Boots full of Sand

Gallery: LandscapePosted May 1, 2011517 views28 comments

Thanks for all the comments on the Totem Pole image

Here is a shot I took at the Ibex Dunes in Death Valley NP. This was a fun place to check out with the remote off-roads to get to the dunes. The clouds and heavy wind were a huge asset for this opportunity. I was with Marc A. and several others for this sunset. It was quite the work out hiking all over these dunes! I have several images I want to process from this evening. I liked this one in particular because of the huge funnel cloud looming over the dune. This image looks great when viewing at full size, there is a nice wave of sand blowing over the peak that is back lit by the setting sun. I did include the larger presentation to see it.

The sand was everywhere, hence the title! I should have got a photo of Marc, he was body surfing down the dunes!! I am sure he had sand in more places than just his boots :)

I have to thank Zack S. for assisting me with some masking techniques to control the light in this scene.

Any comments are welcome

Nikon D3s, 14-24mm F2.8, 1/60sec, ISO200, F16, single RAW image

Comments

28 comments

Comment posted by Daniel Ewert on May 1, 2011 at 8:37 PM

Those clouds in the sky add a lot of interest to this one and the gold and blue colors complement each other nicely. Nice scene!

Registered on June 2, 2009, 103 Posts, 1500 Comments

Comment posted by Tony Kuyper on May 1, 2011 at 8:46 PM

Wow! Almost surreal in its beauty. Powerful and well-rendered scene.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 364 Posts, 22328 Comments

Comment posted by John Mumaw on May 1, 2011 at 8:55 PM

This is another excellent image, James.
A gorgeous, perfectly lit sand dune and dramatic skies...what more can you ask?
Judging from the quality of your work from this journey so far, I should have tagged along.

Registered on September 9, 2005, 62 Posts, 2289 Comments

Comment posted by Ken Smith on May 1, 2011 at 9:12 PM

Wow! Really like the dark more open foreground and the french curve ever brighter and tight dark shadow as the dune falls away. The light draws the viewer in so well. Super shot.

Registered on September 5, 2008, 449 Posts, 2444 Comments

Comment posted by Neil Paskin on May 1, 2011 at 9:25 PM

Beautiful James - the light is fabulous and very well captured. The diagonal extending from dune to cloud works very nicely along with a fine all round comp.

Registered on May 30, 2008, 7 Posts, 39 Comments

Comment posted by James Fougère on May 1, 2011 at 11:08 PM

Thank you for the great comments

I will be back in the area this November John, so maybe we can hook up then!

I have a few more from this evening at the dunes I like. I will post them soon.

Registered on October 25, 2010, 41 Posts, 831 Comments

Comment posted by Mark Metternich on May 1, 2011 at 11:30 PM

Wow James, that is striking! It looks so clean and has just a touch of that soft diffused lighting! Way to go.

Registered on June 19, 2009, 276 Posts, 6240 Comments

Comment posted by James Fougère on May 1, 2011 at 11:50 PM

Thanks Mark, I am slowly getting the PS processing techniques

Registered on October 25, 2010, 41 Posts, 831 Comments

Comment posted by Jorne de Bruin on May 2, 2011 at 4:49 AM

Superb scene, the cloud looks great and I love the sand blowing off the top in the larger image!

Registered on June 26, 2008, 178 Posts, 2136 Comments

Comment posted by Nick Bristol on May 2, 2011 at 10:08 AM

This is wonderful James! The clouds, color, light, texture and comp are all terriffic! Beautiful shot. The large version is awesome to look at.

Nick Bristol
Lone Rock, WI

Registered on February 1, 2004, 752 Posts, 14140 Comments

Comment posted by Doug Koepsel on May 2, 2011 at 10:25 AM

I really like the splendid lighting on the front dune across the ripples and how the light tales off into the shadows, the soft curve and the blowing sand. Quite a different cloud above to parrallel the dune line.
To me, the image is a little off balance though and I wish to see just a little more on the left. Maybe this is because the cloud is such a strong leading line and it takes me to the distant dune right along the left edge.

Registered on April 1, 2010, 196 Posts, 1592 Comments

Comment posted by Zack Schnepf on May 2, 2011 at 11:09 AM

Awesome James! You did a fantastic job on this one, both on the capture side and the processing side. I fell in love with this one right away, the surreal geometric shapes, beautiful light, composition are fantastic. Well done my friend!

Registered on November 1, 2003, 403 Posts, 2528 Comments

Comment posted by Shaun Mazurek on May 2, 2011 at 12:19 PM

This a submlime dunes shot. The Cloud formation plays off of the leading line on the crest of the dune perfectly.

Registered on June 12, 2010, 21 Posts, 162 Comments

Comment posted by John Fan on May 2, 2011 at 2:02 PM

Awsome! I like the texture of the sand and the perfect alignment of cloud.

Registered on August 24, 2010, 135 Posts, 489 Comments

Comment posted by Bill Chambers on May 2, 2011 at 2:06 PM

Very pretty James! Beautiful composition and great light.

Registered on April 10, 2005, 753 Posts, 21216 Comments

Comment posted by Ian Cameron on May 2, 2011 at 2:08 PM

Totem pole image was very nice but this one for me is a whole lot better. Lovely sky great sand tones and delicious soft shadows.

Registered on August 6, 2004, 1125 Posts, 3318 Comments

Comment posted by Robert Dayton on May 2, 2011 at 2:33 PM

Beautiful, James! I have never been to the Ibex Dunes, and this
image encourages me to make the trip. Considering the lovliness
of the clouds the "rule of thirds" does not apply here. Great color
and good lines.

Registered on November 11, 2008, 281 Posts, 3958 Comments

Comment posted by Ron Pullen on May 2, 2011 at 3:15 PM

Stunning capture for certain!

Ron

Registered on December 18, 2005, 74 Posts, 1413 Comments

Comment posted by James Fougère on May 2, 2011 at 3:21 PM

I have a version of this image, where the ridges in the sand appear deeper from a slightly different amount of light that was coming from the setting sun :)

Doug, I see what you mean, I do have RAW files where you see more of the left side of the scene, I will check them out. Thanks for the comment.

Registered on October 25, 2010, 41 Posts, 831 Comments

Comment posted by Mat Malone on May 2, 2011 at 5:23 PM

James, this is awesome. The processing here might be my favorite of all your images that I've seen.

Registered on December 15, 2008, 91 Posts, 882 Comments

Comment posted by Vijay Raj on May 2, 2011 at 8:01 PM

Great capture, the sand dune and the funnel cloud make a great point and counterpoint which balances the image so well. The light especially hitting the dune is crisp. Intact I see the shadows leading the eye through the edges of the dune. Very nice indeed.
Planning to work with the Nikon lens married to my 5DMkII, would love to know whether it is possible to work with this lens without filters. Agreed that exposure blends can you some room but what about the polariser? The light in my part of the world does not help much.

Registered on November 22, 2010, 29 Posts, 100 Comments

Comment posted by Mark Metternich on May 2, 2011 at 8:02 PM

I'm curious how you sharpened this. On my monitor you nailed it! It looks so dang clean!

Registered on June 19, 2009, 276 Posts, 6240 Comments

Comment posted by Michael J Greene, on May 2, 2011 at 9:04 PM

The processing is amazing. I love the colors of the sand and sky. I find the 50/50 a bit of distraction and the comp feels weighted to the right with not enough on the left side. Overall, beautiful light + sweet image.

Michael

Registered on June 18, 2009, 86 Posts, 2317 Comments

Comment posted by James Fougère on May 2, 2011 at 10:18 PM

Mark, Under Automate "fit image", I sized the image to double the intended web file size, then I used the "Smart Sharpen" at 157% to sharpen the image, then went back to "fit image" and resized to the target web file size, then save for web. This technique was shown to me by Zack. I now use this process for all my images that are saved for web. The smart sharpen percentage used varies for each image to avoid a over sharpen issue. This particular image I agree looks sharp as a tack

Michael, I have a slightly different version of this I am working on, I will post it shortly.

Registered on October 25, 2010, 41 Posts, 831 Comments

Comment posted by Rick Goldwasser on May 3, 2011 at 10:16 AM

You really nailed this one, love everything about it!

Registered on May 10, 2009, 127 Posts, 970 Comments

Comment posted by James Fougère on May 4, 2011 at 2:15 AM

Here is a slightly different version than the first post, it is nice because it shows more of the scene left of the main dune, but I prefer the foreground of the first image, and the blowing wave of sand is missing from this post. But I wanted to post it to compare.

I prefer the 1 version

Registered on October 25, 2010, 41 Posts, 831 Comments

Comment posted by Zack Schnepf on May 4, 2011 at 12:46 PM

Both versions have their strengths I think. This version shows more of the dune on the left, but I like the lower perspective of the first. Both are excellent James! Your processing skills are getting much better, well done.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 403 Posts, 2528 Comments

Comment posted by James Fougère on May 4, 2011 at 12:51 PM

I guess I had a good teacher, eh !

Registered on October 25, 2010, 41 Posts, 831 Comments