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Great Sand Dunes National Park

Discussion

4 replies
Posted by Michael John O' Ma on December 29, 2006 at 10:20 AM
Great Sand Dunes National Park
Hi all,

Hope you had a great holiday season and hoping for a happy new year for all. Spent two weeks in the Colorado Rockies this year (in August) and had a fabulous time. Beautiful palce. However, I brought my really low end photography equipment with me (350D, 17-85mm and Sigma 70-300mm). I am now regretting not bringinjg the best I had. Anyway here is a real on the fly shot of the Sand Dunes National Park. C & C, advice etc. most welcome.

Cheers,

MJ
Posted by Pam Colander on December 29, 2006 at 2:09 PM
That'll teach you not to bring your good gear Michael :wink: As for your image, it certainly has a lot of great potential with the various elements. Great clouds & abundant color with the wildflowers. I'm not crazy about the composition although you did say this was "on the fly". I would've liked a comp with a solid field of the flowers merging into the dunes, mountains and sky from various perspectives. I don't like the fence and the power poles sticking up (easily cloned out). The color balance seems a bit too cyan or green on my monitor. You certainly hit the area during a flower peak. It looks like from the shadows on the dunes this was a mid to late afternoon shot? Early morning or sunset would be an incredible time to shoot this area.

Thanks for posting :cool:

Pam
Posted by Tony Bouchard on December 30, 2006 at 12:54 AM
Actually I think late afternoon or sunset is best for the dunes because they don't get light until well after sunrise. The dunes are kind of isolated in the middle of the image, and the flowers & fence do not lead my eye to them. Also, I thnk the sky is overexposed.

The flowers look great - makes me want to go there that time of year.
Posted by Michael John O' Ma on January 21, 2007 at 10:22 AM
Cheers for the feedback guys. This shots taken around 6.30 pm. I waited until around sunset but the light was really poor. I then got in my car and drove back to Gunnison. Next time out only the best of gear and plenty of time will be given to this area.

MJ
Posted by Les Barstow on January 21, 2007 at 1:06 PM
Just an FYI - the flowers aren't always quite so good as they were this year. The late-season moisture brought out the best in a lot of the Prairie wildflowers; the Sunflowers fared extremely well. Most years will be good, but not this good...