The series continues. I keep finding amazing raw files on the hard drive to bring into Photoshop for final processing. For the four days of my time in Death Valley, I was, indeed, blessed with amazing light. After photographing the moonset and sunrise at Zabriski Point, I turned my attention to the Badlands, which are just to the left of the location of yesterday's photo.
I am always attracted by texture and pattern in nature, and this is what really drew me initially to this scene. I also love the transition of the various warm tones throughout the image. Then, I noticed how the rising sun sent shafts of light which played across the textured surfaces of the rock.
A friend of mine said that she once went on a ranger-led bus tour through Death Valley - the main thing she remembers from this experience was the guide telling his group "something very bad must have happened here eons ago". In the instance of the Badlands, I think it must have taken eons and eons of small amounts of rain to get this erosion.
To view more of my images, visit my portfolio at Barbara Lee Photography. Also, visit my Facebook fan page at http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/Barbara-Lee-Photography/244133283497[/url
Spotlight photo at http://barbaralee.aminus3.com/image/2010-10-09.html
@Stu: HI Stu, I jsut added a BW layer in CS4 and tweaked the color sliders until I liked what I saw. The BW conversion in Photoshop is pretty slick, in my book! I hear that Nik Silver Effects if a great plug in, but since I am not really a BW person, doubt if I will spring for it just yet.
NIKON D90
1/10 second
F/16.0
ISO 200
112 mm (35mm equiv.)