In A Dream

This unique Anasazi petroglyph carved into the sheer black sheen of desert varnish on a boulder face is located near the San Juan River, and no one will ever know what went through the mind of the artist when he created it. I know I've had mornings where I felt like this in the past!

I took two images here...one using a polarizer and one without. I stacked the images and allowed some of the unpolarized sheen to be revealed. Just trying to get something more than a 'document' style shot here. Does it work for you?
Please try and ignore compression artifacts.

Still a bit early to be traipsing out into the desert. It was 98° when I photographed this work this weekend.

This certainly works for me!
This is a beautiful piece of art you've created. John. I like the way you've composed this off center and the contrast of colors.

Lovely! You did a great job capturing a unique perspective to make this simple shot more interesting.

It's has a pretty obviously heaby PS hand, but I think it's very cool! Works very good for me. It shows off the artistry of it's creator quite well.

Definitely works for me, John! I like the vignette effect here (not sure if it's a true vignette or coming from your polarized image), but the way it stops right at the figure's feet looks a tad funny somehow. I too have found that it's a challenge to put one's own artistic stamp on rock art photos. I've never been this successful at it. Nice work!

Very nice! The black rock really brings out the design!

Looks like a girl I once dated ...great image as usual, John.
Joe Rogers

Whatever you did works incredibly well here. The color and clarity of this is fantastic. As well as the luminosity. You took some ancient artist's work and made it have more impact than he could have dreamed of!
He included 5 toes and fingers which is cool, and then it looks like a duck attacked him. Or maybe he was a "birdman."

Wow, that is intense! Whether intentional or not, the vignetting is really nice on this. I like your partial polarization technique, too. The bird head? Well, let's just say there must've been some pretty magical plants around there when he decided to create this.

Works for me. I like the vignette too. It's hard to make rock art stand out sometimes. Nice.

John, I really like the effect you've created. It gets around the problem of so many Anasazi drawings, that they are relatively flat in tonality.

Now, amigo, please share with us what inspired you to try that particular technique for the shot. What I'm after is a look into the thought process behind the technique.

awesome, one of the best petroglyph photos I can recall seeing. Can't say I'd enjoy the heat, we've gotten quite a break from it up here, just recently got back from a bpacking trip on which I got dumped on by a snowstorm.

This is really sweet, John! I like the blending of the polarized and non-polarized.

Looks great for the conditions you experienced. Almost looks as if it was embroidered.

This is excellent - very nice work.

It looks like Larry Bird!
This is sweet, i like the vignette too!

I like the off-centering and tilt of the figure. On my laptop screen (so I cannot say it is accurate as i'm waiting on a new monitor) your pleasing processing makes it look like a it was painted with gold on black pumice. If you try a little more vignetting in the LRC, what would it look like?

You definitely made the petroglyph pop; much more interesting than the usual snapshots I see.