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A Wind Blown Dawn At The Death Valley Sand Dunes
A Wind Blown Dawn At The Death Valley Sand Dunes
fulgent


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: Stock Photography II (Advanced Editing IV)
Camera: Canon EOS-300D Rebel
Location: Death Valley Sand Dunes, Death Valley, California
Date: Mar 14, 2005
Aperture: 13
ISO: 100
Shutter: .6
Galleries: Landscape, Travel
Date Uploaded: Mar 17, 2005

 Spent a very windy night in the car waiting for dawn. Arrived at the dunes just before the sky started to lighten pre-dawn. Headed out to get closer to the biggest dune.

There were about a dozen other photographers there that morning in spite of wind about 25 miles per hour gusting up to 40 perhaps. So some of the more interesting dunes already had foot trails.

This was my very first shot on that day.

Open, CRW_1927
Misc.Raw Adjustment Settings
Convert to PSD file
Crop to 8x10
clone out 4 small defects,
Select mountains and sky, make channel
Select distant dunes, make channel
Create new layer with copy of sky for adjustment purposes
Adjust the different areas with
Hue/Saturation
Levels
Brightness/Contrast
Shadow/Highlight
Dodge, Burn and Sponge tools
Desaturate Red on Mountains and Sky
Image size
Optimize for web.

Statistics
Place: 13 out of 258
Avg (all users): 6.8978
Avg (commenters): 7.6471
Avg (participants): 6.8015
Avg (non-participants): 7.0449
Views since voting: 1742
Views during voting: 396
Votes: 225
Comments: 22
Favorites: 1 (view)

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AuthorThread
 04/08/2005 04:55:14 AM
Which one of the peaks is the highest "Whitney"? Oh and its's an Excellent photo!
 03/28/2005 10:24:44 AM
Wonderful image. Great editing here.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 03/28/2005 12:32:40 AM
Congratulations on your 14th placement. I love all those ripples.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 Comments Made During the Challenge
03/27/2005 07:06:57 PM
Beautiful. My favorite of the challenge
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 03/27/2005 05:02:26 PM
Perfect timing on this... the contrast between the warm tones of the sand adn the rich purple of the BG mountains is beautiful. I like your use of the foreground object.
there is a slight halo over the mountains, might be USM artifact?
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 03/27/2005 10:26:10 AM
Terrific colors, composition and the dof is just breathtaking! 9
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 03/26/2005 08:44:23 AM
great light, exposure, color layering near to far, and good dof focus of all objects
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 03/25/2005 03:00:34 PM
Any travel brochure would be proud to display this image...a bit too much dodge at bottom for what I can see
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 03/25/2005 08:26:56 AM
Gorgeous golden glow contrasted with the distant blue of the mountains. Also, the wood in the foreground leads my eyes right into the photo and gives a very nice sense of perspective. Great! 10
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 03/25/2005 02:57:12 AM
Nice
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 03/24/2005 05:15:34 PM
Interesting how the purpleblue vs gold contrast can be found between the sky and the sand, but returns with the foreground object and the sand. Interesting how the light falls on that foreground subject, bit unexpected. Good.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 03/23/2005 08:52:38 PM
Stunning!!!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 03/23/2005 05:12:41 PM
to grainy... sorry
 03/22/2005 08:17:56 PM
unbelievably beautiful! are we looking at dead tree remains at the bottom? 9. Reviewing my votes... bumping to a 10.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 03/22/2005 05:14:54 PM
Very pretty. i have a big issue with your placement of that wood in the foreground, and your cropping of the shaped sand around it that would really draw the eye is only you'd ncluded enough of it. Surely just crouching down would have enabled you to place that part of your composition more closely to the background, and to thus give some sense of continuity to the scene rather than this dissociation - an effect only enhanced by the very weird light around the wood.

The reason that very low placemtn is a problem is one not often understood, I think: and not as simple as a 'rule of thirds' thing, but more to do with how easily your viewer's eye will wander out of fframe if you give it half a chance - and that placement is just the half-chance needed.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 03/22/2005 12:57:24 AM
Tooo much noise. Would have done well in B&W for the Adams challenge.
 03/21/2005 07:28:53 PM
Dunes images are always in demand. Great colors.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 03/21/2005 06:06:05 PM
awesome
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 03/21/2005 05:04:22 PM
amazing capture especially were the orange meets the blue.... the branch in the foreground is kinda wierdly edited, there is a part that almost has a yellow and purplish hue to it. but anyways when i cover the bottom half of the image its a perfect shot imo. 9
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 03/21/2005 12:02:40 PM
The colors are very striking. Good luck.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 03/21/2005 03:58:32 AM
This is great, the contrast in colors between the foreground and blue mountains and the detail are wonderful.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 03/21/2005 12:54:05 AM
Another place I wish I was today! Lovely composition. Colors are vivid--they almost look as if they were in a studio. Nice work. 9
  Photographer found comment helpful.


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