This is my favorite image to have captured this year so far. It was about a mile into the sand dunes walking around in the sandstorm. It was impossible to see without the stinging of the sand in my eyes. I think it was worth it though!
Specific Feedback Requested
The soft pastel palate is something I like in an image but I sometimes worry I take it too far and the image loses impact. This was a wicked sandstorm with the lines drawing the shapes of the dunes, so does the color take away from the overall mood?
*EDIT: added second image with adjustments recommended
I like the image but would clone out that black dot on the dunes on the right side and maybe that divot bottom left. It also seems this might have potential as a high-key black and white image where the dune shapes and blowing-sand texture would be more prominent.
Kyle, this is a beautifully composed dune image, definitely worth the stinging sand in your eyes. My qualms with it are only minor.
It feels a bit dim/flat, so you could adjust the white point with a levels layer to give it a little more punch. This has the added side effect of making it easier to see the blowing sand texture on the side of that leftmost dune.
I don’t think you’ve taken the colors too far at all, and I quite like the pastels. In fact, I might try saturating the background blues a little more so that they separate from the dunes a bit better. Tony’s suggestion of a B&W could also work, but since you don’t have much variance in color or luminosity to begin with, it would take some work to bring out the details and make it look less flat. As it is, I think the slight color variations help the textures stand out more than a straight B&W conversion.
Composition-wise, my first thought was that the “main” dune in the background was too far off to the right, and overpowered by the closer dune peak, so I tried cropping some off the left. However, this killed some of the horizontal “flow” to the lines, and made the left dune feel less graceful, so I think it’s best as-is. The only composition issue left for me is how that background mountain layer in the upper right almost skirts the top edge of the frame - I wish it had just a little more breathing room. You could try lowering the contrast in that area right along the edge of the frame to mitigate this if you don’t have any more room up there.
I also thought maybe the texture could be brought out more, but since the light is obviously on the soft/flat side, it’s easy to make everything look overcooked/unnatural doing that. I think it works as-is, leaning into the pastel colors and subtle textures.
All of this amounts to nitpicking - the image is really nice as presented!
Thank you Tony! I appreciate you pointing out some of the distractions as I often miss the easy corrections in post. I made sure to get rid of the black dot but struggled and gave up on the divot as I don’t mind it enough to work through removal. (I am not the best at making convincing edits in Photoshop)
Thank you Alex! I was nodding my head at what you pointed out. The composition is very tight which I have picked up as a habit in the field. I still have to actively remind myself to take a step back or zoom out so there is wiggle room in post.
I am glad that others find the muted tones nice, but I did apply a slight adjustment to the curves layer and when toggling back and forth the punchier image is definitely improved. I appreciate you taking the time to talk with the community today and providing me with valuable feedback!
