Dune Layers
by Dave Dillemuth
I have been unable to get into the field for a couple of months and going a bit stir crazy. However, one benefit is that I have finally been able to dig through all my raw files from 2017. This image is from sunrise at Mesquite Dunes in Death Valley. I was fortunate to have a storm come through the day I arrived which wiped away all the footprints.
5DSR, 70-200 f/4 IS L @ 200mm
Comments
11 commentsThis is a stunning image. The light here is spectacular, and your natural looking processing has done a wonderful job of bringing out the richness of the light. This is another image that has so many alternate crops or "scenes within a scene", it will be interesting to what you come up with. A small crop off the left would place even more emphasis on all the goodness to the right. I suspect some will suggest a B&W treatment here too, but for me the warm, rich light begs for this shot to be in color.
I sort of wish that they went off in to the distance to the top of the photo...
Classic DV dunes image. The light of course creates all kinds of interesting shapes, shadows, lines, etc. There is so much to explore here. A couple of specific things that stand out for me. The first is including space up top to give this some depth and sense of place. Of course as others have mentioned there are plenty of alternative crops that might exclude the top, but as a big-picture landscape, I like that you included the top. The second thing are all the neat patterns created from the previous nights storm that washed away the prints; in the process creating some nice texture and wet/dry patterns in the dunes.
No suggestions from me. Well done!
Lon
There are a few specks that I would clean up: up top just right of center, a bright one URC, and a dark one right on the edge just over halfway up the right edge.
Nick Bristol
Lone Rock, WI.