Cheltenham Badlands - Ontario

The formation was exposed by poor farming practices in the 1930s that led to soil erosion and exposed the underlying shale.

At one point in time, the Cheltenham Badlands were occupied by a large river. The hills signify the riverbed and as you follow the trail, you begin to see the river history of the badlands. Thousands of years ago, this lake dried out resulting in today's version of the Cheltenham badlands.

The formation is mostly red in colour due to iron oxide deposits  with some faint blue/green streaks due to ground water percolation changing the red iron oxide into blue/green iron oxide.

nice color work and detail in the foreground

An interesting write up Tony, I like a little history with my morning PN. I like your POV on this and the colors are great as well. Take care.

Holger

Hi Tony,

I am very familiar with this place.  In fact I think I first became aware of it about five years ago from one of your photo.net posts!

I know that you like experimenting with processing techniques, but to me this photo looks overworked-- the greens are a bit bright and the lighting on the badlands appears too flat or even based on the luminosity of the greens.

A very nice result with beautiful lighting and colors, Tony!

Great POV here. Nicely done.   AJ

Hi Tony,

  Beautiful scene with wonderful composition, details & colors.  Take care, Patsy

Thom, Holger - Thanks.

Jeff - thanks.  As always, I appreciate your input. I did not do much in terms of processing and it is difficult to remember, since this shot was taken a few years ago, exactly how it looked. As you know, no camera nor film will precisely represent what one's eyes saw. Some may come close though.  The only area that I thought I had room to improve was the sky since I was thinking that the white clouds were not white enough and perhaps I have to increase the overall contrast of the image.

Ruud, AJ and Patsy - Thanks also. 

Yes, Tony, a slight increase in contrast is what I was thinking.  I know your thoughts are to improve the sky; I also believe it could restore more of the small crack detail in the earth, which I think is a bit more visible in my shot, which was taken at a focal length of 38mm vs your 14mm (both DX).  I guess that's why I thought this image is a bit flat-- lacking shadow detail-- especially in the foreground.  Cheers, Jeff    

Well composed and great tones. Beautiful landsscape.

Thanks.

Tony,

Wow, I didn't know this kind of place exists in Ontario.  Where is it?  Fascinating.   It's the excellent perspective that makes me feel as if I am at the site enjoying this slice of nature.   I commend your artistic eye, seeing the image in your head is what enables art.  This is proof that the mind is greater than the camera; the camera is just a tool to transfer the vision of the mind to the image.  Wonderful.  Larry

Jeff - Thanks.

Thanks

Thanks  - you are too kind. Probably a lucky shot!

As to its location, I don`t remember but just google the three words in the title and you will get directions. What I do remember is that you could drive by the road that is adjacent to this and you could easily miss it.  If I had to go back, it would be in the Spring. I could imagine some melting snow in the lower parts, the browns and greens exposed with a glorious sunrise sky. If you live close by, perhaps you can capture that one for me since I live 7 hours away. 

A good section of mounds to represent the Badlands.  Gosh, I've never even heard of these.....will have to check them out.  Thanks for the post!

Christal - if you are closer to Calgary, there are more badlands in Drumheller just east of Calgary.

Thanks....Yep.....I've been there.....and to other Badlands as well.  But I had never heard of these.  My daughter's husband just finished his residency in Edmonton, so they moved back to Calgary (which is where all of his family lives), and he has started his medical practice in Okotoks, a suburb just south of Calgary.