Stovepipe Sand Dunes at Sunrise

Hey Guys,

These are two images that I did in Death Valley on our first morning out there. The light was a bit cooler than I recalled it last year. There was not a cloud in the sky, and there was not much color to the sunrise. However, there was quite a bit of wind that made the scene a bit different as well. I attempted to take advantage of the wind by dragging the shutter a bit to see what kind of effects I could get out of them. The question is - does it work (particularly on the 2nd shot)?

James

James,
I like the effect -- particularly in the second shot where there isn't as much other stuff to distract the eye.

Nice job of taking what the environment gives you.

Jim

These shots do show the nice forms of the dunes, and the 2nd shot gives us a nice look at the ripples. Considering the conditions, you got nice results. I studied these two for a while to see what it was that seemed slightly compositionally 'off' to my eye. The two things I came up with are the leading lines taking my eye out of the pic - mid bottom in the first pic, and mid left in the 2nd - and the slight busy nature of the first shot. Those are small points, of course, but when your photography is at a high level, a few nit-pick points might be useful.

I really like the range of tones, shadows and highlights in the first one. Additionally the sand blowing is a nice touch.

Thanks all for the comments. So let me get back to the first image a bit. Do we as a group think that it is 'too much?' One of the things I have been doing is trying to isolate elements of an image in my landscapes. The first shot absolutely does not do this...however, I thought that the use of lines and patterns were quite interesting in the composition.

So...let me ask...what would you do different with this image?

James

It's a tough question, James. You almost have to be there to know the possibilities/challenges, I suppose. Is it too much? In the sense that it tries to get those angles as well as the soft layering of the fading horizon, and the green patches in the frame, maybe yes. The second question (what to do differently?) is more complex. My approach, taken from a mentor, is to "compose what you want in the frame and eliminate all else". With that in mind, here are two options, neither of which is all that impressive, but they do take away the distractions to the sweeping lines you want to show.
http://www.pbase.com/rickards/image/95413737.jpg
http://www.pbase.com/rickards/image/95413740.jpg
What each of these do, is to stop the feature dune from being the subject. The subject becomes the complex lines of the many dunes.

Hey Jim,

Thanks. While I agree that the two crops are not great, they do show me the area that is throwing you off...the green shrubs and the mountain/skyline in the back. For example a shot showing more of the dune in the lower right and the dune on the top left exclusing all else might have been better.

Also, it looks to me that the horizon in my shot is slightly off kilter though the rest of the foreground (does 'foreground' have an 'e' in it?) looks as I want it to.

Thoughts?

James

Hi James,

I like your first image of the dunes. The areas of light and dark in the dunes give the image plenty of depth and bring the viewer into the photograph. What time of the day did you make this photograph?

I agree with you about how much is included in the image. I held a card over the top part of the image down to a point just above the peak of the dune in the upper left and it confirmed for me that the distant background in this image is more of a distraction. To me it doesn't add anything to your photograph. So I guess I agree with you about the crop to exclude everything else. Doing that also eliminates any perception of a non-horizontal horizon.

I like the second shot

The first has to many distractions; the trees between the dunes, the background, and the leading line along the dune in the foreground that seems to leave one looking for "where am I" once they get to the end of the leading line.

Nevertheless, excellent attempt, good exposure, good effects.

I didn't see the horizon as 'off'. The hills rise and fall, so you can tilt it either way (a bit) without a problem. I agree with your suggestion re the lower right and upper left dunes. Composing for them together should work.
Another thought, this time on #2. When I crop the bottom to make the leading line go to bottom left corner, it looks better to me.
BTW "foreground" is spelled correctly.