"Topographic Dreams"

Sorry for my overindulgence! The contours and textures of this vast wilderness really hit home with me visually. More specifically, the chiaroscuro lighting from the low angled rising sun and the scattered clouds give these scenes such dimension. No doubt, I didn't crack a home run with any extraordinary transient light, but I don't think it was needed to convey the sense of scale and elevation. My hopes are I can return during the peak of wildflowers and spend more time down in the desert valleys. These rich, earthy reds and browns graced with verdant greens and vivid wildflower pastels would be a dream for me. It's better Larger, so click the preview!

One of your best I think Mark! Excellent mix of color, detail, scenery, and talent. Superb work!

All the best,
Neil

Another excellent image, mark. This just sings. Not a lot more needs to be said.

Thanks Neil, Jeff and Leo! I appreciate it!! Leo, the new camera is wonderful! The 60D is a great addition, despite the reasonable price. Instead of purchasing it with the kit lens, I got the body only and then added the Tamron 18-270 mm Di ll VC PZD. I'm not a camera geek, so I don't run tests with resolution equations, I just go by the visual results on the computer monitor. Everything looks amazing thus far. Edge to edge sharpness with no noise. Even at higher ISO, the images are quite clean. Much better than the Pentax. What really blows me away is the VC (vibration control). While it's on, you can zoom in, depress the shutter halfway, and the image suddenly is perfectly stationary. At 270 mm, that's a 405 mm equivalent on the APS sensor. Another excellent feature is the live view on the swiveling LCD. I used to have fits with critical focusing in low light; even having to scrap a few shoots because the images were soft. Now with live view, I can zoom in on the LCD and focus in the lowest light. Finally, my old Pentax must have been set for noise reduction and I didn't know it. Every time I shot in low light, the image would take twice as long to write (a 30 second exposure would take an additional 30 seconds just to write to the card, making it a full 60 seconds). The first time I used the 60D at sunrise, my 30 second exposures were recorded immediately. From what I have read, this is how noise reduction works, so my assumption is that the 60D is not set for noise reduction, while the Pentax must have been. In fact, I'm going to look at that right now to see if I'm right. Well, you can imagine the added freedom of shooting at low light in half the time. Like I said, I'm no camera geek, otherwise I would have known that when I was shooting with the Pentax!

Ahhh Mark...  A homogenous scene with the entire (thanks) valley curve leading our eye into, focusing on the brighter plain and then leading off to the soft sunrise.  But all of that is fluff, I like that it takes me there with a true sense of reality.... Thanks for sharing... Mike

All of this images in this folder are beaitiful.

Chees.

Bela

sharp foreground and nice color and well composed.  Best Regards,