Ultimate Dunes (revenging Todd)

Todd's fantastic sunset series from high Dune made me jealous, so to up the ante i used a different approach last night at GSD. I stood in Medano Creek for two hours after sunset waiting for the clouds to clear and the stars to appear. It was pretty darn chilly despite a warm day--that's the high desert for you!
I took some shots of the crecent moon to the SW, but i thought this traditional one of Herard turned out best.

Left work early to arrive at the dunes at 4:30, plenty of storm light to work with!

Played around with abstracts of the creek

Some real cool storm light

Sunset was obscured by clouds, but the indirect light still made for some cool reflections

Dappled light at sunset

All the color it could muster. Overall, a productive shoot! Next...

Nice work Stan! The 1st one is pretty darn sweet, the clouds, stars and the reflection are fantastic. The rest of the series looks good also, I really like #2 as well. I think Todd will consider the ante raised

1, 2, and 4 are as good as anything anyone is doing right now. I commented on 1 over on ESS and I'll say it again. Ruddy brilliant!

Awesome! Great light capture.
You keep pushing the bar higher and higher.

the Great Stan Dunes strikes again! Nice work on the night shot !

Stan, #1 is SWEEEEEEEEET!!!

Awesome work! I'm going to be up there next week and was planning on a night-shot that is almost identical to yours. I guess I 'll have to do something else now.

#1 is absolutely stunning! A real fine addition to your growing portfolio of this place.
Would love to know the camera settings you used. (Edit: Never mind...saw them on ES&S).

The rest are good, but you have much better images from your past explorations.

Impressive!

I am totally diggin' the first one. WOW!!

Wow! Love the first one! Great work, Stan!

First one is incredible! Great addition to your already stellar collection from this place!

These are wonderful Stan, especially the first one! They are gonna have to rename it the Great Stan Dunes National Park

Young man, I like your style! #1 is friggin' awesome!

Ow, ow, owie! Your hurtin me Stan! I have been trying to get down there for over a month now. Beautiful all the way around!

Stan, #1 is just ridicoulous. It's so good it's hard to believe it's real. Great work!!!

Ridiculous is the word for the first one!!!!!! I agree with Brett on that. WOW!!! Freak n awesome!!! Sir... your work keeps getting better and better....regards, Rajeev

Fantastic! 1 and 2 are really top-notch. Well done.

I gotta agree that #1 takes the cake. A very unique shot. Well done.

That night shot is freakin' insane! OK Now you gotta tell how you did it.

I'm lovin' #1! Way cool!!

+1 for #1, very surreal. I gotta get down there, love what you guys are getting down there.

Thanks, James; i mentioned the specs in ESS, actually i was mistaken on one point, it was two exposures blended, first for the fg at .5 h after sunset, ISO 800, f/4.0, 20s, the second (sky) at 1.5 h after sunset at ISO 1600, f/4, 20s also. Just a lot of waiting in the middle of the creek since i didnt want my tripod to float downstream in the pitch black!

Wow, that night shot IS the ultimate dunes shot! Seriously one of the best I've ever seen from there.

Magnificent night shot! The clouds really make this thing different from other starry night shots. This could be the cover shot for a cool video game among other possibilities. Way COOL!

The night shot is a mind-blower and overshadows the others, yet #2 is destined to be a classic. Congrats for pulling off the creative night vison image!

Awesome technique...This is my favorite thing about digital...these kinds of shots. Well done!

These are awesome!
I was planning on camping Wed night at the dunes, does anyone know sunset/sunrise times?

Loving that night shot, Stan. I also like your second image a whole bunch. What a wonderful day you had!

Wow - that night shot is UN-REAL. Congrats on a truly stunning image!! #2 is no slouch either!!