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Archive 2014 · Death Valley Monochrome (plus one +1)

  
 
gdanmitchell
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Death Valley Monochrome (plus one +1)


Two black and white photographs from my recent trip to Death Valley, both made on a day of spring snow in the park's mountains and clearing skies late in the day.

Enjoy!

Dan

"Desert Mountains, Spring Rain" - Rain/snow squalls above the Cottonwood Mountains
http://gdanmitchell.com/gallery/d/8284-3/DesertMtnsSpringRainCottonwoodsDEVABW20140402.jpg

"Clearing Storm, Panamint Mountains" - Remnant clouds above snow-dusted ridges of the Panamint Mountains
http://gdanmitchell.com/gallery/d/8282-2/PanamintMtnsClearingStormSnowBW20140402.jpg


One more... also "monochrome," but the chrome is blue:
"Rain, Cottonwood Mountains" - Afternoon rain from a passing storm falls over the Cottonwood Mountains.
http://gdanmitchell.com/gallery/d/8290-2/RainCottonwoodMountains20140402.jpg

And yet another... not monochrome:
"Desert Mountains, Stormy Sunrise" - Looking east across Death Valley before the storm closed in
http://gdanmitchell.com/gallery/d/8294-3/DesertMountainsSunriseStormSky20140402.jpg


Edited on Apr 13, 2014 at 12:04 PM · View previous versions


Apr 12, 2014 at 01:38 PM
dalongfellow
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Death Valley Monochrome (plus one +1)


I particularly like the second composition, Dan. A great sky and the cloud's shadows on the ground add a lot.

Dave



Apr 12, 2014 at 02:34 PM
JimFox
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Death Valley Monochrome (plus one +1)


Hey Dan,

I am liking the look of #2 the best here. Though I really like the sky in #1. With #1 I have 2 suggestions, first crop a bit from the top to lose that bit of sky in the upper left corner. And 2nd, brighten up the lit up areas on the ground just a little more, at least the areas in the middle and the left side.

It's always great when the clouds come out to play in DV.

Jim



Apr 12, 2014 at 02:38 PM
kentwaller
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Death Valley Monochrome (plus one +1)


terrific shots and very nice framing - #2 is my preference as well.


Apr 12, 2014 at 03:39 PM
gdanmitchell
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Death Valley Monochrome (plus one +1)


Thanks, all. Jim, that upper corner is the main "problem" with this image, and I'm still thinking about what, if anything, I'll do with it. I've lightened it considerably, but I felt and still feel that it provides a bit too much detail and contrast by comparison to the rest of the sky. I'm not sure that cropping is the answer, but I've considering either really reducing the contrast there or even cloning it out. We'll see...

I've added one more (blue) monochrome image to the set, this one focusing on backlit rain showers over the rising ridges of the Cottonwood Mountains, with bright backlight from afternoon sun.

Dan



Apr 12, 2014 at 11:00 PM
gdanmitchell
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Death Valley Monochrome (plus one +1)


Added two more photographs to this set—see original post. One is "blue monochrome," and the other is decidedly not monochrome.

Thanks.

Dan



Apr 13, 2014 at 12:04 PM
Timmeh
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Death Valley Monochrome (plus one +1)


Hi Dan,

I really like #1, and I'm sure it would look great printed. I agree with Jim on brightening the lit up mountains.

#4 is fantastic! The only keeper I got from Zabriskie was facing east. You got much more intense color from being higher up.

Tim



Apr 13, 2014 at 01:32 PM
gdanmitchell
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Death Valley Monochrome (plus one +1)


Timmeh wrote:
#4 is fantastic! The only keeper I got from Zabriskie was facing east. You got much more intense color from being higher up.


The fourth shot was made from a location that you also visited, perhaps a day or two before I was there. :-)

Shot #1 may fall into that category of "it is almost what I wanted it to be but not quite." I like elements of the scene quite a bit, but there are aspects that fall short of what I'm seeing in my mind. The interruption in the cloud texture at upper left is one issue. The relatively low contrast in the foreground mountains is another, along with the fact that there is more light on the right side of these mountains than on the left. I want to like this image, but in the end I think it will fall below a certain threshold for me. :-)

Dan



Apr 13, 2014 at 01:38 PM
roguecoolman
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Death Valley Monochrome (plus one +1)


#4! That is just unreal! It looks like you were shooting lava in Hawaii.


Jason



Apr 14, 2014 at 01:01 AM
mike717
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Death Valley Monochrome (plus one +1)


#4 is awesome Dan, it looks like the mountains are on fire. Of the monochromes I really like the layers in blue.

Mike



Apr 14, 2014 at 05:10 AM
barisaxer
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Death Valley Monochrome (plus one +1)


they look good small. I feel they would be great in large prints.


Apr 14, 2014 at 09:25 AM
shymon
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Death Valley Monochrome (plus one +1)


Really nice set with #2 the one that really stands out for me and demands to be printed large. Upper left in #1 doesn't bother me but does feel like the sunny areas on ground could pop a little more. Even as is--still a great photograph.


Apr 14, 2014 at 11:22 AM
dgdg
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Death Valley Monochrome (plus one +1)


I like #2 most as the clouds do not shadow the mountains helping both to look great.

David



Apr 14, 2014 at 11:31 AM
bf1951
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · Death Valley Monochrome (plus one +1)


i vote for the second image, very nice tones, good balance.


Apr 14, 2014 at 02:52 PM
g2photo
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · Death Valley Monochrome (plus one +1)


Do you shoot film for the B&W's or do a post conversion?


Apr 14, 2014 at 03:30 PM
gdanmitchell
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p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · Death Valley Monochrome (plus one +1)


Thanks for all the comments, folks. Interesting how many of you like #2—must be a lot of lovers of classic black and white landscapes around here!

g2photo: I shoot digital raw files and convert in post. Do I know ahead of time whether the photograph will end up in black and white or color? It depends. Sometimes I'm virtually certain, often I think there is a good chance, but occasionally I'm completely surprised. With both of these I realized at the time that black and white renditions would be possible. In the first case this was because the scene was very low contrast and simply lacked much color. In the second I knew that the striking clouds and deep blue sky could lend themselves to classic BW conversion, with the equivalent of using a yellow or red filter.

In short, the basics of my conversion technique are as follows. I convert the raw file in Adobe Camera Raw (ACR). If I'm already sure that I'm heading toward black and white, I may make some radical (and often somewhat ugly) adjustments to the color file here. I open the file as a smart layer in Photoshop. There I simply use the black and white adjustment layer to do the basic conversion, applying a filter as necessary. After that I often do some work with curves, frequently using masks so that I can apply different curves in different areas of the image. Final touch up might use the dodge/burn tool.

I cut my photographic teeth on black and white film, learning to develop and print film many years ago. However, at this point I am no longer interested in working with film, since I can produce even more beautiful prints with modern inkjet printers and papers.

Dan

Edited on Apr 14, 2014 at 07:18 PM · View previous versions



Apr 14, 2014 at 05:32 PM
Fred Miranda
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p.1 #17 · p.1 #17 · Death Valley Monochrome (plus one +1)


Dan,
Nice series.
The Panamint mountains capture look great. I like the strong contrast and the way you compose it.
Fred



Apr 14, 2014 at 05:43 PM
StephenS_CP
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p.1 #18 · p.1 #18 · Death Valley Monochrome (plus one +1)


Great set of B&W conversions. My preference is #1 just because I like its less common theme more than the "classic..." theme of #2. But even better was the discussion. I found it both instructive and timely. Thanks for the posts and the responses.


Apr 14, 2014 at 06:33 PM
gdanmitchell
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p.1 #19 · p.1 #19 · Death Valley Monochrome (plus one +1)


Stephen and Fred, thanks! Fred, that light over the Panamints as the storm cleared was something special.

Dan



Apr 15, 2014 at 09:58 PM
Jim Sanderson
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p.1 #20 · p.1 #20 · Death Valley Monochrome (plus one +1)


Looks very nice. I'm also a fan of the first two. I love to be down there when there are storm clouds brewing.

Jim



Apr 16, 2014 at 09:10 AM





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