Kiva - Pecos National Monument Park

[Cheryl Slechta]

Pecos National Monument Park is located between the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and Glorieta Pass in Pecos Valley in north central New Mexico. It has been inhabited for over 10,000 years, initially by the Pueblo and Plains Indians. I didn't have much time to explore but I'll definitely go back this fall and spend at least a day. This image was taken inside one of the kivas (underground ceremonial structures) located on the grounds of the Pueblo of Pecos. It was a 3 image HDR processed in Photomatix. I had attached a UV filter sprayed with hair spray to my lens to diffuse the light so that it would appear as if the Pueblos had lit a fire or had been dancing and kicking up dust.
Canon 5D MarkIII, 17-40mm @ 17mm, .3sec., f/8, ISO 800.
Thanks for looking:S3:

[Don Railton]

Hi Cheryl

Beautiful light and composition here and a very interesting shot.. Its little ironic that you coat your lens with hair spray and submit images and I spend lots of time making sure I have removed all the dust spots etc before I post...doesn't seem fair! It's so easy to get them dirty. I commend you on you approach to generate an appropriate ghost to what would have been (I think) a humbling environment, but to be honest I am wondering what a clean shot would have looked like.. Still like what you have done, just wondering if I would like the clean shot better..

regards

DON

[Cheryl Slechta]

Hi, Don, thanks for your comment. It was pretty "ghostly" and dusty down there anyway. I had some clean shots but I liked this one much better.

[David Stephens]

I like the effect of the spray and the use of HDR to extend the DR without getting otherwise carried away.

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Cheryl - interesting technique and it worked well. I like the comp and tones. One question, what do you do afterwards to clean the filter?

TFS,
Rachel

[Cheryl Slechta]

Hi, Rachel, thanks. I have a cheap UV filter that is dedicated to the hair spray. I used to clean it but I've found that once you spray it you can leave it alone and re-use it over and over.:S3:

[Morkel Erasmus]

I like the luminous/smoky feel, and thanks for explaining how you achieved it Cheryl :S3:.
I would go a bit darker overall here, think it will add to the mood/story. Comp is strong for me.

[Grady Weed]

Well I will have to remember the hair spray trick. I do like the image over all. Was there much more room to back up and get more space? It has a nice empty feel to it as is. Morkel's suggestion as to going darker would give a more ominous feeling, if that is what you wanted. By that I mean an gone but not gone human presence to it.

[Andrew McLachlan]

Hi Cheryl, I love it and your cool technique for creating the ghostly look. Wouldn't change a thing :S3:

[Cheryl Slechta]

Thanks everyone for your comments. Grady, there was limited space - I was against the wall with a 17-40 lens @ 17mm.:S3: A fisheye would have been interesting but I didn't have it with me.