The Wandering Lake

[David_Kingham]

Critique Style: In-Depth

The photographer is looking for deeper feedback connected to their intent, creative direction, and specific questions.

Feedback Focus: Artistic / Expressive

About This Image

I’ve been absent from actually posting on NPN for far too long, just too many things in the background to keep up with, the joys of running five different business’!

Death Valley never fails to surprise me with its ever-evolving landscape, but this morning was truly something else. After a night of incredibly powerful winds, we knew from past experience that the shallow waters of the re-formed Lake Manly would shift. We headed out hoping for interesting conditions, and we weren’t disappointed. The wind had pushed the water several miles to the north, creating this temporary oasis. What really shocked me was the vibrant, almost tropical color of the water against the salt flats. The wind was still ripping across the basin, creating constant ripples on the surface. It wasn’t a peaceful morning by any means, but standing there watching this ephemeral lake transform under a heavy, dramatic sky made the wind completely worth it.

Why This Image?

It was a special moment, as we came back later in the day and most of the water had receded already. A reminder to always live in the moment and never assume you can come back to that photograph later.

What I’m Trying to Express or Explore

I wanted to convey surreal beauty of the landscape and wind that shaped it, along with the contrast of the breaking storm with light illuminating the renewed landscape. To me it expresses hope for a new day and feeling wonder.

Where Feedback Would Help Most

Do you feel it conveys these ideas? Are there any distractions that take away from this?

Technical Details

Camera: Canon EOS R5m2
Lens: RF14-35mm F4 L IS USM
Focal length: 17mm
Shutter speed: 1/1600s
Aperture: f/11
ISO: 200

Tripod/handheld: handheld because I could barely stand upright in the wind, much less set up a tripod! Thankfully it was very bright out.
Focus method: Single image
Filters: none

Processing software: Rethink Toolkit in Lightroom Classic
Major adjustments: Nothing too major, midtone contrast, orton, burning/dodging
Blending/stacking: None

[Igor_Doncov]

Very dramatic image. I agree that this doesn’t look like Death Valley. The water does look like the tropics. Any time the sky is darker than the land you get drama and this has it in spades.

@David_Kingham

To me it expresses hope for a new day and feeling wonder.

To me this image is a great example of what Burke called the Sublime. The beauty here has an element of fear and awe. Rather than tranquility. That must’ve been quite a storm.

[Don_Peters]

I’m not familiar with the area but it’s a spectacular image. The patterns in the water are beautiful.. You got terrific light.

[Mark_Seaver]

David, the rippled water speaks to how much wind there is here. (I visited Dailey Lake in 30 mph wind a week ago and was amazed at the rippling.) The big green curve of the lake is clearly the star here. There are lots of subtle details in the water to explore. I do feel like the clouds are a bit dark.

[John_Williams]

That sweeping curve is wonderful, and those ripples are like frosting on the cake. The color contrasts are very nice too, especially with that bit of blue sky peeking through.

@David_Kingham

I wanted to convey surreal beauty of the landscape and wind that shaped it, along with the contrast of the breaking storm with light illuminating the renewed landscape.

To support the beauty goal, I could see running with the color in the water a little more. The contrast of the brightly lit foreground and the darkness above is very nice, but I could see reducing that just a tiny bit to “gentle” the eye when viewing the scene in its entirety. Subtle tweaks, and personal preference trumps all, but here’s adjustments trying to run with the ideas:

[Marylynne_Diggs]

Hi David,
So great to see your work here again! I’m sure it feels good to be interacting with us without so much code involvement!

This is wonderful. I wouldn’t have guessed Death Valley either as I tend to think of DV as a palette of browns and occasionally mega blooms. The greens are spectacular. I really love that “bottle glass green” (as I call it–60s coke bottle color) with a dark sky. It’s one of my favorite color combinations.

To me, the ominous clouds and the eerie green don’t really speak to renewal as much without the informational context. Like Igor, I get more of a sublime effect than hope and renewal. Partly because it is hard to know if that cloud is coming or going, and the colors have a sort of “evening” effect more than a new day effect.

I’m not sure whether that all makes sense. Regardless of the reality of a storm bringing renewal, and your intention of evoking that feeling, it is a fantastic image. I have no suggestions for improvement, just my own interpretation and appreciation.
ML.

[Bonnie_Lampley]

What a dramatic scene. It’s hard to convey the idea of a “renewed” landscape, I think - that thought didn’t occur to me when seeing this. In a single frame, we can’t tell what has changed, or not changed. The ripples tell me there’s energy moving the water/sand, but I don’t know what was there before. I also didn’t get a feeling of renewal or hope. I think because of the dark, ominous sky and the dark mountains in the background. The line of the beautiful water and the ripples lead my eye to the darkness.

All that being said, it’s an incredible photo! The subtle colors and textures are to die for (IMO). It definitely conveys the surreal beauty of DV.

[EricBusch]

Hey @David_Kingham

It’s definitely a surreal scene. I love the dark, detail-less mountains in the background. They create a nice backdrop to such a lively foreground. The contrast between the BG and FG is lovely. I don’t have any suggestions related to colours or tones.

The other thing I love (which others have pointed out) is how the river wraps and flows off into the distance. It’s a stunning feature of this image and of the scene itself. Well seen!

What I want is to accentuate that curve a little more and at the same time elongate the mountain range, the river bend and the curve flowing off into the distance. I also want to feel a little closer to the scene.

So I played around with a 65:24 aspect ratio.

The panoramic crop helps put the viewer more “in the scene”. It also accentuates the width of the mountain range and brings more focus to the bend of the river and it’s destination far off in the distance. It also makes the place feel bigger… at least to my eye.

The one thing I don’t like about this 65:24 crop is we lose some of the cool ripples in the water foreground which definitely acted as leading lines.

Either way, it’s a beautiful image! The crop suggestion is a minor suggestion but I think that would be my preference for this particular scene.

Eric