Shadows and Sand

Gallery: LandscapePosted May 5, 2009907 views34 comments

Taken on the same morning as a previous image I posted a few weeks ago from Death Valley, when the winds were howling at 40+ mph. Canon 5DII, Contax 35-70mm lens w/ adapter. I choose a shutter speed of 1/15 sec. to make sure that some of the blowing sand streaked towards the lens during the exposure.

Comments

34 comments

Comment posted by Peter Gordon on May 5, 2009 at 12:37 PM

Love the graphic simplicity. Beautiful work..

Registered on May 31, 2007, 224 Posts, 1490 Comments

Comment posted by Joseph Rossbach on May 5, 2009 at 12:46 PM

Beautiful composition and amazing light Ian !

Registered on November 25, 2005, 484 Posts, 1377 Comments

Comment posted by Eva McDermott on May 5, 2009 at 12:52 PM

Beautiful light and form Ian.

Registered on January 4, 2009, 1015 Posts, 13229 Comments

Comment posted by Aaron Ellingsen on May 5, 2009 at 1:00 PM

Beautiful, Ian. Great shapes, and the blue/gold color combo works very nicely.

Registered on January 16, 2008, 56 Posts, 953 Comments

Comment posted by Greg Cope on May 5, 2009 at 1:02 PM

Really fantastic S-curve winding through this. That coupled with the nice warm and cool tones makes for a fantastic image.

Registered on January 22, 2007, 212 Posts, 2737 Comments

Comment posted by Joel Hazelton on May 5, 2009 at 1:19 PM

Stunning!

Registered on August 6, 2008, 194 Posts, 1315 Comments

Comment posted by Vincent Grafhorst on May 5, 2009 at 1:21 PM

Wow! Ian this is simply gorgeous.

Registered on February 24, 2006, 504 Posts, 7203 Comments

Comment posted by Dietrich Gloger on May 5, 2009 at 1:23 PM

Wow, as simple and effective as it gets. Not much to add here. Great work!

Registered on January 26, 2007, 360 Posts, 9876 Comments

Comment posted by Laurent Baig on May 5, 2009 at 1:43 PM

Sensuous!

Registered on January 12, 2005, 206 Posts, 6784 Comments

Comment posted by Kevin Trinkner on May 5, 2009 at 1:45 PM

Very graphic shot Ian, excellent comp and great choice of shutter speed.

Registered on June 30, 2008, 203 Posts, 2641 Comments

Comment posted by Jimmy Gekas on May 5, 2009 at 2:08 PM

Gorgeous. I love the glow and the way you got the sand movement working for you. Great use of negative space, too.

Registered on July 26, 2007, 244 Posts, 2807 Comments

Comment posted by Doug Roane on May 5, 2009 at 2:33 PM

powerful in its simplicity. great image, Ian!

Registered on December 12, 2008, 213 Posts, 2226 Comments

Comment posted by Chip Phillips on May 5, 2009 at 3:05 PM

Very, very well done Ian. Thanks for sharing.

Registered on November 26, 2007, 128 Posts, 1436 Comments

Comment posted by Steve Sieren on May 5, 2009 at 3:43 PM

Very simple and very effective Ian.

Registered on January 2, 2008, 360 Posts, 5321 Comments

Comment posted by Joshua Hardin on May 5, 2009 at 5:08 PM

A very graphically dynamic image Ian. The color is pleasing too. Nicely done.

Registered on July 29, 2006, 40 Posts, 414 Comments

Comment posted by Morris McClung on May 5, 2009 at 5:24 PM

Absolutely exquisite! Colors, mood, shapes, lines, texture, are all superb. This is approaching the quote on my signature..."If less is more, then nothing is everything." which of course is absurd, but this is the perfect example of how little is needed to be everything you need in a shot.

Registered on May 7, 2007, 670 Posts, 19650 Comments

Comment posted by scott lanz on May 5, 2009 at 5:27 PM

Fine image.

Registered on November 14, 2003, 840 Posts, 12902 Comments

Comment posted by Paulo A.Lopes on May 5, 2009 at 6:07 PM

i can see it on BW. This is very good.

Registered on October 14, 2008, 122 Posts, 836 Comments

Comment posted by Zack Schnepf on May 5, 2009 at 6:18 PM

Another incredible image form you my friend! The light, texture, color, and flow is perfect!

Registered on November 1, 2003, 403 Posts, 2528 Comments

Comment posted by Stan Rose on May 5, 2009 at 7:03 PM

Wild! This is fantastic as is, but if you ask me, it would be absolutely mind blowing as a pano--the bottom half is the stronger part of the shot.

Registered on September 15, 2005, 836 Posts, 17099 Comments

Comment posted by Nye Simmons on May 5, 2009 at 10:33 PM

great geometry and light - as usual

Registered on December 12, 2004, 112 Posts, 1111 Comments

Comment posted by Ian Plant on May 5, 2009 at 10:36 PM

what, and lose the s-curve? Stan, you so crazy!

Registered on July 7, 2008, 271 Posts, 1657 Comments

Comment posted by Tony Kuyper on May 6, 2009 at 12:06 AM

Awesome, Ian. One of the best sand dune comps ever.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 364 Posts, 22328 Comments

Comment posted by Vance Gese on May 6, 2009 at 1:40 AM

Incredible abstract image; your comp could not be better. Love the textures and light especially in the lower right and the blowing sand adds an entire new dimension. Phenomenal work.

Registered on November 13, 2008, 298 Posts, 6629 Comments

Comment posted by Verena & Georg Pop on May 6, 2009 at 2:49 AM

the flying sand is hard to detect but the image is very nice anyways!
georg

Registered on July 5, 2006, 272 Posts, 2823 Comments

Comment posted by Pedro Bento on May 6, 2009 at 4:41 AM

Awesome light here in a great comp, 2 suggestions: the yellows are a little to much for me, and it seems you have something on you sensor, take a look at S curve at left!

Registered on September 2, 2007, 45 Posts, 761 Comments

Comment posted by Ian Plant on May 6, 2009 at 7:20 AM

thanks Pedro -- its just sheets of blowing sand in the background -- more apparent when examining the master file close than when looking at a small jpeg on the web

Registered on July 7, 2008, 271 Posts, 1657 Comments

Comment posted by Darwin Wiggett on May 6, 2009 at 4:30 PM

wow, do you have a great eye for graphic design in nature! Darwin

Registered on November 1, 2003, 100 Posts, 1327 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Bernabe on May 6, 2009 at 5:10 PM

Sweet, dude! This is killer!

Registered on November 24, 2004, 180 Posts, 1545 Comments

Comment posted by Rui Vieira on May 6, 2009 at 6:32 PM

Outstanding. Great light and the S curve creats a strong composition.

Registered on September 11, 2008, 39 Posts, 246 Comments

Comment posted by Anil Rao on May 7, 2009 at 2:58 AM

Superb!

Registered on November 15, 2003, 234 Posts, 4923 Comments

Comment posted by Lon Overacker on May 10, 2009 at 12:46 AM

Ian,

An outstanding image both in it's graphic capture, but also in light and color. The softness along the shadow line is easily explained by the blowing sand, but what really catches my eye is that patch of detailed sand on the right just below the shadow. This is a gorgeously simple image.

Lon