Mark Metternich
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*Technicals for the Techie Minded:
A desert “pocket” generally refers to a relatively small area of land markedly different to its surroundings, like the desert plateaus that are sandy plains sparsely covered by bushes and small trees, surrounding this area. “Pockets” are also the areas where rare water is captured sometimes and wildlife often critically rely on. Many "pocket" areas have their unique names.
Because I was (and more often than not am) with a group, this was a quick handheld shot only to demonstrate some radical perspectives of the ultra wide lenses (Canon 11-24mm@11mm) while teaching. Almost no one has the ability to pre-visualize what the ultra wide lens perspectives can look like, so I love to teach people to take the camera OFF the tripod and first scour the area taking many "test" shots using a combination of the LCD and viewfinder. Then once people hone in their favorite/perfected composition(s), to go and match the tripod to their exact shooting position. I believe this (as opposed to composing on the tripod) opens up a whole world of nearly infinite exciting possibilities many would never see or photograph.
Post processing:
Again, every image I work on today has me pushing further and further into the future of lossless 32-bit RAW using Raw Smart Objects in Photoshop. Because I am very privileged to be able to do and teach post-processing for my living (when I am home - about 12-16 hours a day) my goal is to always stay fresh on the razor sharp cutting edge of technology. As the years go by, I am amazed at how many photographers (even fairly serious ones) start getting set in their ways. So far, I refuse. 
How the Smart Objects work is that the respective image is always taken to its fullest corrections, development and optimization in Lightroom CC 2018 (or Adobe Camera Raw). No stone is left unturned there! But because there is almost always another 25-40% (or more) quality potential in an image available by using the much more precision finesse tools in Photoshop, I now go into Photoshop as a 32 bit Smart Object (a RAW file NOT a Tiff, PSD, DNG, PSB...). Photoshop is now supporting more and more of its wonderful finesse tools there, but in lossless Raw! In other words, we can now bring images much further down the processing chain of fine tuned adjustments before turning it into to a rasterized file (Tiff, PSD, DNG, PSB or whatever...). What does this do for us? When done right, it gives us better quality and more pristine master files. Better color and tonal fidelity with less artifacts in the image!
Where we see this big time is in making quality enlargements. Anyone wanting to improve or even master fine art printmaking should be very interested in this! It is one of the reasons we are now able to make images in the 40" - 100"+ (inch) range that are incredible (can often fool photographers into thinking they were shot large format!). Anyone who does not believe this has not gone to the Carnevale Gallery in Caesars Palace, Las Vegas and seen FM member Robert Park's 106" (inch) New York shot (or his 80" Vegas Shot) taken with the Nikon D810! You can put your nose to the print and it still looks perfect!
*If you are interested in more information about these processes, simply message me.
So, with this image I needed to customize/localize the color noise reduction, luminance noise reduction, capture sharpening (pre-sharpening) and more and I was able to do it all as a Raw "Smart Object" using some simple Custom Luminosity Masks, the Layer Style "Blend if" sliders, as duplicated Raw Layers. I was also able to correct some minor local and global color/tonal issues. When all was said and done it was still in 32-bit lossless Raw. Lastly, a slight "Perspective Blend" (a very generic term describing a lot of things people can do today to shift the perspective of an image in a local area within an image using multiple files or even a single image) was used here to help frame the teardrop area a little better. That too was done as a Raw file in Photoshop.
Once finished with all the work, one just needs to save their precious Master file with its Layers intact, incase they ever want to go back and correct something about the image. But you also make a copy of the master file, Flatten it and then turn it into a 16 but Tiff, or whatever your favorite file format! Of course, then a downsized Jpeg Web image can be made out of it too.
The processes for mastering an fine art enlargement on the other hand are a bit comprehensive, so I wont try to describe that here. I will tell you that there is so much misinformation on the internet (and even in some books) it is challenging to get to the true best processes today. If you have questions about that, maybe follow me on Facebook or Youtube. I devote a lot of my career and time to that wonderful art form!
Lastly, we scored on the fog because my participants are the type willing to be flexible to chase the weather. I literally put in hundreds (or thousands) of hours studying the weather (from many different perspectives) each year to put people in the best possible places with the highest chances of great light. I NEVER follow a linear itinerary when guiding or doing my own photo adventures! So that is what I advocate. Let the weather lead you! As an example, last month (for 3 weeks) I put in 6000 miles of driving in the Pacific Northwest! But wow did we score!
I hope something here helps someone. Now I literally have a thunderstorm going by in my local area (tracking it by radar) and I must leave for a quick attempt at a coastal shoot!
All the best to you and yours and Great Light to you!
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