Valley of Fire Cave

Gallery: LandscapePosted June 17, 20183,758 views14 comments

The end of this past April, my husband and I visited the Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada, about 50 miles northeast of Las Vegas. At the time, we were concerned about the heat, predicted to be in the mid to high nineties, but were able to find a full hookup site in the park where we could use our trailer's air-conditioning for mid-day relief from the heat. We took advantage of cooler morning and late afternoon temperatures to hike and explore the area around our campsite and the spectacular White Domes scenic road. If you enjoy photographing colorful rock formations, this place is for you.

This image is of a fairly small cave on the west side of the 2-mile loop campground road. As with many of my photos, I realize that I should have done something differently to improve the image. In this case, I probably should have used f16 rather than f10 to show more detail on the back wall. Anyway, I've included a closer image of that wall to show the interesting pattern that has evolved over time.

5 D Mark III
17-40
28 mm
f 10
1.8 sec
tripod

Comments and criticisms always noted and appreciated!

Comments

14 comments

Comment posted by Paula LeVay on June 17, 2018 at 5:08 PM

Here's the closeup view of the back wall.

Registered on July 29, 2016, 66 Posts, 270 Comments

Comment posted by Aaron Feinberg on June 17, 2018 at 6:34 PM

Got to camp there in early Sept last year...wicked hot as well. Missed this place but yes, so many fun opportunities for colored rock and reflected light. Nice job here :)

Registered on October 26, 2009, 399 Posts, 2789 Comments

Comment posted by Ian Cameron on June 17, 2018 at 7:27 PM

Wow that's some rock formation, hot colours too. Excellent, as you have mentioned possibly could have done with a wee bit more depth of field but still very compelling.

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

Comment posted by Bill Leggett on June 17, 2018 at 8:18 PM

Paula, I like the comp and sense of context you show in the original post. I'm exactly the same as you, often self-critiquing my work after the fact, and indicating such in my own posts here on NPN. Maybe a smaller aperture would have improved it considering your focal length. However since as you say it's a small area, and the FG arch is very close compared to the more distant BG patterns, a smaller aperture may have been an improvement. Looks like the best range of focus was somewhere in the middle. Of course with a full frame sensor you can get loads of detail. With that said, as an alternative, seems that zooming out toward the wide end to allow a bit better DOF at f10 would work well, and even better by stopping down a bit to get more detail throughout, then cropping to your liking.

I'm really glad you included the back wall, because for me it's the star of the show. Simple, colorful and very effective for those reasons. Reminds me of the wonderful patterns in Capitol Gorge on the west side of Capitol Reef, one of my favorite locations in southern Utah. Good stuff and thanks for sharing.

Registered on July 21, 2004, 706 Posts, 3233 Comments

Comment posted by Igor Doncov on June 17, 2018 at 10:39 PM

I like the concentric circles here with the frame around the widest circle. It's sort of like the opening scene of Goldfinger. I actually like both images, each for a different reason. The large version is important for the first image. I don't see the dropoff in sharpness but I'm viewing on a laptop. The 'knee' is kind of interesting. Would it be better without it? Probably.

Registered on November 22, 2014, 189 Posts, 2733 Comments

Comment posted by Harley Goldman on June 18, 2018 at 11:54 AM

I am enjoying both images, as the detail of the back wall provides its own compelling look at the scene. At web size, the DofF looks fine to me (on a laptop), but in addition to f/16, this would be a good candidate for a DofF blend of 2 or 3 images to get it sharp back to front.

Registered on November 19, 2003, 586 Posts, 11271 Comments

Comment posted by Eva McDermott on June 18, 2018 at 12:38 PM

This certainly is an amazing place. I got to visit there two years ago in February. I like both images Paula but I especially like the second for its abstract qualities. The lack of sharpness of the back wall is only noticeable in the larger version

Registered on January 4, 2009, 1015 Posts, 13229 Comments

Comment posted by Anil Rao on June 18, 2018 at 7:57 PM

Lovely mix of shapes and colors that result in a very interesting photograph. An unorthodox composition but that is what makes this stand out.

Registered on November 15, 2003, 234 Posts, 4923 Comments

Comment posted by Brian Schrayer on June 18, 2018 at 10:27 PM

Paula, this location is iconic for a reason and you have captured it nicely here. I like the warm / cool tonality of the scene. Your processing looks spot on. I do agree that you could use a bit more depth of field, especially in the area immediately below the arch along the right hand side.

Registered on May 28, 2004, 114 Posts, 2890 Comments

Comment posted by Mark Seaver on June 19, 2018 at 1:43 PM

This is a beauty, Paula. I really like the "knee" in the foreground along with all of the pinks and oranges in the further reaches. Your close-up of the back wall is very striking! While avoiding the subtle softness of the back wall in the original post, would be an improvement, I think this looks great as presented and would make a fine print.

Registered on January 23, 2011, 1103 Posts, 17270 Comments

Comment posted by Daniel Rappaport on June 19, 2018 at 10:32 PM

We as photographers worry about absolute sharpness, but this is about the shapes and colors and as such is really amazing. Well composed

Registered on September 9, 2009, 294 Posts, 2006 Comments

Comment posted by Tony Prower on June 21, 2018 at 1:09 PM

Great colours in a challenging lighting situation.

Registered on February 5, 2012, 24 Posts, 167 Comments

Comment posted by Marylynne Diggs on June 22, 2018 at 12:18 AM

I love the closeup. It’s ghoulish and abstract all at once.
ML

Registered on December 14, 2010, 122 Posts, 1034 Comments

Comment posted by Nick Bristol on June 22, 2018 at 3:00 PM

I love the closeup too! Super cool!! cool

Nick Bristol
Lone Rock, WI.

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