Death Valley Photo Tips

[ChuckZ]

I recently returned from a trip to Death Valley.  Here are a few of the places I visited that provided good photo ops and times of the day I thought were good for photography.

Badwater: sunrise (catch alpen glow on peaks of Panamint Mountains)
Dantes View: soon after Sunrise (great views along the trail)
Artist Drive: about an hour after sunrise, and sunset
Golden Cyn: about 1/2hr before sunset (especially about a mile up the trail, bring a flashlight)
Zabriskie Point: sunrise(best) and sunset
Dunes near Stovepipe Wells:  Sunrise and Sunset (for dunes with minimal footprints, drive about 1/2 mile north of the dunes parking lot then walk about 0.5-1 mile along north edge of dune filed, take a gps reading at your car to make it easy to find your way back)

Note: Sunset comes early to Death Valley due to the Panamint Mountains

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

I recently returned from a trip to Death Valley.  Here are a few of the places I visited that provided good photo ops and times of the day I thought were good for photography.

Badwater: sunrise (catch alpen glow on peaks of Panamint Mountains)
Dantes View: soon after Sunrise (great views along the trail)
Artist Drive: about an hour after sunrise, and sunset
Golden Cyn: about 1/2hr before sunset (especially about a mile up the trail, bring a flashlight)
Zabriskie Point: sunrise(best) and sunset
Dunes near Stovepipe Wells:  Sunrise and Sunset (for dunes with minimal footprints, drive about 1/2 mile north of the dunes parking lot then walk about 0.5-1 mile along north edge of dune filed, take a gps reading at your car to make it easy to find your way back)

Note: Sunset comes early to Death Valley due to the Panamint Mountains

Good set of suggestions, and a very nice dunes photo.

On my one trip to DV a couple of years ago, the Stovepipe Wells dunes were my favorite spot of the whole trip. My first day I hiked from the parking lot, among the thousands of footprints, across all the "transverse" dunes (I think they call them that), with little reward. After that I tried the half-mile north, and it was much easier and with much better dunes. It still took a lot of cloning in PS to clean up the rest of the footprints.


I was there in January and the weather was just perfect.

Eric

[francois]

Good set of suggestions, and a very nice dunes photo.

On my one trip to DV a couple of years ago, the Stovepipe Wells dunes were my favorite spot of the whole trip. My first day I hiked from the parking lot, among the thousands of footprints, across all the "transverse" dunes (I think they call them that), with little reward. After that I tried the half-mile north, and it was much easier and with much better dunes. It still took a lot of cloning in PS to clean up the rest of the footprints.


I was there in January and the weather was just perfect.

Eric

Stovepipe Wells dunes is also one of my favourite spots. At least, with all the footprints, you become an expert at Photoshop cloning!

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

Stovepipe Wells dunes is also one of my favourite spots. At least, with all the footprints, you become an expert at Photoshop cloning!

That's for sure! And after a while you begine to ask yourself: "Aren't those footprints rather artistic? Maybe I should leave some of them in."

[francois]

That's for sure! And after a while you begine to ask yourself: "Aren't those footprints rather artistic? Maybe I should leave some of them in."

Speaking for myself, I decided to leave them in…

[luong]

Here's a little tip about Zabriskie Point that could be of interest even to those that know the location.

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

Here's a little tip about Zabriskie Point that could be of interest even to those that know the location.

Excellent tip. And by taking that little hike you won't be bumping elbows with quite so many other photographers.

[francois]

Excellent tip. And by taking that little hike you won't be bumping elbows with quite so many other photographers.

Indeed, a good tip as the platform is often crowded at sunrise and at sunset.

[Greg Campbell]

Even better, hike down INTO the badlands, following the trail from Zabriskie to Golden Canyon.  The trail passes directly beneath Manley Beacon and also offers great views of the Red Cathedral rocks to the N.  It's about 3 miles each way, with a few hundred feet of elevation change.

[ChuckZ]

Even better, hike down INTO the badlands, following the trail from Zabriskie to Golden Canyon.  The trail passes directly beneath Manley Beacon and also offers great views of the Red Cathedral rocks to the N.  It's about 3 miles each way, with a few hundred feet of elevation change.

I concur with Greg.  That trail is awesome.  A great loop is Golden Cyn-Gower Gulch.

[Greg Campbell]

I concur with Greg.  That trail is awesome.  A great loop is Golden Cyn-Gower Gulch.

Indeed.  Gower Gulch features some neat stuff too!  Search Flickr for each destination as well as various combinations such as 'golden zabriskie,' 'gower golden,' etc.  You'll see some great photos of a unique landscape.   You can hike Chuck's tour, down from ZP into Golden or Gower, and back up the other, in a morning.

Let me also give a shout to Titus Canyon.  It's a longish drive over a dirt road, but the scenery is as good as it gets in the DV area.  I don't know if there's an ideal time of day.  There's such a variety of terrain that either morning or evening light should light something up!  Even high noon can work if you've got some texture (clouds) in the sky.

[Yangt26224]

Here is the link of some pictures that I took over last week. Death Valley indeed is a amazing place!!

http://www.thomasyangimages.com/-/thomasya....asp?cat=134019

[francois]

Here is the link of some pictures that I took over last week. Death Valley indeed is a amazing place!!

http://www.thomasyangimages.com/-/thomasya....asp?cat=134019

Thanks for sharing your photos. I agree, Death Valley is really amazing.

[gdanmitchell]

I recently returned from a trip to Death Valley.  Here are a few of the places I visited that provided good photo ops and times of the day I thought were good for photography.

Badwater: sunrise (catch alpen glow on peaks of Panamint Mountains)
Dantes View: soon after Sunrise (great views along the trail)
Artist Drive: about an hour after sunrise, and sunset
Golden Cyn: about 1/2hr before sunset (especially about a mile up the trail, bring a flashlight)
Zabriskie Point: sunrise(best) and sunset
Dunes near Stovepipe Wells:  Sunrise and Sunset (for dunes with minimal footprints, drive about 1/2 mile north of the dunes parking lot then walk about 0.5-1 mile along north edge of dune filed, take a gps reading at your car to make it easy to find your way back)

Note: Sunset comes early to Death Valley due to the Panamint Mountains

I've also had good luck at Badwater (actually just a bit south) around sunset, especially if there are interesting clouds over the Panamints. Also, canyons like Golden Canyon can often be decent a bit later in the morning and/or earlier in the afternoon since light doesn't go directly down into them.

It may surprise people to find that some locations provide some interesting options at non-standard times. Last time I was at Zabriskie I first shot at the usual dawn hour, but I spotted a small element in the landscape there that I thought might work later in the morning, returned later (perhaps around 10:00 a.m.), and came away with something I like. (Not the standard view.)

When I go to the Racetrack I usually plan to stay overnight and shoot early/late. However, I find that the Grandstand is interesting to shoot in the mid- to late-afternoon time frame.

Dan