Death Valley View

[Dave Mills]

Shot in the Dunes area of Death Valley. Great place to shoot early morning. Many possible compositions.
Nikon D300 24-120 lense iso 200
F22 tripod mtd -1/3 comp

[Robert Amoruso]

Dave,

Nice comp on a lot of levels. FG interest with the pattern leading the the BG. Light direction accentuates the sand ripples. THe BG mountains placed well on the UR with the close dunes balancing on the middle left. I like the tree as it provides a visula que to lift the eye to the BG.

I wonder and perhaps you made this image, if you walk left and framed the light colored sand pattern so it was running vertical and not diagonally - how would that look. BG would have changed. Something to think about, explore other persepective and compositions.

[denise ippolito]

Dave, This is a fantastic shot . I like the patterns.

[Michael Pancier]

was this the dunes near stovepipe? I love pristine dunes. A challenge when I was there, but then again, I only saw the dunes in the p.m. I like the low angle and how the salt deposits guide you into the image.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Dave,
While I liked the image a lot.....something was bugging me.....so i took my time with this one. This reminds me of the debate we had with Paul's image and the clipped rock and I'm pretty sure we'll get the same debate. I'n the re-post I cropped some off the left....mainly to get the distant mountain curve some more prominence....after looking at the cropped version....I may put that side back in but left the original....just to show the difference. The big thing for me.....was the piece touching the edge of the frame......as the debate on Paul's showed.....really no right or wrong.....just preferences....so I cloned/patched the bottom one to give a bit of seperation between the edge of the frame. This works for me better.....but will be interesting to see what others chime in!
PS Next time I will be more careful with the patch....but you get the idea.

[Dave Mills]

Hi Roman...thanks for the rework. I like what you did to it.
To answer Michael...yes, it was right near Stovepipe. This is a morning shoot. We walked out there a few minutes before sunrise(so you could see where your walking) and it's about a 10 min walk to the beginning of the dunes. You work high on the dunes first since the light hits there first. Those crusty formations are in the gullys and it takes awhile for the light to get down in there. It's always different since the wind covers some and uncovers others. You have a few hours to shoot until the sun gets too high....

[Harold Davis]

i do like the clean frame edge here on the bottom. i also like the contrast roman put in the salt. toned it done and added some dimension to it. nice compo! the green in the back adds a nice touch.

[Paul Marcellini]

I vote for Roman's repost. I like the added pop too. The comp is really ice and i also like the placement of the background mountains.

[Jackie Schuknecht]

I like your composition Dave, it makes it look like a foreboding place. The salts lead you nicely in to the image and sweep you right back to the distant dunes/hills.

[Dennis "Curly" Buchner]

Nice shot Dave, like the comp and texture very much.