Stovepipe Wells, DVNP.......please read technical details

... congrats ...IO Points ...

Thank you SO much! That's an honor coming from you! I think I'll try to submit this for a rating. Kind regards, Christal

In trying to tone down the white spots, have I gone too dark with

this? Please comment.

The challenge of this photo is clear to me. While critique is an important contributor to growth, there comes a time at which critique only reflects the critic, not the photo. Then, the photographer must chose what is important. I believe you are at that point and perhaps need to decide if you like tone of the dark and act consistent with that. Its is, after all, you reflected in your photos.

 

Steve

I think you hit the nail on the head, but I'm having a hard time 'defining' myself. I guess I'm not very confident yet, and I'm working on that. Your comment has been food for thought, and I appreciate it very much.

I believe the photo is a bit dark. I would say that it is tonally flat at the bottom, with too much grays. I tried to edit it the way I would do it but hey... This is just me, you might not like it.

Without the mountains in the background I would be challenged to tell you what I was looking at. A nice abstract view of the DVNP.

I love that you're playing with this! It's such a wonderful image to learn from! Antonio's version is wonderful - I wonder if he might share with us more specifically what he did.....

A great capture to begin with gave you a lot to work with. Antonio's version appears to have a few more recovered details, but your version is nearly identical. I agree with Shawn that apart from the defining hills in the background, I would be very confused.

Antonio,

I like very much what you've done, and I'll be emailing you to ask for your help with this. Thanks so much.

 

Shawn, Lou Ann and Jeff,

Thanks for your comments. Yes, there is something inherently good about this photo, but I just don't quite have it yet. I love the abstract-ness of it, and if I can't improve it with my current editing program, I'll put it on the back burner until I upgrade to CS3 . As always, I appreciate all of you!

Hi Christal!

 

PDE

I am sorry but I did the editing so quickly that I don't quite remember what I did exactly. I think I made two new levels, overexposed one and overlayed the other, adjusted and merged them together and then recovered the mid tones with the levels... Although, I think some good results could be obtained simply by working with the curves and the levels, trying to balance highlights and mid tones.

Hi Christal, I inverted everything in this one, darkened the background mountains and lightened the foreground dunes. What do you think?

I absolutely love this version, even better than your other attempt above. I'm excited that I'll be getting some new editing software for Christmas, so I hope to be able to go back to some of my older shots like this and improve them a little. Hey, how is the practicing going? Have you already had your audition?