Goblin Valley

I posted this image over on ESS, but then got to thinking that this is a part of the world that this forum would have a better handle on sizing up. As I said in the original post which I am including below, it's been a long time since I have played around much on NPN. I'm interested in catching up a bit on my photography and getting back into the saddle- so to speak.

ESS posting:

It has been well over a year since I last posted anything on NPN. Life just got ahead of me and my photography. I have some desire to get back into the act again.

I made this image at Goblin Valley State Park in Utah several days ago. I have been to this park many times and have never been able to make a composition work. The sky was simply too plain. This time I had the magic of a magnificent cloudscape on the tail end of a ginormous late season snowstorm passing over the Rockies. For me the skyscape makes the image. To keep the clouds in check with the goblins required a 3-stop hard neutral grad filter. But in so doing it forced the sky a very dark blue. I'm wondering if you find the un-naturally dark sky distracting in this image.

I should also note that I made this image with a Nikon D700, a camera I am just beginning to play with. There is much about it that I do not understand yet.

Thanks for looking and leaving a comment,
Michael Handley

Michael,

Of course the thing that makes this image great are the clouds. The color isn't unnatural to me as this is what desert sky looks like. As far as the hoodoos, I'm not sure about the absolute foreground, but the rest of it works well. You may consider cropping up a little from the bottom and seeing if there is an improvement.

Hey Michael,
This is a nice shot of Goblin Valley, and that's saying a lot. The clouds help a lot! This is a tough place to shoot. The shapes are cool but the lack of color contrast is always a challenge, especially if the light is flat. The sky doesn't really bother me. You could lighten the dark edges a little if desired.

All I can say is WOW!!

Very cool! Great clouds and foreground.
An argument can be made for cropping the very closest "goblins", but it's a good shot either way.

Great shot! The clouds really make the image.

That's great! I was at Goblin Valley last year and indeed deleted most of my flat sky and flat color photos. The sky and light really make this nice. And a good composition, I might add. The dark (blue) sky is maybe a little distraction for me, but the overall effect of the photo makes up for it.

I agree that the sky makes the image. Those are some sweet clouds. The sky doesn't look too dark to me. I think you did great considering the difficulty of the contrast issues.

I like the sky here as well. You can play around with lightening the blue channel a bit if you want. It's always a difficult exposure when you have a bright, partly cloudy sky and your land form is shaded. You did well in that regard. Unfortunately, the hoodoos kind of get lost in the clutter. Maybe shooting up at them from ground level would work better as you'd be able to isolate a few them against the sky. Something to think about next time you're there.

Clouds are awesome. The clouds obviously make the shot, so I don't see a need for an exciting/more prominent foreground. This foreground provides enough context - although you might consider cropping the bottom 1/10th. I like a dark blue sky at times, although a slight bit of simple dodging along that left edge might be helpful.

I like this photo very much. You controlled the exposure very well.
Thanks for sharing.

Very nice shot Michael.

Mel-

Great image! It's the VERTICAL format composition that makes the image. Notice how the goblins and the clouds reinforce each other. Most others use a horizontal format.