balance with the sky nicely but looks like it’s added contrast and darkened the dunes in the middle. Being able to switch back and forth between the two version really shows where your additional processing went. I’ll vote for the sky from the repost and the land from the original… 
Harley, with the light on those dunes, I can see why you want to keep it in color. Though the B&W version has its merits too, and certainly manages the sky better. But I think these dunes in color are so strong, it’s worth trying to rescue the sky. I think your re-post helps a lot, just de-saturate blue and or cyan a bit, and maybe use a an L3 or L4 mask to slightly pull down the sky highlights a bit without darkening the blues any more.
Nicely done, Harley. Wonderful shapes and textures to explore. I actually prefer the sky in the original - to me the blue is a bit too intense in the repost. I do like the slight increase in contrast to show off the clouds but maybe desaturate the blue.
I am in agreement with you about the sky.
Harley: As an avowed color junkie I do like your repost. David’s B&W is a whole nuther critter altogether and successful in its own right. Well composed, captured and presented. >=))>