Moving rocks in Death Valley

[David Eckels]

I know some of you like these, but to others they are just AR(AT) without the tree Shot several trying to get a unique "angle." This is one in the series.
Yes, I was having fun, but I had to have spine surgery after the ride out and back!

[Roman Racela]

Awesome image. Make an appointment with the chiropractor before heading out to the playa next time

[maddogmurph]

The white haze on the ridge line adds contrast and sharpness.  Although it seems slightly unnatural, almost eerie, but it gives the ridge a Leica type sharpness.

[Paulo Bizarro]

Super location. I like the brown monotone of the image. I do not like the composition much, the line is leaving the frame towards the left and towards nothing. Also, the rock in the middle of the frame, plus a lot of "wasted" space on the bottom, does not work for me.

[David Eckels]

Super location. I like the brown monotone of the image. I do not like the composition much, the line is leaving the frame towards the left and towards nothing. Also, the rock in the middle of the frame, plus a lot of "wasted" space on the bottom, does not work for me.

Same concern from me Paul, but I was trying for something a little different than the classic compositions. Attached is a second one, with similar tones, that I did later than the first.

[maddogmurph]

I like the second one better as well, the only problem is that my eye is drawn to the fact that the sun is oval shaped, which distracts me from the subject.

[Paulo Bizarro]

I also prefer the second one, there is nothing wrong from trying something different, of course:)

[stamper]

Super location. I like the brown monotone of the image. I do not like the composition much, the line is leaving the frame towards the left and towards nothing. Also, the rock in the middle of the frame, plus a lot of "wasted" space on the bottom, does not work for me.

I think the above criticism wouldn't be valid if you had used a large aperture such as f2.8 and focused on the rock making everything else a blur. I find the sharp hills a little distracting. Overall I like the composition.

[David Eckels]

Last one, I promise! Was trying to create a sense of place for these stones, thus the great DOF. Unfortunately, I did not succeed in finding a unique perspective that hadn't been shot by other photographers and that was technically near perfect. Oh well, at least they're mine! I debated on this one as to a B/W rendering, but decided to go with color to emphasize the difference between sky and earth. Thanks for the comments and crticisms; they helped me greatly and I will definitely return to this study after I get out of my full body cast

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

The last two are my favorites.
In the first one the track of the rock isn't so obvious, so it just looks like an isolated rock on an interesting playa ground with a nice sky.
In the other two, you can easily see where the rocks have come from, and they still have nice skies (I'm jealous; there wasn't a cloud in the sky for most days on my one tri to DV).

The last one is very satisfying in all respects.

[Rajan Parrikar]

The final image is evocative,  and to find clouds like these, v. lucky you were!  The first image suffers from halos along the ridge line.  The oval sun in the second one is an easy fix with the Liquefy filter.  The Racetrack is truly something.

[Jeremy Roussak]

Last one, I promise!

I really like this one, David. You seem to have had wonderfully interesting weather! If I've a criticism, it's that I'd like to see a little more space on the left: it seems a tad too tightly cropped.

Jeremy

[Bob_B]

Yes, the third one is the best in my opinion. The clouds are surreal and that adds mysticism to the shot.

[Chris Calohan]

Me too on the last one. I like it best but I liked them all in one capacity or another...

[luxborealis]

Nice series, David. You had your work cut out for you as photographing a well-photographed site is always difficult if you're looking for something fresh.

Any chance of a fourth iteration: a horizontal of the third with ¼ to ⅓ sky? (Sounds like I'm ordering a burger!) I like the sweep and feel of motion in #3, but feel cut off in the vertical composition.

Have you considered a warm-toned B&W or reducing the saturation on the colour version? Not that it's over-saturated, the reduced saturation would change the feel of the photo from "realistic" to "worn" in keeping with landscape. The warm-toned B&W would do the same. But perhaps I,m recommending something that's already been done to photos of this location.

[Dave (Isle of Skye)]

I think these are really great shots compositionally, I also really like the detail and agree with you David that you were correct in going for a deep DoF throughout the frame, as I think it really works well. My only reservation though is that I would like to see versions of all these images, but with a lot less noticeable PP applied to the skies. A brighter lighter smoother sky, without the clouds being so dark and crunchy, would probably turn these great shots into really great shots IMHO.

Dave

[thierrylegros396]

I think these are really great shots compositionally, I also really like the detail and agree with you David that you were correct in going for a deep DoF throughout the frame, as I think it really works well. My only reservation though is that I would like to see versions of all these images, but with a lot less noticeable PP applied to the skies. A brighter lighter smoother sky, without the clouds being so dark and crunchy, would probably turn these great shots into really great shots IMHO.

Dave

+1

My prefered is the 2nd.

Thierry

[David Eckels]

Thanks for the comments, critiques, and encouragement guys!
Ok, because you ask so sweetly, I have jimmied these up along the lines suggested and post the horizontal version. I have a slight problem with this composition, which is that the stone is not as prominent (further from lens) as I might like. I felt when shooting, that one strategy to leverage was getting the stone "in your face" and for the vertical comp, I was literally on my belly; wanted to include the sky for drama at the time.
I also toned down the crunchiness in the sky here in these two versions (Stone 6). But I will ask, is this a stylistic preference (artistic license) or something more fundamental and subtle? Part of what I hear is that you think the rocks have enough drama without adding to that in the sky, but FWIW, while I went for drama, I did take precautions to smooth things out in the sky. Curious about the origins of your concerns.
Finally, I did tweak the other three according to suggestions made in this thread; if there's interest I could post the "final" results. Maybe I will anyway, just in the sake of interest.

[Dave (Isle of Skye)]

Yes David, that is definitely more like it, bravo!

I think the coloured version of one of your Death Valley images above, has now been elevated from merely quite good into stunning!

I think the art of modern photography after you have perfected your eye, the craft and the skill, is to then develop a good sense of reserved control over the final manipulation of the image and all parts of it. It is far too easy for us to get carried away with all the modern tools and sliders etc and find ourselves pushing the pixels over the line and into a state of looking processed, whereas careful gentle tweaking to enhance the overall impact of the image to the best of our abilities, whilst trying to avoid slipping into a sort of plug-in created unreality, is the final 'black art' that we need to develop to become more successful as photographers - IMHO at least.

I know that what one photographer thinks is over cooked, to another photographer is not going far enough, so it is never going to be easy to satisfy everyone, but for me and with this new version of your image, you most definitely have.  

Dave

[David Eckels]

That means a lot coming from you! Thank you, Dave.