Sand and Sunlight

[abraxas]

 

[Wozza]

Duo-tone? Great effect. looks very dramatic! Wonderful light.

 

[danir]

Wow.
I think that's my favorite of your pictures. I really love all the light/shadow play.

Dani.

 

[abraxas]

Duo-tone? Great effect. looks very dramatic! Wonderful light.

Thanks, and it was a morning of sentimental value to me to boot.

Wow.
I think that's my favorite of your pictures. I really love all the light/shadow play.

Dani.

Thank you Dani- Hope I do even better next time

 

[Trenton Romulox]

Wow, superb. Your shots have such depth and atmosphere to them. I honestly can't think of one shot of yours that I've seen that I didn't like. Great work as usual. Perhaps one of your best.

 

[Antithesis]

Nice shot. I'd like to see the image full size or in a print because It looks a little chunky (for complete lack of a better word) near the bottom. There's just a little too much going on for my eyes to handle. Still, wonderful shot, you have definetely mastered the composition of landscapes.

 

[RKW3]

Very cool!

 

[abraxas]

Wow, superb. Your shots have such depth and atmosphere to them. I honestly can't think of one shot of yours that I've seen that I didn't like. Great work as usual. Perhaps one of your best.

Thanks Trenton. I really appreciate your remarks.

Nice shot. I'd like to see the image full size or in a print because It looks a little chunky (for complete lack of a better word) near the bottom. There's just a little too much going on for my eyes to handle. Still, wonderful shot, you have definetely mastered the composition of landscapes.

First, thanks- I really give composition my best shot. Wish I knew then what I think I know now though.

I've been a bit concerned with the "chunky" going on at the bottom. The effect is caused by saltation, the basic way that eolian sand dunes are formed. In this case the wind had shifted nearly 90 degrees during high winds the evening before. The result of this shift can be seen in the 100%-sized detail following.

This detail, looking down and east, shows that the previous predominate direction of the wind was from the northeast. Later the wind shifted and a much stronger wind came in from the southeast (Which I had seen as I entered the valley late afternoon the day before). Wind direction can be determined by the gentler slope being the upwind side. The smaller set of ripples in the sand show under the taller, which were formed by stronger winds and an abrupt change in direction. The wind storm didn't last long enough to entirely cover the smaller ripples with the larger. The effect is what appears to be pixelization(?) in smaller versions of the photo. Danm!

Usually these dunes are littered with countless footprints in the summer. This was taken maybe in mid-June. I was fortunate to get shots free of the tracks when I did. I had picked up my then 14 year old grand-daughter from the Las Vegas airport the day before. She had never seen Death Valley, so that was the first stop on the list of places we dragged the girl to. I had her awake and on the dunes an hour before sunrise the next morning. So in a sense, this is a bit of a peek into my family album (sorry). Quite a day though. We started out below sea level and ended up at 10,000 above sea level at the Bristlecone pine forest.

All in all, I'd rather have the transvection over the footprints.

The little goodies that appear to be jpg artifacts are, jpg artifacts.

Very cool!

Thank you Robbie!