Yucca and White Sand

A flawless landscape. The texture of the white sand and the yucca blend together beautifully. It is so neat and clean and that for me make it so stunning. Best regards, Stephen. 

TRemendously beautiful image.  Could be snow, congrats on one fine composition.  Rek

Thanks for the comments.  I wanted the composition to have sand (more like talcum powder than sand) and only sand, and I think that pays off in the far background.  BTW, after this two-day visit, my sensor was so dirty that the camera was unusable until I could get it cleaned in Tucson.  I thought I was being careful....

Your control of the exposure is highly commendable, the exellent textures of the image are evident front to back and I imagine the full size file must be an absolute delight to view. The lone Yucca is nice and sharp against the white sands and it's little sister beyond allows some mid point focus too. Whilst I think the composition is near perfect, I do have the urge to see the complete shadow of the Yucca. It's a tiny detail in what I would regard as a truly beautiful image, but I thought it was worth a mention. 

Excellent work Stephen.

Best Regards

Alf

Alf, thanks for the comment.  I was mindful of that, but I was "limited" by a single focal length, and getting what I wanted in the frame while avoiding what I didn't want (especially on the left) was a challenge.  Looking at my own image, it seems so easy:  just back up a little bit.  I can't remember why I didn't, but something required a shadow that wasn't complete.  I think it was because that was a really, really long shadow -- you can see how far the base shadow extends, and the seed pod shadows would extend much further out.

Very clean colors and exposure! Are you using a colorchecker or something similar, and maybe also something to set the exposure? The composition is good but I'm not entirely comfortable. This frame seems to be made up of two incomplete compositions, one on the left without the shadow, and one on the right with the big Yucca. The composition on the right would have been more compelling from a few steps behind and left. For this merged view though, you are at the perfect spot, except that the lens is a few mm too long... but the lines are very well balanced.

This is really quite lovely.  A very simple, clean, and effective composition.  The struggle for me was always trying to include all of the shadow, whilst still maintaining the integrity of what I thought to be the optimal composition.  Having photographed in White Sands, I think your color here is spot-on, especially as it seems to be 'later' in the early a.m. (i.e., still a pretty long shadow off of that yucca).

There is a simple elegant eloquence in this image that speaks to me.  Stephen, this might be one of those images that might benefit from a two or three percent diminishing gradient in each corner.  Just that minimal touch of vignetting might add even a touch more to this beautiful image.  Just a thought.  Cheers!  Chris

Thanks for the comments.  I just use the histogram to know that I'm in the right ballpark, and I may adjust exposure and WB when converting from RAW (but not usually).  My main concerns when framing were 1) avoid the mountains that show up just to the left, 2) get as much of the shadow as possible, and 3) put the plant in a good spot within the frame.

Chris, I really think I give more thought to photos on which I make comments than I do on photos of my own that I post.  I've had a couple recently that were not straight, and when someone pointed that out I could do nothing but agree.  Yeah, this is pretty stark, and a slight vignette would help keep the eyes from flying out of the photo.  Thanks for the suggestion.

I was looking for interesting patterns that captured the essence of the

place as I wandered in the early morning hours in solitude. Comments and

suggestions are appreciated. Thanks.

Hi Stephen.  This is an amazing shot in many ways.  The colour contrast between the sky and sand, the contrast between the living element and non-living element, the details, and the subtle shadows really make this shot a masterpiece.  The composition is perfect!  One of the best dune shots I have seen in a long time.  Thanks for sharing this one.  One question...Where did you take this?  Take care, and all the best.

Paul

This ought to be a top rated image. It is truly beautiful and 'professionally' captured.

Paul, thanks for the comment.  This was taken in White Sands National Monument in New Mexico.  It's a very interesting place to visit, but great care has to be taken with digital equipment -- the "sand" is more like talcum powder. My camera was unusable for several days until I could get it cleaned in Tucson.

Joscelyn, glad you like the photo.  I gave up on ratings long ago, and I neither ask for nor give ratings -- I much prefer to write, even though it may take longer.  I'm also glad you put "professionally" in quotes, as I simply don't devote the time or energy it takes to make sales; I really am completely satisfied just sharing photos with folks.

Steve, i'm late again but this really sings. Everything is beautifully processed and balanced, great depth and that blue sky adds a nice touch.

Clean and crisp, strong textures, beautiful white and blue tones, well exposed and well composed.

Great shot!

Stephen,    Nice image, excellent composition.  Might it have been possible to achieve more detail in the sand toward the background of the image?  I like the image as is, but the sand appears a bit washed out in the left background; what do you think? Could the image use more contrast?   I assume this is White Sands National Monument, a challenging place to photograph.  Thanks for posting this.  I appreciate your critiques and learn a lot from you.   Larry

Thanks again for the comments; they really are appreciated.  Larry, these are very shallow depressions and hardly show up even close to the camera at a very low sun angle.  To hope to see them at any distance is, well, beyond hope IMO.  As I look at the photo, the shadows are distinct, the plant and its leaves are distinct, so I would guess that adding more contrast is beyond what my eyes could see.  Yes, this is White Sands, my first visit to this place.

I like your White Sands series a lot because you're presenting typical views, but I assume with a preference for late early or even full daylight which you manage precisely and really artistically. The contrasts of blueish tones (of the sky) versus white are really fascinating, of course in combination with the mystical patterns carved into the sand dunes (by the changing winds blowing in and over the desert during day and night). The contrast of the yucca itself and the shade cast by the yucca versus the curved lines engraved into the dune represents a major highlight of this composition. Pure sand consists of quarz (silicon dioxide) and here we have the most abundant two elements on Earth (oxygen and silicon) combined in a special harmony. Question: does the Zeiss provide a special look, or, in other words, why do you use this lens here?  

BR / Volker

The textures in the sand , colors , and comp really work very well !

Super shot!

Volker, I'm not quite sure yet whether Zeiss lenses have a "special look" or their own "signature."  My initial sense is that they do.  Part of this stems from the fact that I often have to add exposure compensation to get the same kind of histogram that I get with non-Zeiss lenses.  The other part stems from simply viewing some (but not all) of the images I get from these lenses (I have the 21mm and the 50mm makro).  I've often thought that the images look as if there had been a mild polarizer on the lens -- the colors were a bit deeper, and the overall look was very pleasing.

That's not the reason I initially purchased these lenses, however.  I wanted the 21mm for the focal length and because of the good reports I had read from other owners regarding the sharpness of the lens.  I purchased the 50mm makro primarily for its relative sharpness from corner to corner compared to the many other 50mm lenses available from Canon and other manufacturers (including a non-macro version from Zeiss).  Sharpness was far more important to me than lens speed.  The solid construction of Zeiss lenses in general was a second selling point for me.  It's only after using the two lenses that I might add this third reason (a Zeiss "signature") to the reasons for my owning and keeping the lenses.  I'm considering the Zeiss 35mm lens right now, except I'm flat broke and will be for quite some time as I pay for a new medium format digital system and a new laptop computer to support that system.  I sometimes shake my head at the cost of digital; any money saved from not having to develop film has been eaten up many, many times over by my desire to keep abreast of and get the most out of advancing technology.  The bottom line is I'm extremely pleased with the two Zeiss lenses I own.

BTW, I should mention that the "sand" at White Sands is not the traditional sand we see at the beach or at other sand dune areas such as in Death Valley.  Seashore sand is silicon dioxide, also known as silica.  The sand at White Sands is a very different material known as gypsum, a form of calcium sulfate.  This entire area, including the mountains, was once the bottom of a shallow sea.  Dissolved gypsum was deposited at the bottom of the sea and eventually turned to stone.  Geological uplifting during the formation of the Rocky Mountains lifted this entire area, but a central portion later collapsed to form a low-lying basin (the Tularosa Basin) between the mountains (San Andres and Sacramento mountain ranges) that ring the basin.  Gypsum is water soluble, and water coming from the mountains brings gypsum into the basin.  However, there is no outlet from this basin, and the water evaporates leaving behind the gypsum.  Wind moves the gypsum around within the basin.  Gypsum has a texture that I found to be closer to talcum powder than to traditional beach sand or quartz.  The particles are so small that when one walks on gypsum sand, one doesn't sink into it as one would if the dunes were made of much larger-grained silica.  It's interesting stuff, but it's bad for digital sensors.  I thought I was being very careful when changing lenses, but after two days my camera was essentially unusable.  I used film for most of the next 8 days until I could get the sensor cleaned in Tucson.  If I were to go back again, I'd put on a 24-70mm and leave it on for the duration.

About the shadow:

The hill on the right slopes down. If we look at the shadow we see that the "grass" shadow is almost to the edge of the picture while the flower has three times the height of the grass. That shadow will go on "forever" and my guess is that you decided to compose the shadow so the shadow was cut off where it was only made by the stem, plus a small bit of breathing room. Probably the only viable alternative.

(-:

That said, a fine image with lovely textures and shades.

All the best,

Matthijs.

Beautiful, peaceful image with pristine sand, blue sky and desert vegetation! I am guessing from the blue cast that this was taken in the morning? I bet this would look wonderful in BW as well, but that blue, blue sky...sometimes I just hate it when blue skies are wasted in BW, but then it is a whole different feeling one is after isn't it? Very well done. Thank you for sharing yet another lovely landscape. :)

P.S. You should be careful wandering for hours in the desert; hope you had friends with you.

Thanks again for the comments.  My choice in framing was really guided by two things:  mountains on the left that I did not want to include, and placement of the yucca in the frame.  I had no chance to include all of the shadow -- it was just too long.

Trisha, I don't do enough B&W photos -- I need to try more.  I'm not sure this would be a good candidate, but I should find out.  This was taken in the morning, and the temperatures were very mild.  I usually don't wander too far from the road; I'm somewhat handicapped, and my ability to walk long distances is compromised, especially when carrying a camera bag.  I came close to getting into trouble about 2 weeks earlier at Bryce Canyon.  I went out while it was still dark, the temperature was minus 6 degrees, I didn't have appropriate clothing, and I got turned around in the darkness and took nearly an hour to find the point from which I had intended to shoot.  In addition, I was out in that cold weather for about 3 hours, to the point where it was getting difficult to walk or to talk.  That's pushing it too much.  I have another friend who was out on a trail in the Cascade Mountains for an evening shoot by himself, he broke an ankle on the hike back in the darkness, and had to crawl back to his truck where he had a cell phone.  I prefer to photograph by myself, but there are risks in doing that.