My first photo stop in Death Valley … Did not find salt pans I was looking for, but this curve caught my attention. Its gentleness contrasted mightily with the sharp, hard salt-covered earth; Texture of the mountains definitely a nice plus.
The curve tends to take the eye out of the image to the right for left-right readers. Flipped horizontally, that is not the case, but the curve itself becomes less prominent. I worry that this is too recognizable an area to flip.
I prefer the 2nd image. For me, the curve is really nice and it makes the image seem much larger than it actually is. Just viewing a 5x8 size the image feels vast. Black and white nature photography always reminds me of Ansel Adams.
I guess I tend to look from left to right and the 2nd image expands (which I prefer) in that direction, while the first contracts.
Thanks Ben. I was surprised how much I liked the second also. In the first the tail goes to the right, but in the second the strong belly builds to the right.
Dick, I actually prefer the original version. I personally don’t find that the curve pulls me out of the image in either orientation, but the original just feels better to me, for what that’s worth.
The processing looks good to me, and this is a good candidate for B&W.
I thought the image needed a CCW rotation, so I brought it into Photoshop, and I see the “horizon” line at the far end of the valley is perfectly horizontal. It’s probably an optical illusion because the peaks get lower from left to right, but it still makes the image feel crooked to me. I might try a bit of warp to the upper part of the image if you’re so inclined.
Thanks. I also checked the horizon hill line just as I posted the image, as it looked to be low om the right, but as you found, it is flat. Maybe worth skewing it a bit. Actually Badwater is just to the right, the lowest point in DV, so maybe there is a real slope.
My subjective reaction, I prefer the first image (non flipped) by a wide margin. Bright luminosity in the LLC grabs my eye as a strong entry point to the image. I perceive the curve as flowing left to right in the first image. The curve ends on the right side. As an English speaker, both of these things are my preference for the visual flow. For the second image, some might make the case that the curve takes you right, and then turns you left, which is possibly more dynamic. To me that flow is more complicated, and I prefer the simpler flow of the first image. And I agree with you Dick, the curve is more prominent to me in the first image, which is a good thing.
