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

Sliding Rock, Cloudy Morning – Racetrack Playa

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Sliding Rock, Cloudy Morning - Racetrack Playa
Sliding Rock, Cloudy Morning - Racetrack Playa

Sliding Rock, Cloudy Morning – Racetrack Playa. Death Valley National Park, California. March 29, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Black and white photograph of a “sliding rock” on a cloudy morning at the Racetrack Playa, Death Valley National Park, California.

The weather gods were not on my side during my visit to the Racetrack Playa in Death Valley near the end of March. My plan was to shoot sunset and sunrise, and in between to do night photography. As I drove out there on the terrible washboard gravel road my hopes were high – I saw some interesting looking clouds that looked like they might even form into lenticular clouds. When I arrived I shot a bit in decent light at the “Grandstand” feature near the north end of the playa.

Unfortunately, the good light was short-lived. Before I left the Grandstand a high, thin back of clouds spread across the sky. It stayed in the evening (tantalizing me with some bits of clear sky far to the west), blocked the full moon all night, and was still there when I wandered out onto the playa in the morning to do some early shots. It never did really clear, and I came back from the playa with far fewer good images than I expected. (I shouldn’t have been surprised. I’ve had uniform great luck with lighting on every previous visit, so I was probably due for less than great light.)

In order to make this photograph work I did quite a bit of post-processing, some of which I anticipated when I made the exposure. First of all, I realized that getting everything from the very close rock to the distant ridge in focus would be a problem. So I made three exposures, “focus bracketing” them with one focus on the far ridge, one focused on the rock, and one focused in between. I made a blend of the three exposures in post, keeping the most focused portions of each.

Because the light and colors were fairly flat I decided to go with a black and white interpretation. The conversion was fairly straightforward, but here I also decided to indulge in a bit of post-processing. I duplicated the background layer, turned it into and “overlay,” and added some Gaussian blur. With a bit of dodging, burning, and work with curves, the image ended up where I imagined it would.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

G Dan Mitchell Photography | Twitter | Friendfeed | Facebook | Facebook Fan Page | Email

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM at 80mm
ISO 200, f/16, 1/10 second

keywords: sliding, moving, gliding, rock, stone, racetrack, race, track, playa, cracked, mud, earth, ground, cloudy, mountain, hill, barren, desert, rugged, track, trail, black and white, monochrome, death valley, national, park, california, usa, north america, landscape, nature, travel, scenic, stock

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

Salt Flats Near Badwater, Evening

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Salt Flats Near Badwater, Evening
Salt Flats Near Badwater, Evening

Salt Flats Near Badwater, Evening. Death Valley National Park, California. March 29, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Black and white vertical format photograph of evening on the salt flats of Badwater Basin, Death Valley National Park, California.

Yes, I’m still mining the Death Valley photographs from my late March trip. And there are more to come… :-)

This photograph was made in evening light on the salt flats of Badwater Basin, not far from the “official” Badwater area – but far enough away that there were only a couple other photographers out here enjoying the solitude and the beautiful evening light. A few weeks earlier this area had been flooded by unusually heavy rains in Death Valley. From all appearances (and from photographic evidence that I’ve seen) the photographers who were first on the scene had to do a bit of wading to get out onto the salt flats. Some of them were rewarded for their efforts with wonderful and unusual images, including reflections of the Panamint range in the circular pools between the polygons of raised salt.

By the time I arrived the area was no longer flooded, though it was clear that the playa beneath the drying salt crust was still wet. In places some of the water appeared in cracks and in other spots walking on the salt felt a lot like walking on winter pond ice. During the flooding, the usually tall ridges between the salt “polygons” seem to have dissolved. Typically they are perhaps up to a few inches tall and contain large cracks. At the time I arrived, the counter had apparently been set back to zero – and the salt surface was almost completely flat, though it is obvious that the polygon outlines were still visible and beginning to rise a bit. The vertical ridge leading away from the camera position in the lower portion of the frame is a good example.

I went with black and white in this rendition since the sky had not really lit up yet – in other words, color wasn’t necessarily the main feature of the scene. I also liked what I could do with the clouded sky and the distant ridge in black and white.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

G Dan Mitchell Photography | Twitter | Friendfeed | Facebook | Facebook Fan Page | Email

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM at 35mm
ISO 100, f/16, 1/25 second

keywords: salt, flat, polygon, pattern, landscape, nature, geology, hills, mountains, sky, dark, clouds, evening, dusk, sunset, haze, atmosphere, light, shadow, badwater, basin, death valley, national, park, california, usa, north america, travel, scenic, black and white, monochrome, texture, curve, stock

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

Folds and Strata, Zabriskie Point

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Folds and Strata, Zabriskie Point
Folds and Strata, Zabriskie Point

Folds and Strata, Zabriskie Point. Death Valley National Park, California. March 29, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Convoluted folds topped by some stratified material at Zabraskie Point, Death Valley National Park, California.

A new hobby for me when photographing Zabriskie Point is to forego the famous panoramic views of Manley Beacon and the Panamints – well, at least sometimes – and to instead focus on smaller details of the patterns in the fantastically folded terrain. Starting about a year ago, I also became intrigued by the idea of shooting here at unusual times of the day: late morning, early afternoon, and so forth. I started doing this when a year ago I shot somewhere else at dawn and then happened to stop her much later in the morning – only to discover that some of the shapes and forms that are in shadow early in the day are actually better-lit later on.

On my late-March trip I did shoot Zabriskie at the “popular” time of dawn on one morning, but on another day I spent a good amount of time shooting here during the less classically ideal time in the middle of the afternoon. I was lucky enough to get just a bit of high thing clouds which reduced contrast just a bit, but kept the interesting shadows and illuminated ridges that appear at this time of day. When I shoot this way I go straight for a very long lens and focus on smaller details of the scene, ignoring the larger and broader landscape in favor of bits of a gully, shadowed or sunlit ridges, or a bit of strata material sitting on top of the folded material as seen here.

Rather than amp up the contrast and saturation – an easy trap to fall for in the afternoon light – I decided to keep the softer and less saturated effect that I was actually there when I made the photographs.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

G Dan Mitchell Photography | Twitter | Friendfeed | Facebook | Facebook Fan Page | Email

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM at 250mm
ISO 100, f/16, 1/30 second

keywords: zabriskie, point, death valley, national, park, california, usa, north america, nature, landscape, geology, scenic, travel, form, formations, fold, gully, rock, strata, material, shadow, light, abstract, view, ridge, hill, manifold, overlook, desert, barren, stock

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

Death Valley Dunes, Morning

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Death Valley Dunes, Morning
Death Valley Dunes, Morning

Death Valley Dunes, Morning. Death Valley National Park, California. March 28, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Black and white photograph of the Death Valley Dunes in early morning light.

This photograph was made on a late-March morning when I had wandered out around the west end of Death Valley Dunes, near Stovepipe Wells, and entered them from close to the back side. I often approach the dunes this way in the morning since it means crossing much less deep sand and because fewer people tend to go this way. (The latter seems to be even more true now that the NPS has installed and “official” parking lot – with restrooms! – along the road near where most folks traditionally stopped to make their direct approach to the tallest dunes.)

I was in an area of lower dunes mostly shooting nearby sand textures and the long shadows cast by hills and plants in the very early light. However, it is hard to ignore the amazing curves and textures of the dunes as they rise towards the east, especially when they are side-lit like this. So I spent a few minutes pointing the long lens int that direction. When I made the photographs I was sort of disappointed that I couldn’t keep the footprints in the bright foreground sand out of the image, but in retrospect I think that they actually improve the photograph.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

G Dan Mitchell Photography | Twitter | Friendfeed | Facebook | Facebook Fan Page | Email

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM at 400mm
ISO 200, f/11, 1/40 second

keywords: death valley, national, park, california, usa, north america, nature, scenic, travel, landscape, dunes, sand, mesquite, folds, shadow, light, pattern, hill, peak, foot, prints, mountain, morning, stock