I took liberties with Panamint Dunes

[David Eckels]

Yes, I confess Would appreciate comments if anything stands out as obviously manipulated. From a 4 shot vertical merge. Hard to knock down the mid-late afternoon contrast.

[Wolfman]

Need to see an image please.

[David Eckels]

That would help, wouldn't it?

[degrub]

the background bothers me for some reason.
Maybe it needs colour ?

[David Eckels]

Maybe it needs colour ?

But then it wouldn't be a B/W. I did darken it about a stop.

[Wolfman]

I agree with degreb...something about the bkgd. doesn't feel right. I think the bkgd. needs to be darker adding more contrast with the foreground. I tried a quick edit and it seemed a little better.

[David Eckels]

Even darker, wow. Very helpful; I worried about it being to much.

[langier]

It's fine, Dave, though darker seems good with these dunes to pop them. However one should be bold at times!

In the spring, during the morning Hunter Mountain and the Cottonwood Range can add some dramatic shadows as the sun rises over the Panamint Range and spotlights the dunes.

Most photos of the Panamint Dunes tend to need a long lens since it's a long walk to the dunes from the end of a rough dirt road and there are more accessible dunes in the region besides the Mesquite Dunes that always seemed for me to be more rewarding to shoot.

One long shot that gives one a high POV is along the road to Hunter Mountain. However, I think one of the better vantage points for me was near Panamint Springs which put the dune field in context with its semi-remote environment.

Here's one from years ago shot with a focal length of 250mm.