Tag Archives: evening

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

Dunes, Soft Light

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Dunes, Soft Light
Details of sand dunes in soft evening light, Death Valley Naitonal Park.

Dunes, Soft Light. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Details of sand dunes in soft evening light, Death Valley Naitonal Park.

Sand dunes are fascinating subjects, both for their appearance as part of the larger landscape and because they contain infinite varieties of smaller subjects, textures, colors, and variations in light. I made a wild guess recently that I’ve probably been to Death Valley perhaps twenty-five times. You’d think that I might start to tire of the dunes or run out of things to photograph there… but there’s no sign of this happening.

We went to these dunes late in the day and had them entirely to ourselves. The light was challenging, as clouds were building to the west. As the clouds moved the light increased and decreased, but overall it remained quite soft. But this just provided another variation on how we can photograph this subject, and the soft light reveals some subtle details that can get lost in brighter conditions. I made some post-processing choices here that highlight the variations in light and the soft forms of the dunes.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

Desert Mountains and Wash, Evening

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Desert Mountains and Wash, Evening
The last of the day’s light illuminates a wash descending though desert mountains, Death Valley National Park.

Desert Mountains and Wash, Evening. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

The last of the day’s light illuminates a wash descending though desert mountains, Death Valley National Park.

This feels like a “quiet photograph” to me — a desert scene that appears to be almost entirely static. In fact, one of the most powerful desert experiences I have had in the desert comes from moments in lonely, quiet places where it seems that nothing is moving and that it has been that way for a very long while. It is as close to the feeling of time stopping as we’re likely to experience.

The truth is that I made this photograph in a location that is not exactly quiet and still. Very close to my position there were dozens of people lined up to photograph one of the icons of Death Valley. (This particular icon is interesting but not photographically compelling to me, but as I mentioned in another recent post… my perspective can change!) The photograph illustrates another useful idea in photography, that when you are faced with an obvious subject it is still good to look around at all of the other things that might be worthy of your attention.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

Dune Study, Evening

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Dune Study, Evening
An interpretation of soft dune forms and colors in evening light, Death Valley National Park.

Dune Study, Evening. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

An interpretation of soft dune forms and colors in evening light, Death Valley National Park.

When photographing sand dunes I spend a lot of time looking for just the right combination of shading, texture, line, curve, and color. But in the end, it mostly comes down to the light — the light that colors the sand, creates the shading, and illuminates those lines and curves. It seems like every photograph in the sand dunes is an ephemeral, one-time thing, and the particular combinations of conditions can never be precisely replicated. Unlike subjects where the primary elements of the scene don’t change much, each visit to the dunes takes me to different places and photographs.

On a late-March trip to Death Valley National Park, I revisited a location that I had photographed with great success a couple of months ago. This time Patty accompanied me, and I wanted her to experience the light that I had worked with on the earlier visit. That did not happen. Two months ago the evening sky was clear, and warm-colored sunset light illuminated the western-facing dunes. This time the sky was filled with clouds and the light was soft and the colors far less intense, producing an entirely different and subtle experience.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

Dunes and Desert Mountains, Evening

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Dunes and Desert Mountains, Evening
Evening clouds above desert mountians and sand dunes, Death Valley National Park.

Dunes and Desert Mountains, Evening. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Evening clouds above desert mountians and sand dunes, Death Valley National Park.

My recollection of this evening is that I arrived barely in time for late-day photography. I had been photographing elsewhere and calculating my schedule carefully. My plan was to arrive just in time to walk out to an area I had scoped out before, arriving at my destination perhaps a half hour before the sun dropped behind a western mountain range. I would first shoot straight into the setting sun, using its rim light to accentuate the forms of the dunes.

My plan mostly worked, though it took a bit longer to hike to the spot than I expected. By the time I arrived I had less than that anticipated half hour to work in the last direct sunlight, but I set to work and did get some other photographs that I like. Then, as happens in places like this, the mountain shadow moved quickly across my position and the light went from warm-toned and intense to soft and increasingly blue. I turned 180 degrees and photographed this evening cloud above the last direct light on peaks along the east side of Death Valley.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.