Badwater Ice

Gallery: LandscapePosted May 29, 2011193 views18 comments

Of course this is not really ice, but a few friends who have seen this image asked me if it was. This is from my Feb/March Death Valley trip. I was quite pleased to find some water left in a small section of Badwater and thoroughly enjoyed hours of playing in this salty puddle.

Thank you in advance for any critiques and comments.

5D2, 17-40 lens @17mm, f/18, 1.6 sec.

Edit: the colors are coming through quite muted on my phone browser but look okay on my regular monitor. I intended for the clouds to be pink, not blah white as they look on my phone. The joys of color management!

Comments

18 comments

Comment posted by Steve Sieren on May 29, 2011 at 1:52 PM

Very elegant and simple Sarah. My laptop isn't calibrated but it seems you may have a magenta cast in the sky? If it's deliberate never mind. Great comp!

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

Comment posted by R.Bill Moser on May 29, 2011 at 1:53 PM

Great comp. love the foreground with ist patterns and structures and textures.

Registered on January 29, 2010, 285 Posts, 4281 Comments

Comment posted by scott lanz on May 29, 2011 at 2:24 PM

Outstanding image. Fantastic foreground and a beautiful sky.

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

Comment posted by Mark Metternich on May 29, 2011 at 3:06 PM

Sarah,

This is clean, subtle and beautiful! I love how you got water and a reflection in there. No nits at all.

Registered on June 19, 2009, 276 Posts, 6240 Comments

Comment posted by Eva McDermott on May 29, 2011 at 3:23 PM

I love the blues and subtle pinks in the clouds and reflection Sarah. The textures and lines in the foreground are also interesting and wonderful.

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

Comment posted by Morris McClung on May 29, 2011 at 3:43 PM

Really nice comp and light. I also like the reflection of the mountains in the water. The clouds could probably be brought out a little more, yes. And you are so right about getting it all right.

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

Comment posted by Nicolaus Wegner on May 29, 2011 at 5:06 PM

I really like how you matched the range to the foreground . Excellent eye on picking that out. Nice lines, has a very angular feel to it, which I think is awesome.

Registered on February 21, 2010, 133 Posts, 1509 Comments

Comment posted by Brian Schrayer on May 29, 2011 at 5:24 PM

This is beautiful Sarah. I like the lines in the foreground which lead my eye through the scene. The subtle pastel colors look nice too. I hope you got some interesting abstracts from here as well. It looks like there are many interesting opportunities.

Registered on May 28, 2004, 114 Posts, 2890 Comments

Comment posted by James Fougère on May 30, 2011 at 2:18 AM

Well done Sarah, nice fore ground lines, with cool colors

Registered on October 25, 2010, 41 Posts, 831 Comments

Comment posted by Stuart Williams on May 30, 2011 at 6:01 AM

i very much like the composition here - particularly the triangle in the FG. well seen. nice subtle colours too. sky in top left corner appears a bit blotchy??

Registered on December 7, 2007, 247 Posts, 4792 Comments

Comment posted by Paul Duval on May 30, 2011 at 10:51 AM

Sarah,

I first viewed this and I have to apologize, I said to myself, nice image, good title, a unusual comp, but...Then the thumbnail drew me back, and this is one of those images that has to be studied to be appreciated. Upon further review, how unusual that the salt pan has a thin sheen of water on it to reflect the sky, and nice placement of the edge of the pan to run with the mountains. Without that water I'm sure you wouldn't have picked up any of the sky color. It makes the image unique, which is special for this oft photographed spot.

Paul

Registered on June 30, 2009, 508 Posts, 1907 Comments

Comment posted by Chris Chamberlain on May 30, 2011 at 12:30 PM

This is something different. It doesn't reaslly say Death Valley tome, even though I know it is. It's too friendly looking! I like it though, don't get me wron g. Nice colors and light with neat conditions.

Chris

Registered on March 13, 2007, 500 Posts, 8365 Comments

Comment posted by Sarah Marino on May 30, 2011 at 9:34 PM

Thank you everyone for the comments on this image. I really appreciate the feedback. Stuart, I will check out the blotchy appearance of the sky - thank you for pointing that out.

Registered on November 10, 2008, 23 Posts, 393 Comments

Comment posted by Aaron Feinberg on May 31, 2011 at 2:55 AM

Looks solid over on this screen. Very cool take and lovely soft light :)

aF

Registered on October 26, 2009, 399 Posts, 2789 Comments

Comment posted by Andreas Resch on May 31, 2011 at 8:37 AM

Lovely shot and great colors (they look strong enough on my calibrated screen).

Registered on November 14, 2007, 322 Posts, 6101 Comments

Comment posted by Phil Pogledich on May 31, 2011 at 5:23 PM

Wonderful shot Sarah. Clouds and other colors certainly look natural to me and very pleasing indeed. For me this seems a bit different than other Badwater shots because the mountains are not way off in the distance, but seem fairly close to where you shot the image (and at 17mm, I'm sure they were quite close!). Works well for me.

Registered on August 24, 2009, 123 Posts, 3099 Comments

Comment posted by Jared Atencio on June 1, 2011 at 2:56 AM

Wow Sarah, this is a fantastic take from this morning. I believe I was on a drier part of the basin this very morning as that cloud pattern looks eerily familiar, so I'm a little pissed you were able to get such a killer shot out of this

The triangles in this comp really compliment each other, and the processing is really top shelf. I love the detail but the subtle glow/softness also works really well. You've been posting some really impressive work lately, keep up the good work!

Registered on June 23, 2009, 21 Posts, 422 Comments

Comment posted by Harry Lichtman on June 4, 2011 at 10:17 AM

This is a raly nice comp and textures of the salt and the mnts beyond. The clouds look a perfect pink to me. The wedges throughout pull my eye throiughout. Sweet shot.

Registered on September 17, 2010, 304 Posts, 3507 Comments