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James Fuller
05-26-2013, 04:35 PM
Hello all, I found these sand dunes in West Texas and thought the windblown waves in the sand looked interesting.

I ended up leaving with more than a few interesting photos and more sand than I wanted in my shoes!

Comments always appreciated

Nikon D800, 28-300mm @ 44mm, 1/60 @ F16, ISO 100.


128879

Rachel Hollander
05-27-2013, 08:01 AM
Hi James - this works very well. Beautiful golden light, excellent comp and I too like the patterns in the sand.

TFS,
Rachel

Don Railton
05-27-2013, 08:34 AM
Hi James.. I Love the light and the sand patterns, they compliment a beautiful sky... Well seen. What is really bugging me though is the horizon and telegraph poles and likely a road you can see in the distance... I find they are stealing so much from this image, it would have been so much stronger (to me) without them... could you have framed the image not to include them?? DON

Steve Kaluski
05-27-2013, 10:20 AM
One very cool image James, outstanding work. :cheers::cheers:

TFS
Steve

Andrew McLachlan
05-27-2013, 06:37 PM
Hi James, love the glow on the rippled dunes and s-curve on the left is beautiful. I don't mind the horizon and the poles are an easy fix...a lower perspective may have hidden the horizon though...but you said you have other variations of these dunes...can't wait to see them. You don't mention using a grad filter here...I would have used one to hold back the clouds in the sky a bit more, however you did well without one...you can always play around with the grad filter in Color Efex 4 to see the effect it would have. Lovely composition!

James Fuller
05-27-2013, 08:19 PM
Thanks for the comments everyone...Don and Andrew, I'll go ahead and clone out the telephone poles...I was so focused on getting the colors right that I didn't even think about how distracting they are. This area is right off an interstate highway with lots of oil & gas production...so there are power lines in every direction.

Andrew, I'll have a look at darkening the clouds a touch. Thanks for you ideas.

Dave Mills
05-27-2013, 10:13 PM
James, Beautiful light and comp. IMO the telephone poles are an extremely minor nit...

dankearl
05-27-2013, 10:36 PM
James,
Once again your work shines.
I also think the poles are a complete non issue, I can't believe they were brought up except as an extremely minor fix.
Some miss the forest for the trees, maybe that is why there is not a lot of Landscape photo's posted or commented on.
I love the light, the lines and the comp.

Don Lacy
06-01-2013, 12:27 PM
Hi James, You have a wonderful image here love the depth created by the side lighting and shadows and the strong leading lines. I can see toning down the sky just a tad more in the brighter areas and while at web size I do not find the pole distracting I think in a large print they my be more evident.

Robert Amoruso
06-02-2013, 01:02 PM
Nice play of light from shadows to lite areas in the sand. I like the sky too towards the top but feel a crop from the top 1/2 of sky strengthens the look of the dunes. Chose an area in the clouds to get as much of a continuous gold edge of the clouds as possible (like right below the small blue area on the right which is below the large blue area.

I have been here many years ago.

Morkel Erasmus
06-03-2013, 05:27 AM
I like the overall composition and mood here, along with some sweet light, James!
I wonder if you could tweak the levels a bit to add some more brightness overall?


Some miss the forest for the trees, maybe that is why there is not a lot of Landscape photo's posted or commented on.
I love the light, the lines and the comp.

I'm not sure what your implication here is, Dan? Surely everyone looks at an image differently and some will point out finer/minor things while others view them as non-issues? That shouldn't discourage posting or commenting at all, IMHO, as each differing view helps us evaluate and understand our choices in the field and in the "darkroom". For example, I have a strong no-cloning policy in most cases (fine art prints excluded) and like to see things as they actually were in the field...so I actually don't even notice the stuff that other people advise to clone out. Does that make me a sloppier critiquer than the guy/gal who notices those things? I would hope not...

James Fuller
06-03-2013, 06:18 PM
Thanks to everyone for all the great suggestions, they are much appreciated.

Anette Mossbacher
06-04-2013, 02:24 PM
A wonderful image of lots of sand. Love the waves and light :bg3:

Douglas Bolt
06-05-2013, 07:18 PM
First class image. I would expect it would also look great as B&W.

PhilCook
06-07-2013, 07:22 PM
Wondeful light and composition.....well done on finding a section of sand dune with no footprints already on it...getting hard to find that aspect these days