Into the White Desert Photo

Photographer’s Note

Taken from the White Sands National Monument in New Mexico. Taking photos from this place was tricky, since the white sands and the harsh sunlight can fool the camera's exposure metering. In most of my shots I avoided shooting directly into the sun, then I thought I should give it a try. With my camera in burst mode, I took 3 bracketed shots. During PP, I chose and combined 2 photos to come up with this.

jstewart, kristofk, lilimih33, migzal, PixelTerror has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

aadilj (17950) 2008-03-30 21:50

Thats well composed right into he face of the sun. Good textures of the sand and lovely colours as well

sothy81 (8496) 2008-03-30 22:09

I've been there back in 2004 Dec. This is a very nice place. I did not get this good shot at all. This is a very nice sharp photo. Also with good light. Well done. Sothy

oreyd (387) 2008-03-30 22:26

brillant (literally!) picture... the sun is great...

jstewart (1081) 2008-03-30 22:32

Quite succesful under difficult conditions. One criticism is that the horizon is exactly mid-way in the image - an unsettling composition.
John

Jeppo (11624) 2008-03-31 3:11

Hi Alford,

this is actually what we called "white heat"!
good colours and POV on sand pattern.
very sharp sun
well done
Silvio

kristofk (773) 2008-03-31 13:03

Hello,
a very good photo of White Sands (that are known to produce problems to all photographers). You have done a good work, maybe the sand is not as white is it in reallity is, but nevertheless the impression of heat and blasting sun is well conveyed by the photo.

Best regards, Kristof

lilimih33 (9870) 2008-04-01 2:54

Hello Alford!
Lovely star effect and beauttiful place!
Perfect clarity and wonderful colours, light and perspective!
Best regards!
Lili

...I return... :)

migzal (485) 2008-04-03 8:00

i usually shoot in direct sunlight at dawn or dusk, but this is a direct overhead light but the result looks great. excellent work kabayan.

PixelTerror (86032) 2008-05-08 1:14

Hi Alford,
I know it's not easy at all to shoot against the sun and you got a very nice result here with fine details preserved at ground level, for such photos it is good to mount a sigma lens as the star effect is more attractive than the canon one (less branches) and also nikon (too many branches).
Have a nice day jY