Topic: Death Valley Dunes in B&W (Read 4006 times)

Eric Myrvaagnes · « **on:** February 15, 2016, 07:16:50 pm »

With all the nice Death Valley pix appearing here lately I thought I'd add some of my own, taken about 8 years ago.

-Eric

summernz · « **Reply #1 on:** February 15, 2016, 10:58:49 pm »

A nice set. The first image is very striking.

luxborealis · « **Reply #2 on:** February 15, 2016, 11:09:08 pm »

A great triplet, Eric. Terrific graphic lines, shadows, tones... I must get there one day.

Have you changed your B&W processing as I notice a selenium look to the first two and a more neutral third?

Eric Myrvaagnes · « **Reply #3 on:** February 15, 2016, 11:45:22 pm »

Quote from: luxborealis on February 15, 2016, 11:09:08 pm

A great triplet, Eric. Terrific graphic lines, shadows, tones... I must get there one day.

Have you changed your B&W processing as I notice a selenium look to the first two and a more neutral third?

These were at Stovepipe Wells, the easiest dunes to get to in DV. Thus, they all required a lot of clone stamping to get rid of the most obvious footprints.

It's quite possible that there is some selenium-like toning in the first two, as they were processed before I was using LightRoom, and I did try for a while to simulate the wet-darkroom selenium-toned look, but I never got it subtle enough to satisfy the photographers I know. The third one has been reprocessed in LR, and the prints are all pretty neutral, using Epson's ABW on my 3800, with all the toner sliders set to zero.

I do hope you get to Death Valley. You would find many great images, and I look forward to seeing them here on LuLa.

Thanks for your comments, Terry.

-Eric

P.S. You've got good color vision, Terry. I just checked these three files in LR with the eyedropper at several different locations in each. The third one was indeed perfectly neutral everywhere I checked. The first two were almost identical everywhere on the G and B values, with G sometimes being a fraction higher than B, but in each of them the R value was about 1 to 1.5 points higher than either G or B! This surprised me a bit, since I never expected a Selenium look to favor Red.

Those two were originally processed in DXO, and the tiffs were imported into LR. On the third one I went back to the raw file in LR.
I recently tried redoing the second one from raw in LR, but I never could achieve the graphic look (high local contrast) that DXO somehow let me get, so I stuck with the earlier processing.

Jeremy Roussak · « **Reply #4 on:** February 16, 2016, 03:30:39 am »

Very nice, Eric, and a change from the usual colour shots of those dunes (mine included). I particularly like the first, but I was immediately struck by the strength and redness of the toning, which didn't appeal. The third looks dramatically different, even on my semi-profiled MBP screen.

Jeremy

RSL · « **Reply #5 on:** February 16, 2016, 06:43:18 am »

Great stuff, Eric. Bravo! (Did you crop?)

Diego Pigozzo · « **Reply #6 on:** February 16, 2016, 07:25:26 am »

There all are beautiful, but the first one is IMHO really the best.

RSL · « **Reply #7 on:** February 16, 2016, 07:35:49 am »

I agree, Diego. And that's probably the one that's not cropped.

Eric Myrvaagnes · « **Reply #8 on:** February 16, 2016, 09:19:55 am »

Thanks, all.

The first two were not cropped at all.
The third in fact is a substantial cropping from a horizontal shot. I do wish I had a better vision of the scene when I shot it. I'll hunt up the original and post it for comparison.

Since I always consider a print to be the "real" photograph, and the prints are all quite neutral, I hadn't noticed the redness in the first two (my excuse: faulty color vision). I plan to redo the jpegs of those and repost them.

-Eric

sdwilsonsct · « **Reply #9 on:** February 16, 2016, 10:07:04 am »

I especially like how the composition in #1 draws in my attention.

Diego Pigozzo · « **Reply #10 on:** February 16, 2016, 10:09:20 am »

Quote from: Eric Myrvaagnes on February 16, 2016, 09:19:55 am

... I hadn't noticed the redness in the first two (my excuse: faulty color vision). I plan to redo the jpegs of those and repost them.

I didn't notice, either, yet now that I see it I think it does fit well.

Arlen · « **Reply #11 on:** February 16, 2016, 10:30:17 am »

What a wonderful set, Eric. The first one is really special, and quite a bit different from other DV dune shots that I've seen. It sort of evokes a "great wall" effect, winding through the countryside.

chuckn · « **Reply #12 on:** February 16, 2016, 10:39:52 am »

Very nice Eric. I especially like the 2nd one (lines and textures).

I'm going to Death Valley tomorrow on an extended photo trip. Hope it's not to hot.

Chuck

Eric Myrvaagnes · « **Reply #13 on:** February 16, 2016, 01:59:36 pm »

OK, folks. Here are the first two again, and these should be neutral.

I'm also attaching the original of the third one, both color and black and white. As you will notice, I flipped the original left to right and then cropped out the mostly empty half to make the vertical shot.

Sorry, Russ. I should have seen the vertical when I was there, but I didn't.

-Eric

RSL · « **Reply #14 on:** February 16, 2016, 03:47:38 pm »

As is usually the case with somebody who has a good eye, the uncropped version is better than the cropped version. For some reason, when a photographer gets into a darkroom or a Lightroom or a Photoshop, he loses confidence and starts to hack up what he saw through the viewfinder. I've never been able to understand that urge. Sometimes you simply have to crop, but when that's the case, if you're an experienced photographer you know you're going to crop and how you're going to crop before you trip the shutter.

Trust your eye, Eric. It's a good one.

Eric Myrvaagnes · « **Reply #15 on:** February 16, 2016, 05:47:51 pm »

Thanks, Russ.
As you know, I agree with you in general on the cropping issue. But I reserve the right to make stupid errors now and then, just to keep in practice.

=Eric