Luminous Landscape Forum

Equipment & Techniques => Landscape & Nature Photography => Topic started by: Arlen on March 19, 2015, 09:47:36 pm

Title: Wind Sculpture
Post by: Arlen on March 19, 2015, 09:47:36 pm
A companion piece to my post from yesterday, but here the sculptor, in one of the driest places on earth, is wind rather than water.

Death Valley; from March 2009, but re-processed.
Title: Re: Wind Sculpture
Post by: Les Sparks on March 19, 2015, 10:07:43 pm
Wonderful black and white. Really enjoyed it.
Title: Re: Wind Sculpture
Post by: Paulo Bizarro on March 20, 2015, 04:56:42 am
Nice one too.
Title: Re: Wind Sculpture
Post by: francois on March 20, 2015, 07:54:15 am
Lovely landscape with a great sky/clouds. B&W is perfect!
Title: Re: Wind Sculpture
Post by: Bob_B on March 20, 2015, 09:21:20 am
Yes! Love the b/w tonality in this photo.
Title: Re: Wind Sculpture
Post by: luxborealis on March 20, 2015, 09:25:59 am
A real contrast to your previous post, but equally well executed with wonderful layers and tones. One small critique: with how centrally-placed the sand dune is, the composition is less dynamic - there is less movement through or around the scene.
Title: Re: Wind Sculpture
Post by: sdwilsonsct on March 20, 2015, 10:42:08 am
This one seems much more dynamic than the previous picture, helped by the lines in the dunes, the uneven distribution of masses, and strong contrast. I like it.
Title: Re: Wind Sculpture
Post by: NancyP on March 20, 2015, 12:11:09 pm
Works very well in B&W, good conversion. Pleasing composition.
Title: Re: Wind Sculpture
Post by: maddogmurph on March 20, 2015, 07:42:27 pm
Which sand dunes were these ones?
Title: Re: Wind Sculpture
Post by: Chris Calohan on March 20, 2015, 07:49:45 pm
I like the dynamics and how they work but more and more I find black skies a bit passe.
Title: Re: Wind Sculpture
Post by: Arlen on March 21, 2015, 04:45:49 pm
Thanks to each of you for your helpful comments.

Maddogmurph, to the best of my recollection these images were taken at the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes.

Chris, I'm not quite sure what you mean by passe (as in out of fashion?), but if you are saying that you don't find dark skies appealing, then that's a matter of taste that I can't argue with. The sky in that image isn't black, but I agree that it's dark, made to appear more so by my presentation on a white background. In the first attachment below, that same image is shown on a black background, which makes a big difference in how dark the sky looks. In color, white clouds against a deep blue sky present a striking color contrast, but much of that is lost in straight conversion to black and white. So I used a yellow-ish filter effect in conversion to enhance tonal contrast. I liked the effect, but maybe some would say that I overdid it here.

You got me to think about it, so in another image in this series that I'm converting, I made two versions. In the second image below, I again used the same yellow-ish filter effect to enhance contrast. But for comparison, in the 3d image below, I processed the image to maintain approximately the same relative visual contrast between sky and clouds as was in the original color version. I'm actually having a hard time deciding which I like better.

In any event, thanks for stimulating me to examine the issue a little more deeply.
Title: Re: Wind Sculpture
Post by: Chris Calohan on March 21, 2015, 10:46:20 pm
I think, Arlen, I was tinking of it in both considerations, as being "overdone" when it didn't seem to need that much extra contrast though now looking at it on the black BG, it is, as you've noted, not quite as "black as I saw it the first presentation. For me now, the 3rd presentation is my favorite of all three as I do like the relativity of the tonal range.