This is a shot that I took at the Race Track that did not make the article - however, I still really like it a lot. Steve Kossack just sent me his Death Valley DVD and it has a similar shot on the cover - taken super close to the rock giving a phenominal effect. Next time....

James

One more thing I wanted to mention about this shot. As I mentioned in the article, there was a nasty cloud hanging over the mountains to the West. This caused a problem where the foreground was in shade and the far horizon was nice and blue. This is a composite shot using Roman's HDR method.

James

i have seen other images of these rocks & how they create those tracks just moving around 'on their own' it just amazes me that they do that - i belive by actually being blown by the wind, right?

nice pic, BTW. i think if the sky was a tad darker/brighter that it might be stronger - what'd'you think?

jp

"nice pic, BTW. i think if the sky was a tad darker/brighter that it might be stronger - what'd'you think?"

Hey JP,

It is a valid criticism. As I had mentioned earlier, it is an HDR image with very different light in the background vs what was in the foreground...specifically, the light was falling on the back mountains was radically different from what was on the floor in front of me. I was very pleased that I was able to put this together out of the two images.

James

james - given the conditions you describe, it sounds like a perfect candidate for HDR. however, it doesn't look like you captured enough of the range? i only have the small file to work with from saving it off the web, but here is my offering. not sure if you'll like everything about it, but it sure seems to me to be an improvement, no? was this multiple exposures or a single RAW?

jp

Hi JP,

I like what you did to the file. You nicely saturated the sky in a way that I did not. LOL, it does not look at all like I was photographing, but it is very beautiful. Well done.

James

hmmm - that is a bit of a surprise. i tweaked the sky just a touch in Lab. i would have thought it would be pretty close to what you had, but i guess not. well, i guess it's one of those cases where the mind's eye trumps reality, eh?

so when you are there, can you actually see these rocks moving? i am still in awe over this phenomenon.

jp

Hey JP,

No, the sun was setting and the background sky was light. There was still blue to it, but it was not a dark rich blue. Having said that, I still really like what you did with the file. I don't mind darkening the skies and such.

James

thanx, james. i'm glad you liked it. i know it could be better, but all i had was thew small file posted for the internet.

but i'm still curious about the rocks sliding around - when you're there, can you actually see them moving?

jp

Hi JP,

I found this interesting link while searching for this very answer. LOL, the answer so far seems that no one really knows how the rocks move and how fast they go. Apparantly, if anyone ever did witness the rocks moving, it has not been recorded in any meaningful way.

James

http://funnel.sfsu.edu:16080/courses/geol350/DVguide.pdf