By far the most popular attraction in Death Valley are the sand dunes, and very much to my dismay.
As a photographer, the problem I encountered in both the early morning and late afternoon were thousands upon thousands of tourists' footprints. Aesthetically, it's such a buzz kill and really impedes your artistic vision when setting up a shot. You find yourself trying to crop out the trampled sand in-camera but there are just so many of them, it is next to impossible. The shot you see here was taken late afternoon moments before the sun set. While walking back to the parking lot, I took a detour to the east and found myself standing on pristine sand so I composed the shot with the unspoiled sand in the foreground and the much higher dunes in the distance. It would have taken me forever to clone out the prints so I just left it as is.
Yeah, all the footprints are a drag out there. You have to hope for a strong wind during the night to blow them all away, or as you did, venture more to the east into the dunes. That's what I usually do. I like your shot here, it looks very nice!
Yeah, all the footprints are a drag out there. You have to hope for a strong wind during the night to blow them all away, or as you did, venture more to the east into the dunes. That's what I usually do. I like your shot here, it looks very nice!
Jim
Thanks, Jim. I was hoping for an over night wind storm but no such luck.
My choices were to shoot from a distance or to zoom in to a specific sand pattern not affected by footprints which I did. Next time I'll follow your advice about moving to the east.
Yeah, all the footprints are a drag out there. You have to hope for a strong wind during the night to blow them all away, or as you did, venture more to the east into the dunes. That's what I usually do. I like your shot here, it looks very nice!
Jim
Ditto
Easily the best day I had there was just after a real blow.
You did a nice job of it. There can be a price to pay either way. It was blowing like crazy the morning I arrived. Clear sand but it took me a week to clean it out of my equipment afterwards.
Mickey wrote:
You did a nice job of it. There can be a price to pay either way. It was blowing like crazy the morning I arrived. Clear sand but it took me a week to clean it out of my equipment afterwards.
Thanks, Mickey, yes there's always a price to pay.
Wonderful lines, lights and shadows. I don't see much foot prints here. Very nice.
I like the somewhat toned down clouds which make the sand dunes look even more gorgeous.
-Kee
rhee wrote:
Wonderful lines, lights and shadows. I don't see much foot prints here. Very nice.
I like the somewhat toned down clouds which make the sand dunes look even more gorgeous.
-Kee
Thanks Kee, the footprints are on and around the background dunes. Appreciated your comment.
