One from WSNM

As many of you have already seen Hank's post, it is known that I went south for spring break. Had this planned for about 6 months, but I knew that New Mexico is best known for wind in spring. It had to be a last minute decision to go and as it turned out the weather cooperated. Calm conditions and warm weather were on tap and we stopped off at White Sands and then over to Carlsbad for a day of underground exploration. I was sure to take my tripod underground so maybe I will have one to share from there in a few days.

Here is one of the shots I managed to get while as WSNM. It is fast and loose blended image with a hard transition along the ridge line. The sun had set about 10 minutes earlier and the sky had a nice orange glow lingering. Perhaps some of the color is a result of the recent dust storms in China.

Pixelation is hurting this one a little bit.

C&C welcome.

Love the graceful curves and light in the middle sand dunes, but the artifacts and banding present in the lower and upper areas of the image really hinder my enjoyment of the entire scene. What happened?

I like that you chose to present this in b&w, it really fits the subject.

John, Thanks for the input. Glad you like the lines. From what I can tell the banding is a down-rez artifact. Nothing like that is in the originals. Will have to explore this one some more this weekend.

Todd, Thanks for the B&W suggestion. I will try playing with that one as well.

You mean this is NOT an April Fools joke? Because this photo looks an awful lot like THIS. And there I thought I was just playing along.

I love the lighting and the dunes, Steve. I like the comp too, but the colors... This reminds me of a pop art poster. If that's your intent, then I understand, but personally, I think I'd desaturate this a bit maybe even due some hue tweaking. It's a wonderful image and worthy of your time.

Go Broncos!!!
Aside from the Saturation/Hue issues, the FG isn't doing much for me right now either, and I might just crop some of that out unless you can pull more detail out of it? I DO think there is something there, so hopefully you can rework this.

OK. So I am a bit tired and pushed the saturation too far for most folks. I will address that. Probably go B&W and work on the crop and bringing out the details.

Thanks for the comments.

The comp looks good Steve, but the banding/compression is killing the image!. Colours do look a little funky too for my tastes at least, I think if you re-work this one you'll have a winner!.

Thanks for the input Nick. We shall see what I come up with after a bit of rest and some clear thinking. Maybe I will post something from the caverns...

I also like the comp and wish we could see what this really looks like after your blend.

Thanks for the input Morris. It has been a busy weekend. Maybe I can get around to reworking and posting the next weekend.