Sunlit Edges

I was out in Death Valley for a couple of days this week, playing in the dunes. It is a big sandbox. I am just starting to go through the raw files. Here is one from the first afternoon.

D850, 70-200mm

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Wonderful capture, Harley. Love the graduations of darks to lights and the movement created by the highlighted dunes. What a great way to spend a day. . . playing in the dunes.

Love Death Valley and youā€™ve captured its beauty 100%.

Really terrific matching diagonals with highlights Harley. I also love the relatively clean and OOF background. Almost looks like blowing sand but I donā€™t think so. That dune in the far ULC is stunning too. Iā€™m heading there for the next stormā€¦if we get one. I hope I get something even close to this good. Keep them coming. Iā€™d love to see what else you got.

Well, this is really sweet Harley. Masterful use of highlights on the dune ridges, it creates a very electric look with a lot of energy. I also like that you did not go too deep on the black point, I think that allows the mid-tones to play a stronger role in the image, which works really well. Great looking mid-tones in this image.

My only suggest tweak would be a very slight dodging of the mid-tones on the left side of the large dune near the top frame edge. I think a slight bit more luminosity there might help pull the viewers eyre towards the lighter dunes in the ULC.

Outstanding image from DVNP here, Harley. No thoughts for change for me.
Iā€™ll bet, ā€œTioga a.k.a. Dune Dogā€ had a blast out there in the milder weather tooā€¦ :sunglasses:

I have never seen dunes that look like waves before. To me these look like a rough sea. Or how it looks from a boat when being in a rough sea. There is a famous Japanese woodcut of a tidal wave that has this stylized look of the ocean. Incidentally, everything feels as though itā€™s on an incline. I feel like a need to straighten it out by tilting the picture. I wonder if others get that sensation. One thing I would experiment with is raising the tonality of the sky (while maintaining contrast). Just a thought.

Gorgeous and wonderful zig-zag lines, with beautiful tonalities and no footprints or bushes!! Is this the Eureka dunes?

Canā€™t wait to see more!

Talk about an image made for B&W! At first I wasnā€™t sure about how extreme the highlights are but the more I look at it (and yes, I have come back several times, which says a lot about how compelling this image is) the more I appreciate the graphic flow of light and line. Iā€™ve kind of grown tired of ā€œdune picturesā€ but this one sheds new light (no pun intended, er, yes it was :grin:)

The strongly lit ridges look great, Harley. Getting the one in the midground going the opposite direction is a nice change-of-pace. The details in the shadow areas are almost dizzying. Definitely a wall hanger.

Gorgeous composition and I love that you made it black and white. You really have a way with dunes. My only ā€˜nitā€™(my first time using that word that everyone seems to love to use around here!) is thereā€™s no dog! :sweat_smile:

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This is otherworldly. Really well done. :+1:

@linda_mellor , @chris10 , @David_Haynes , @Ed_McGuirk , @Paul_Breitkreuz , @Igor_Doncov , @Diane_Miller , @Kerry_Gordon , @Mark_Seaver , @Vanessa_Hill and @Bonnie_Lampley thanks so much for the comments and suggestions. Vanessa, Tioga did not pose for me this trip, so no dog photo! She was there, though. :smiley: :+1:

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Models have their limits!

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Wonderful contrast and tonal range Harley. Nice detail in the foreground dune too.

Just perfection! I love this one, and itā€™s just right to my eye. Well done!!

Wow. You really captured the beauty of the Death Valley dunes. Canā€™t wait to see some more.

This is just perfect.
One could stare at this photo for hours with great pleasure.

Itā€™s a very lovely image from the dunes. We mustā€™ve just missed each other as Iā€™ve been out here leading a group. Iā€™m heading over to help with the out of Chicago event And hope to get out of the dunes a few more times. I love them as it looks like you do