4 parks in 5 days

just returned from a whirlwind tour of Carlsbad, Guadalupe, Big Bend, and White Sands. Not surprisingly, i took the most photos at White Sands. Here's a sampler: 1) from White Sands at sunset

2) Guadalupe mountains, late afternoon

3) Big Bend, the famous 'window'

4) missed the nice sunset at Big Bend by one day, so was stuck with blue skies, here's sunset!

5) The Rio Grande. A couple of horses over in Mexico that you cant see too well in this jpeg...

6) Big Bend was real dry, looked like it hadnt rained in years...but interesting colors!

7) White in Black and White!

8) Sierra Blanca, White Sand Sunset. A fun trip!

Whoa, that's a lot of driving for a 5 day time period. Glad you were able to get some shooting in also. A great series of images. The B&W White Sands is my favorite of the group. Guadalupe Mountains and Big Bend are both on my list of places I've been but really want to get back to and spend more time exploring. Nothing from Carlsbad made the cut?

No, Jason--i was too lazy to drag my tripod to the caverns; i actually would have had a decent shot or two but since theyre hand held theyre blurry at least at full scale

i actually would have had a decent shot or two but since theyre hand held theyre blurry at least at full scale

Thats why you gotta' crank up that ISO, boy!!!!!!


Stan, #2 gets my attention; good comp, solid cloudiness, lots of stuff going on....

Now I know why the gasoline prices spiked this last week.

I like #7 best. Looking forward to seeing the rest of your collection.

I really like the last two. Nice work.

Looks like it was a fun trip. I am with the others that #7 is very nice. Were these taken to the north of the far loop pull-out?

That's a very good series, Stan. I particularly like the colors in #1, and then the B&W shots next.

Beautiful series stan, I think that the first and last ones are my favs. Great work! you sure do get out alot.

I love those first two Big Bend pics, and the pastels of the last one. I'd like the first one more if that big black blotch of vegetation wasn't there. But I love the colors in it. I see some halos around some of your transitions. Are #1 and #4 hdr?

I'm really diggin' the black and white of El Capitan and the Guadalupe Mountains.

I love the b&w conversions on 2 & 7. Was that in Photoshop, Lightroom or Nik s/w?

You are a mad-man Stan!!!

I am impressed just by that fact you combined another park with Big Bend! Great shots. I am partial to the Guadalupe Mtns B&W!

You must have been traveling at a frantic pace. I really like the second to last shot...great B&W conversion. All in all, another successful outing for you, Stan!

Nice series, Stan - 4, 3, 1, 7 in that order are my favorites. #4 is really a standout, IMHO - it's got it all.

Great set, Stan. Love the first one, blues look very unique and pretty here. My favorite is the #7 (B&W). I can even see it cropped to a square (less sky) and put in some contemporary frame... wow, very lovely.

Were you flying between parks or just aggressively speeding? That's a lot of miles! Reminds me of a movie, I think it was called "If This Is Tuesday It Must Be Belgium".

My favorites are the 1st two Big Bend shots.

Thanks, folks! Long drives are definitely a sin of mine--its why i storm chase and have driven x-country on every interstate and Canada 1 to boot
Chris: even at ISO 1600 the exposures were 1-2 seconds
Steven: yep, on the 4 mile loop trail at the end of the road.
Todd: thanks, theyre manual blends--i dont see the haloes youre referring to, i do see some jpeg artifacts though.
Bert: its PS CS4, id love to get Nik though, seems to be a great tool...
thanks for all the helpful input!

Stan, looks like you had a fun-filled and productive trip. Like your BWs best.

Bill Brennan

Stan that is a great set of photos. I think #2 would be my favorite but I really like them all. That is some driving to get to them all :)

Lynn

Nice images and looks like a nice trip to my part of the country.

Five days is not alot of time for that country. 5 days in each place is a beggining.....

The B&W shots really do it for me...very nice!

Nice series, Stan. I really like your B&W processing. My favorite of this series though is #4.

Sweet shots; I really like the first and last. So, the million dollar question: how did you like the White Sands compared to the Great Sand Dunes?

Great series Stan. I really like the B&W conversion on number 2

Jack, sorry for the delay--just caught your comment (thanks!). That's easy: the GSD blow White Sands away by a wide margin, the surroundings, variety, height of the dunes etc are just way more impressive. But I also put GSD ahead of places like the Grand Canyon--so i might have a little bias White sands is definitely a very unique and interesting place, ive never seen anything quite like it.

7 really, really stands out for me. I'd be tempted to clone out the clouds on the edge - emphasize that lone cloud. But it's an impressive image as is.