Skeletons

Wow! Interesting formations well composed, and I love the light here. Detail in the large version is excellent.

Nice image of these weird things, Chris. The light is right and it is a calming scene. I've been to Navy beach before, but never say anything like this.

This works really well, Chris. Nice warm tones and a dynamic sky. You did rather well with that old lens.

Wow, you have some strange stuff out there. You've taken some wrinkly, brown, scraggly shapes on a lifeless brown substrate and somehow made them look inviting. The light and colors soften the effect of the jagged shapes. There is a ballance, beyond the good comp that helps, too. The way the clouds mimic the shape of the tops of the skeletons adds a ballance between the soft sky and the sharp forms, too.

Great light, colors, and shapes here Chris. And those Sierra Wave clouds are pretty cool as well!

Looks like you set up little tables needing charis to chill out and eat from. Cool shot of some weird formations!

Really good image, Chris. Don't think I've ever seen this particular area of the tufa towers. Amazing sky and light. You captured it very well. Definitely a keeper.

Great combination of texture and color. The composition make it work. Nice...

Nice colour adding to the intense detail in the structures..

Chris, I've shot here a couple times too. This shot looks otherworldly with the lenticular clouds hovering in the BG. The Tufa's in the FG have great detail also.

Chris, Something about the fg of these makes it feel messy to me. I did a browser crop taking off the bottom 1/4 of the image making it a pano format and I really thought it did the scene more justice. Great clouds and processing here!

your sky here is gorgeous. to my reckoning, making images of such structures is very challenging. much of the stuff in the image is scrunched in the middle - with a glorious sky above and some interesting pillars below. i am not sure quite how to make fabulously compelling compositions of these things. you've done well but maybe there are other perspectives that would be even more compelling?

Chris - Where's the water Unusual seeing the scene without water, so you get point for that. Your vantage point makes it difficult to get separation between the forms, especially on the left. Great sky to match the stacks.

Good capture and if you only had a ladder to get high enough to show complete range that bush obscures.

Hi Chris,

Your processing is fantastic as you did a great job handling the contrast of the Earth's Shadow, which is hard to do. My only nit is the brush on the right side breaks up the visual flow of the background lake and mountains. Really nice work.

Michael

Hi Chris, This is really interesting to look at, and I like it very much. Beautiful colors in this and an awesome sky too. Your large version is really worth the look. Nice work!

Nick Bristol
Lone Rock, WI

Nicely done, Chris. The light is perfect to show the subtle textures of the Sand Tufa.

Just a geo note: Sand tufa are formed when the fresh water springs percolate through the sandy lakebed. The more well known tufa at Mono Lake are formed from mineral-laden water that precipatates in the salty lake water, gradually building the towers we see exposed today.

--P

Interesting and other worldly landscape Chris. Is this the same area as China Lake or is that another place further south? Never been there or here but heard about China Lake a lot when I worked in Aerospace and Defense. Navy Beach made me ask the question but maybe the answer is top secret...... :-)

Agree with Rick that the foreground feels a bit messy. What an awesome sky though.

Fascinating formations. Love the textures and lines in these and the interesting 'tabletops', and that soft light is extraordinary. Great title.

This came out very nice Chris, I really like your processing. The scene is exactly as I remembered, It was a great night for the sweet light. I too was very happy with my images from that day. Great job!

Chris,

This is just about the best handling of twilight glow I've seen, with a great sky and a very interesting foreground to match. Usually if the foreground is well exposed then the sky is too bright, or vice versa. This matches what your eyes sees very well.

Paul

Is this the same area as China Lake or is that another place further south? Never been there or here but heard about China Lake a lot when I worked in Aerospace and Defense. Navy Beach made me ask the question but maybe the answer is top secret...... :-)

Eva, China Lake is a US Navy installation (NAS) that is about 200 miles South of Mono Lake. 'Navy Beach' at Mono Lake was given that name many years ago when the Navy actually did training there. It's certainly not a secret place, but it does see much less visitation than the well known tufa formations to the west.

--P

Interesting formations and what a nice sky to go along with them..the aliens have landed (x-files music playing..)

Chris,

As most everyone has pointed out I think you did a great job with the light and colors. Love that sky. A couple folks were unsure about the composition and you can add me to the list. Don't get me wrong, I think it's a great image and showcases the sand tufa and Mono basin beautifully.

My wish is to somehow be able to separate the tufa from the background mountains/sky. As someone mentioned, there's visual line between the top of the tufa and the mountains. I'm wishing for some middleground here. I know the answer is a ladder to elevate your position a few feet, which of course wasn't an option for you. So in the end I don't have a suggestion on what you could have done differently other than to repeat I wish there was some separation.

Lon

Thanks guys!

I agree about needing a higher vantage point. The whole time I was standing there, that was on my mind. Unfortunately, there was no higher ground behind me that offered as good or better compositions otherwise. Next time, I'll bring a ladder!

Chris

Chris , Preston - I really am not familiar with this area....... so I asked the question. Thanks. I really like the forms of this ethereal landscape you captured here Chris..