White Sands National Monument

[bircher]

A trip to White Sands National Monument near Alamogordo, New Mexico.  The white sand contrasted against New Mexico's deep blue sky makes for wonderful photographic opportunities. The white sand may also fool your camera to underexpose and you'll end up seeing gray sand on your camera's LCD. I compensated by overexposing anywhere from 1/2 to 2 stops. I think it worked out okay. What do you think?

Gallery:

White Sands National Monument Photo Gallery by Sam Antonio Photography at pbase.com

Cheers,

Sam

[Tim Gray]

Like photographing snow.

[larsrc]

A trip to White Sands National Monument near Alamogordo, New Mexico.  The white sand contrasted against New Mexico's deep blue sky makes for wonderful photographic opportunities. The white sand may also fool your camera to underexpose and you'll end up seeing gray sand on your camera's LCD. I compensated by overexposing anywhere from 1/2 to 2 stops. I think it worked out okay. What do you think?

Sam
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The first one is very nice, balance between the plant and the clouds is nice, and there is a structural similarity between the leaves and the sand.  Exposure seems spot-on.  Only problem I see is that the shadow of the plant is cut, making the picture seem incomplete.

The second one is probably a bit underexposed, and compositionally rather empty.  Don't like it nearly so much as the first one.

-Lars

[pcox]

I second what Lars says - the first one is very nice, but suffers from the plant being too cosy with the bottom-left corner. The second lacks focus (aesthetic, not technical!), and doesn't work very well as a result.

Peter

The first one is very nice, balance between the plant and the clouds is nice, and there is a structural similarity between the leaves and the sand.  Exposure seems spot-on.  Only problem I see is that the shadow of the plant is cut, making the picture seem incomplete.

The second one is probably a bit underexposed, and compositionally rather empty.  Don't like it nearly so much as the first one.

-Lars
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[Johnny_Johnson]

It's interesting how different people view images isn't it.  I personally feel that the composition in the first picture is about perfect.  I didn't even notice the shadows going off the left side until someone mentioned them and even now I don't think that detracts.  In fact, I would think that including them would make the composition less pleasing.

The second image though does scream for something in the foreground to add interest.

Later,
Johnny