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The Dumont Dunes north of Baker, California are beautiful: long, sloping, graceful lines and curves, almost no vegetation, and made of gorgeously reflective silica sand. How heartbreaking it was when I arrived at the dunes, all a-twitter with excitement, only to find out that they are an off-road vehicle park. All those pristine dune faces I saw from a distance were, in actuality, covered with tire tracks. There wasn't a single untouched dune in the place. And having arrived at the dunes only an hour before sunset, I didn't have time to drive back to the Kelso Dunes in the Mojave, or to drive to the Mesquite Dunes north in Death Valley. Epic clouds were building for sunset and I felt like crying.
But not one to sit around and curse the fates, I decided to do a little exploring, and set off down Harry Wade road into the very southern tip of Death Valley. After what felt like 10 spine-jarring, teeth-rattling miles of washboard road where I was searching frantically for some interesting desert feature to shoot, I happened to glance to my right and saw something amazing off in the distance: sand dunes.
SAND DUNES!! I yelled, and leapt out of the car in my excitement. I had no idea how far away the dunes were, but nothing was going to stop me from shooting them. After 40 minutes of olympic-class speed walking, I arrived at the base of the dunes, and practically exploded with elation: no tire tracks, no vegetation, not even any footprints. These dunes were as pristine as it gets.
The next 30 minutes were some of the best I've ever had as a photographer. It was one of those nights when you think all is lost and somehow it all just comes together beautifully in the end. You know what I mean: your heart is pounding, the blood is rushing through your veins, your A-game is on, and you can't keep yourself from shouting and smiling.
Though our workshop is still months away, thinking back to this trip has got me super pumped about teaching in Death Valley in November.
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Tech Notes on this Photo
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Nikon D300s
Tokina 12-24 mm @ 12 mm on a crop sensor
ISO200 - best dynamic respose of the D300
f/9 - nice, sharp sweet spot on my lens
2 sec
Lee 3-stop soft GND filter, handheld at an angle along the mountain
ridge
Post-Processing
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In Raw Converter (Nikon Capture NX2)
- Processed single raw file three times, once for sky, once at +0.5ev
for the foreground, and once at +0.3ev to beldn in to a dark corner of
the sky in the upper right
- Global contrast for added pop
- Local contrast to add zip to the ridges
- Local contrast for color and clarity in the sky and mountains
In Photoshop:
- Blend of all three tiffs using layer masks, gradients, and hand
brushing
- Selective sharpening of foreground patterns and mountains only
- Minor color correction to midground dunes
- Selective curves layer to reduce vignetting in lower corners
- Minor s-curve curves layer to add global contrast
Thanks for your support and visits!
~Josh
tropicaLiving - Jessy Eykendorp, amandajcain, twoeyes, Geode 06, and 314 other people added this photo to their favorites.
View 20 more comments
JebbiePix 23 months ago | reply
Nature creates, we are the founders!
Please share your sand creation with us!
Sand creations P1-A2 Admin moderated
سلمان المرزوقي 22 months ago | reply
very nice image
ANOODONNA 21 months ago | reply
Amazing ..
Jurjen Harmsma Photography 20 months ago | reply
astonishing
Derek Toye 19 months ago | reply
Awesome tones. Love the lines in the foreground.
Nass-1960 19 months ago | reply
Great pink
LInDeZign 18 months ago | reply
Fabulous image..!
James Orlov 16 months ago | reply
gorgeous picture!
Tanya Harrison 16 months ago | reply
Lovely!
f1design 16 months ago | reply
outstanding colours + presentation!
Birgit Zimmermann 15 months ago | reply
beautiful shot, and thrilling story :)
Darren White Photography 15 months ago | reply
This is bad ass...those pink sands and ripples are sick!!!!!!!
red bicycle design 15 months ago | reply
love this shot, you should think of entering into City Year's Art Competition: www.artofidealism.com, it would work perfectly for the Ripples story: artofidealism.wordpress.com/stories/ripples/
Thierry Andre Pierre 14 months ago | reply
La vie en rose!
Leoraul's Old Account 12 months ago | reply
Just came up in my iPad using Images of Music. Love it!
Miss Fruit Joy 10 months ago | reply
Extraordinary!
Marco de Waal 10 months ago | reply
Great looking sand dunes. Love it!
Bardsea Photography 7 months ago | reply
Wonderful Composition And Light Very Impressive Photostream
offshore geometries 5 months ago | reply
gorgeous colors and forms-captivating work-feels like an old song of tangerine dream called cherokee lane
ito_hajime 3 months ago | reply
beautiful image! great work.