As promised in the last post, I want to elaborate upon the making of this image:
Great Sand Dunes, Colorado, March 2021
More precisely, I want to talk about a few of the many possible compositional variations around this scene.
Firstly, I spotted this feature from a distance and I wanted to be careful in approaching it. If I got too close and then decided to back off, I would already have ruined the scene with my footprints in the sand.
So I began to photograph from a distance and slowly worked my way closer to the “driftwood”. I also had some zoom capability with my 14-24mm wide angle lens.
Great Sand Dunes, Colorado, March 2021. Driftwood 1.Great Sand Dunes, Colorado, March 2021. Driftwood 2.Great Sand Dunes, Colorado, March 2021. Driftwood 3.
The light changed as I approached and I tried including more sky in my compositions.
Great Sand Dunes, Colorado, March 2021. Driftwood 4.Great Sand Dunes, Colorado, March 2021. Driftwood 5Great Sand Dunes, Colorado, March 2021. Driftwood 6.
I think I’m much too far away in Driftwood 1. So I worked my way closer.
I think I’m still too far away in Driftwood 3 and it’s a little dark. I like the sky in this image and the lack of features at the interface between the sand and sky, giving this image a clean, simple look. Maybe this makes it more dramatic?
I like the closeness and the angle of view in Driftwood 4, but I cut off a small portion of the driftwood’s shadow in this image. Cutting off shadows is something that I try to avoid, whenever possible. So I zoomed out a little and made Driftwood 5. Zooming out here got more sky in the image, which I like.
I got much closer for Driftwood 6, but I do not think this is an optimal angle of view.
I lean towards Driftwood 2 and 5 as my favorites. I’m not sure which is best, but I lean towards 5. I think that I could have made a better image than either of these two. Maybe it is good to never be quite satisfied with our photographs, so that we continue to strive to get better images.
As always, readers’ opinions and critiques are welcome,
Sand dunes provide great opportunities for abstract photography. I hope that the few such photographs shared in this post will illustrate such possibilities.
This image is created via focus stacking 4 images in Adobe Photoshop, with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DXO Nik software. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 70mm, f/11, 1/50s, ISO 64.
Wind creates large expanses of ripples and repeating patterns in sand dunes, such as those shown above. These can be rendered effectively in color, if the light is favorable. I like monochrome for such photos, since one only needs the light to provide shadows and highlights, meaning one can shoot at times other than just the “golden” hours.
By excluding moving objects, one can use focus stacking quite effectively in such images, getting sharp images over a large depth range.
Sandhills Abstract. Nikon d850, Nikon 24-70mm at 55mm, f/11, 1/50s, ISO 200. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DXO Nik software.
I really like this photo with the diagonal ripples superimposed on the orthogonal wave in the dune. Obviously, the shadows in the troughs, alternating with the highlights on the crests of the ripples, produces these interesting features.
A composite of three images focus stacked in Adobe Photoshop with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DXO Nik software. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 46mm, f/11, 1/40s, ISO 200.
This is another of my favorite abstracts from the sandhills. In this case, I like the highlight in the depression near the top right of the image and the way the ripples flow into and around the depression.
A composite of three images, focus stacked in Adobe Photoshop, with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DXO Nik software. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 40mm, f/11, 1/60s, ISO 200.
Another image with interesting, bifurcating, ripple patterns with faint wisps of plant matter (look closely to see these) across the ripples.
This is a composite of 6 images focus stacked in Adobe Photoshop with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DXO Nik software. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 48mm, f/11, 1/125s, ISO 200.
The animal track across these subdued ripples adds interest to the pattern. The original color version also shows variations in the color of the sand, producing streaks of color crossing the ripples.
Natural artwork in the sandhills. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 70mm (before crop), f/11, 1/15s, ISO 200. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DXO Nik software.
I’m sure some of you have seen images of circles swept into sand by plant fronds or limbs. Here is a variation on that with the lower frond producing long streaks across the sand ripples and the upper frond pecking out an intricate, dimpled pattern along the direction of the sand ripples. To me such natural art work is fascinating. These are also short lived, since the next wind will probably erase these or maybe produce a variation. So, if you see an interesting one, photograph it before it is gone!
Here are a few more early morning and late day photos from this park.
Animal tracks and corrugated shadows in sand dune. This is an Adobe Photoshop focus stack of three images, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DXO Nik software. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 50mm, f/11, 1/40s, ISO 64.
In this early morning scene, I like the curved shadow cast by this twig and the way the sand ripples give it a corrugated look. The animal tracks passing by also adds some interest.
Muted footprints, sand ripples and sunset shadows. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 24mm, f/11, 1/125s, ISO 100. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DXO Nik software.
Late days in the park were always cloudy, during my visit, which muted the sunset light, but at least added some interest to the sky. In the above photo one can see the evidence of human activity in footprints in the dunes. Those on the left side were softened by the wind, while those in the distance are more recent. I rather liked this wide open view with the late day shadows encroaching from the left. There are also a number of people and some human infrastructure in this photo, but these are only visible, when the image is enlarged.
A small bush cast long shadows at sunset in Monahans Sandhills SP, Texas. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 24mm, f/11, 1/100s, ISO 100. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DXO Nik software.
While being a bit subtle, this little distorted bush and its long shadow caught my eye as I wondered around the sandhills just before sunset.
Sunset light on sand dunes in Monahans Sandhills SP, Texas. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 14mm, f/11, 1/160s, ISO 100. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DXO Nik software.
The light on this dune went from none to fairly good as I composed this image. I was able to exclude most of the human disturbance within the nearby sand, but one can still see the muted footprints in the right side portion of this image. I like the soft, swirly look in the blue sky above the dunes here.
Late day shadows in Monahans Sandhills SP, Texas. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 24mm, f/11, 1/125s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DXO Nik software.
A trio of almost buried desert plants with their long, late day shadows, below the softly, windblown clouds in the blue sky makes this one of my favorite images here.
A small tree casting long shadows at sunset in Monahans Sandhills SP, Texas. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 24mm, 1/125s, f/11, ISO 200. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DXO Nik software.
Another small, subtle bush casting a long shadow in the late day sunlight.
Sunset light illuminating the sandhills. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 24mm, f/11, 1/125s, ISO 200. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DXO Nik software.
The remnants of a windblown bush, highlighted by late day sunlight, and the disturbance it caused in the sand ripples caught my eye here.
A cropped portion of a previous photo. The tumble weed creates interesting perturbations in the windblown sand ripples.
Thinking that the most interesting portion of the previous photo is that little broken bush, with the sand ripple perturbations it caused and the highlights on those and the bush, I cropped out this portion of that image. The larger image offers context to the photo, but I think the cropped portion is more interesting and offers a bit of mystery. What do you think?
Park visitors walking the crest of a dune, below wispy clouds. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 22mm, f/11, 1/125s, ISO100. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DXO Nik software
The sky here is the most interesting portion of this photo, but the three people along the sand dune ridge add a bit of scale to the image.
Sunset light illuminates the sandhills. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 24mm, f/11, 1/125s, ISO 320. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DXO Nik software.
I spotted this fallen tree with the last rays of the day highlighting it and I knew I had to capture it. I made this shot, fearing that I was going to lose the light at any time, then I moved in closer, hoping to get another composition before the light went away.
Sunset light illuminating a fallen tree and the sand dunes. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 24mm, f/11, 1/125s, ISO 800. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DXO Nik software.
The clouds made the light intermittent, but I managed to get this shot before it was entirely gone from the fallen tree.
Sunset at the end of day 2 in the sandhills. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm at 24mm, f/11, 1.0s, ISO 64. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DXO Nik software.
This is my final sunset shot before calling it a day in the dunes. I had planned to come back out the next morning for one final shoot, prior to heading to my next destination, but the extensive human disturbance of the sand over the weekend, made me think that I had captured all the best for this trip, so I decided to sleep in the next morning and get an earlier start on the road.
I have a few abstract images from the dunes that I will share in the final post for this park before continuing to my next destination.
I finally got time to get away for a couple of weeks in March. My destinations were largely determined by weather patterns and the distance between those possible destinations. The first stop was Monahans Sandhills State Park between Odessa and Monahans, Texas. This is a place that I first visited briefly in the 1980s, while on a business trip in the area.
I arrive at the Sandhills about mid-afternoon on a Saturday, where I had reservations in the RV camping area for two nights. My campsite turned out to be in an advantageous site, adjacent to a dune that helped block the prevailing winds. It had been very windy here just a few days prior, which is good, since the wind erases the surface disturbances created by visitors to the dunes. However, I was there during a weekend, so I expected to have to work around the weekend visitors and their tracks in the sand dunes.
The park was fairly busy, as I expected, but the nightly winds helped mute the daily human disturbance of the sand dune surfaces. Initially, I was not impressed by the photographic possibilities in the dunes and many of my photos lived up to those low expectations. However, in the end I think I managed to get a few descent photos. I will let the readers judge the results for themselves and maybe provide some feedback on the posted photos.
Sunset light and shadows in the sandhills. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 32mm, f/11, 1/200s, ISO 200. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DXO Nik software.Sunset light in the sandhills. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 29mm, f/11, 1/250s, ISO 200. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DXO Nik software.
It was rather cloudy, especially the first day at sunset, so the late day light was intermittent and not as good as one would have liked for landscape photography. The clouds added drama to the sky, but I never got the brilliantly lit or colorful clouds that I had looked forward to.
Late day in the Sandhills. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 26mm, f/11, 1/250s, ISO 400. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DXO Nik software.
It was a bit of a challenge to find large areas of undisturbed sand, but as you can see in the above photo, I managed to find a few such areas. Although, there are muted footprints in the sand in the upper left side of the photo. In the previous photo, there are muted footprints evident in the right portion of the photo. I do not think these are so strongly apparent as to distract from the natural appearance of the sand.
A composite of three images, edited in Adobe Lightroom, Photoshop and DXO Nik software. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm at 70mm (before crop), f/11, 1/60s, ISO 200.
The two trees in this photo are weather beaten and scraggly, but I like the glow in the sand at their base and the alternating dark to light in the sand ripples leading from the base of the photo to the trees. This originally started out as a wider landscape view, but there were distracting elements on the right hand side, so I cropped the photo to remove the distraction.
Sunset in the Sandhills. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm, at 36mm, f/11, 1/30s, ISO 640. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DXO Nik software.
This sunset photo was taken at the end of my first day in the sandhills. There are notable human infrastructure item along the horizon, some of which I removed or muted via editing, but I could never get all of those features removed without leaving unattractive artifacts, so I left most of them in the photo. These are only visible and distracting, when one enlarges the photo.
This is enough for this post. I will continue with more photos from the sandhills in the next post.
