p.1 #1 · Death Valley | Nucular! It's pronounced 'Nu-cu-lar'
Hi guys,
here is one more shot from my latest roadtrip through the US that I would like to share here on the forum.
It's not hard to guess that it was taken in Death Valley. The title might say something to all of you, who
are familiar with "The Simpsons". In fact there was a cool photographer from california standing next to me
at that spot when I took the shot and his name was Homer. That's why I always have that special quote from
an episode on my mind while watching this photo
p.1 #2 · Death Valley | Nucular! It's pronounced 'Nu-cu-lar'
Oh man that sky is exploding with "plutonium"! Great shot.
If you can selectively brighten the foreground it may improve the image further by bringing out some detail in the geometric patterns of the dry lake bed.
p.1 #4 · Death Valley | Nucular! It's pronounced 'Nu-cu-lar'
This looks very dramatic on my monitor, but I do agree the foreground needs a bit more brightness, especially if you plan to make a print. Also maybe this image is level but it has a feel of tilting downward to the left.
Anyway this is a great image. You had great luck with the sunset, but luck aside, it is also nicely done.
p.1 #5 · Death Valley | Nucular! It's pronounced 'Nu-cu-lar'
Great catch, we all aspire to catch one of these.
My thoughts on the horizon was that it looks curved as if a non corrected lens was used. I also vote to raise shadows a bit. But this is still a fantastic shot.
p.1 #6 · Death Valley | Nucular! It's pronounced 'Nu-cu-lar'
Wow, incredible sky. Like others could lighten up the foreground but after some contemplation, it may take away from the explosion in the sky...I don't know but maybe you processed it this way on purpose.
Anyway, curious how both versions would look. This is one spectacular image.
p.1 #7 · Death Valley | Nucular! It's pronounced 'Nu-cu-lar'
Hi Hardy,
What a super cool color and clouds you had. Really sweet looking. And I will also add my vote to brightening up the ground layer. With the amount of light you had in sky the ground layer would definitely be brighter, brighten it enough to get some of that white to be shown again, though I would imagine that some of that awesome color in the sky would then be seen to reflecting or lighting up the ground layer.
p.1 #8 · Death Valley | Nucular! It's pronounced 'Nu-cu-lar'
Hi guys,
thanks for all the comments and feedback. Yes, in the end the foreground was a little bit too dark and i've
linked to a new version with a slightly brighter foreground. I think it really looks more balanced this way.
Camperjim wrote:
Also maybe this image is level but it has a feel of tilting downward to the left.
It was level. I've checked it several times but I had the same impression too before uploading the picture.
Sometimes the lines just trick the eye. In this case it's the curved borderline of the salt crust, which was
nearer to me on the right side than on the left side from my shooting position. I wasn't happy with this
issue for myself. So I decided to rotate the foreground by 0,5° CCW. I think it looks much better now.
At least for me it does
JimFox wrote:
though I would imagine that some of that awesome color in the sky would then be seen to reflecting or lighting up the ground layer.
Yes, that's true. A slight reflection would have been even better. But the surface of the salt there is blunt, which
seems to totally absorp all reflections. I have other shots from the same spot that I took on different days. There
are never any reflections on the ground. The color of the ground is always very even.
p.1 #9 · Death Valley | Nucular! It's pronounced 'Nu-cu-lar'
Glorious Light!
Had a glance on this last night but was too sleepy to comment but now....well, the edited version has now more pop on it and that,IMO,is much better to my eye!
p.1 #13 · Death Valley | Nucular! It's pronounced 'Nu-cu-lar'
JimFox wrote:
though I would imagine that some of that awesome color in the sky would then be seen to reflecting or lighting up the ground layer.
Yes, that's true. A slight reflection would have been even better. But the surface of the salt there is blunt, which
seems to totally absorp all reflections. I have other shots from the same spot that I took on different days. There
are never any reflections on the ground. The color of the ground is always very even.
Perhaps you misunderstood. The white of the salt pan is not going to reflect like water, but the white salt pan will and does reflect the color of the sky/clouds. I have seen it happen lot's of times there when I have shot in DV.
In fact, look at your new edit and you will see the colors of the sky reflecting on the salt pan.
p.1 #14 · Death Valley | Nucular! It's pronounced 'Nu-cu-lar'
docsmiles17 wrote:
For future reference, add the new version to the thread rather than substitute so viewers can see the change made.
I can understand your note but I only upload to 500px. It's because I don't want to
maintain a dozen copies in different forums/sites. Sadly they don't support different
versions for photos at 500px, so I can only replace the whole image there.
docsmiles17 wrote:
I think I like the original better as the new one has the whole image looking underexposed
That surprises me a little bit because I did only brighten up ~ the lower half
of the image.
JimFox wrote:
Perhaps you misunderstood. The white of the salt pan is not going to reflect like water, but the white salt pan will and does reflect the color of the sky/clouds. I have seen it happen lot's of times there when I have shot in DV.
Jim, of course the light in the sky is reflected a little bit by the salt but it's much
less than I would have expected. I do not expect it to be reflected like on a water
surface or so. But it seems that the salt at least in that area is like a sponge for
colored light. For example, check the other image that I've uploaded here some
time ago from the same area:
The sky over the valley was totally blood red up to Dante's View and beyond but
the near white/beige salt pan stayed almost gray in the dawn. I remember that my
white shirt was glowing very reddish too but the ground almost did not. That's what
I was trying to say.
