This was my original vision of Death Valley, pretty desolate. Badwater Basin, at 282 feet below Sea Level, it is pretty bleak. This image was taken about a mile in from the road. The salt/sand crust was pretty well broken up. The miles of salt flats gave me a very chilling feeling (even though it was over 80 degrees). Can you imagine what the first explorers thought when they came across this bleak landscape.
I saw this image of Titus Canyon in two different ways. Our workshop group was photographing details on the canyon granite walls. I turned back around and saw the sun highlighting the colors on the mountain face above. Cool shadows in the canyon provided a sharp contrast. The color highlights are what caught my eye. But this was a black and white photography workshop. Throughout the workshop, Chuck Kimmerle had been emphasizing seeing and thinking in black and white as we take our shots. I tried to put on a “B&W filter” over my eyes. I started to see greater contrast between the sky, the highlighted mountain face, and two levels of shadow contrast along the canyon walls. Exploring further, I began to see the subtle (and not so subtle) tonal contrasts in the canyon walls as well as the mountain face. I locked the scene in my mind.
Reviewing my images back at home, I picked this image as one of my favorites. I processed it in B&W and was able to capture the B&W image that I had previously set in my mind. The following is the B&W version.
These images are not creative. However, for me they represent a step in the learning process of seeing and thinking in B&W.
The color in this section of mountains truly looks like an “artist’s pallet”. The different mineral colors exposed by geological upheavals and erosion made this scene look so out of place against the soft browns of the surrounding hills. Patches of color were everywhere. Some images are just not to be made into black and white.
Just a few moments after I took the image in my previous blog, the sun broke above horizon creating a much greater contrast between the highlights and shadows. The softness of the foreground versus the interesting pattern of shadows and ridges on the mid-ground ripples caught my eye.
This was my second try in the Mesquite Dunes. A few of us got up early to catch the sunrise highlight the dunes while the others caught up on their sleep. As the sun broke the horizon it cast soft shadows and warm highlights. The contrast was very subtle. This morning was a learning experience for me. My objective was to see the contrasting shapes and lines, not necessarily capture that one great image. Chuck Kimmerle gave us a few very good starting point insights, then took off over the dunes. I followed his footsteps across the valleys and ridges, watching were he stopped shuffled around, put his tripod down (or not), then racing off to the next stop. At these stopping points, I took my time looking around trying to pick out something that peaked my interest. Sometimes an image appeared, sometimes it didn’t. It was a great morning just to be out and enjoy a wonderful landscape.
Where to start … the grand vista?, shapes?, colors?, details?, shadows? … too many choices!!! As soon as I walked into Mesquite Dunes, my eyes and mind shot around in every direction. There were just too many opportunities and a very narrow window to capture the light of the setting sun. I quickly dropped behind our workshop group as I saw one thing after another. I went after it all! When I reviewed my images, I was pretty disappointed. I ended up with a lot of “snapshots”. Lesson learned here … don’t be greedy, let the image come to me. Be patient, let my eyes and mind wander … the image will come.
This was one of the few images that did “call out” I saw it in the distance and walked around several minutes before I found a perspective that “clicked” for me. The curve shadow and bright highlights on the ridge separated the dune from the distant mountains.
This is a different perspective of the curved road in my prior two posts. Once I see something that catches my eye, I tend to focus on that element from different perspectives. This image is a horizontal pan of the bending curve. I tried “S”-swipes, “C”-swipes. and horizontal pans. A gentle horizontal pan gave me the balance between blur and detail that I was looking for. The image was processed in NIK Silver Efex Pro. I focused on highlighting the shadows and the shape of the curve. I chose sepia toning with a soft blurred white vignette to represent the feeling of the image in its natural tone. It is no longer an image of the landscape, but an abstract of shadows and curves.
I liked the “S-curve” and thought I would climb up to the top of the hill and get an overall view with the color/tones of the mountains in the background. I converted to B&W and tried to maintain the separation of the color tonalities. What is your preference?
It was mid-morning following a great shoot at Zabriskie Point. The landscape was filled with harsh shadows, bright surfaces, and subdued colors. Nothing caught my eye. I was about ready to walk around and look for some interesting view. Then right in front of me was this graceful “S-curve”. Two of our workshop leaders (Chuck Kimmerle and John Barclay) had previously emphasized the point not to force an image … but let the image come to you. In this case, a little patience payed off as this image engulfed my focus. Once seen, several other opportunities arose … to be continued in future blogs.
The repetition of these ridges caught my eye before sunrise. I waited until the sun just touched the top of the ridges to take the image. I experimented in Nik’s Silver Efex Pro 2 to accentuate the shadows from the ridge highlights while still keeping details in the valleys.