One from Shiprock New Mexico from a few weeks ago. This was a fall back location for me. I was out shooting Bisti Badlands but was not yet familiar enough with it to trek out in the darkness at 4am to shoot the sunrise. My 2 thoughts were first safety and also I didn't want to be walking and stepping on perhaps fragile things in the dark until I was familiar enough with the area to avoid damaging the terrain. I didn't want to miss what was looking to shape up to an epic sunrise, so I decided to go to a local area I had shot before and was familiar with. And in this case Shiprock fit the bill. It was maybe 40 minutes from where I was, so I could make it there before sunrise easily.
Now I had a pretty epic sunrise, and the color loving people in the forum are going to hate me for this as the sunrise was really sweet looking. I am not sure why I am doing more B&W recently, but once I did the conversion on this sunrise to B&W I was hooked. So here is the B&W conversion from that sunrise.
Love the B+W treatment. I might try to burn the top right hand corner to create a bit more balance with the top left corner. Might help keep you eye centered on the rock formation a bit better! Great shot Jim!
Stark, prominent monolith on a desolate land with a dark ominous sky.
Love it.!
Dan
Hey Dan, glad you liked it! Somehow the B&W really makes it stand out.
Jim
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Hardcore wrote:
Love the B+W treatment. I might try to burn the top right hand corner to create a bit more balance with the top left corner. Might help keep you eye centered on the rock formation a bit better! Great shot Jim!
Thanks Corey, I appreciate the comments. I hadn't thought about that upper right corner, but that is an idea I will try.
wbrad wrote:
Shiprock is one location I really hope to visit one day. I love this interpretation of it.
Wayne
Thanks Wayne! For sure you should visit it. It's a really cool rock with lot's of angles to shoot it from.
Jim
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Jeffrey wrote:
Stark.
Without color, this appears to be anytime mid day.
B&W is fun.
Glad you like it Jeffrey. Yeah, I had the same thought as I was looking over the images before I posted this. It's amazing how the color shot is clearly sunrise, and yet the B&W looks as if it could have been taken any time of time just about. That's where the color can help I think.
And yeah, B&W is fun. Growing up, I always had a camera with Tmax in it, there was something cool about shooting B&W. But with the change to digital, for some reason the B&W has taken a back seat.
In a small way I almost wish that the Ship Rock was a little more dominant. But, on the other hand, this works extremely well also. Just babbling is all.
Spectacular shot, Jim! I've always wanted to visit Shiprock...
I feel like the edges of the image are a bit too un-interesting, maybe, I'd almost prefer to see a less wide view if possible. Not sure if this is ~24mm, or wider, but I think a bit more compression would have helped. Either that, or step back, zoom out even more, and crop to a panorama that gives an even greater sense of place.
It's too bad BW gets a bad rap for landscapes in the modern days. When used appropriately BW conveys a mood and feeling that color can't (vice versa of course, unique on their own). I like the BW adaptation there Jim.
Great shot Jim. I give you props for driving out there in the dark. My wife and I drove out here for sunset in our Jetta and it was tricky. That road was crazy how it just fell away in parts. Lots of careful driving The BW really bring out some great textures. I'm sure the color version is great also but I like your processing choice here.
This is really nice Jim. But I hope you'll be posting the color version as well . One thing I'd suggest though, is to fix the three darker areas in the sky just "north-east" above the Shiprock. Maybe they were a bit differently colored clouds and they are a bit distracting in this b&w conversion.
I had done some early morning and late afternoon shots of Shiprock many years ago (using Kodachrome) and loved the light. Never ventured out in the dark.
But your interpretation in monochrome is really quite splendid. You inspire me to revisit my old slides and play a bit with scans using Silver Efex Pro.....
The BW really bring out some great textures. I'm sure the color version is great also but I like your processing choice here.