Rajan,
I just held a Lindt bar up next to the photo, but it didn't quite match.
I'm usually a fan of monochrome, but I'm so used to vivid (but realistic) colors in your photos that I feel a bit unsettled by this one, perhaps wanting to see it in full color.
Thank you, all, for the feedback.
Eric,
I have had my eyes on these Death Valley Buttes for quite a while. When I took this shot I knew that it would be displayed in monochrome. The DV Buttes present a striking visual as you drive in from points east (Beatty, for example) on Daylight Pass. They are also devoid of colour. Every time I have stopped to take a shot here, it has been during mid to late morning when the facets of the peaks facing us are shadowed.
This particular view of Death Valley Buttes, due to their orientation, is not a sunrise or a sunset composition if the first or the last light illuminating the peaks is what we seek. The Amargosa Range obstructs the first rays, the sunset location falls behind them. At sunrise the Panamints in the backdrop catch the first light. What I do have in mind for future shoots is the same framing as this one but with the glow/colour in the sky after sunset.
Attached is another view I took that same morning from a lower vantage point, and per your demand, I have kept the colour, such as it is, in there.