Moon Valley Photo | TrekEarth

Photographer’s Note

Valle de La Luna.
This is one of those places that are hard to grip - barren and wind swept rocks, twisted, spiked and utterly uncommon. There are places around the globe like Valle de La Luna of SPDA, but those are quite rare.
Bring warm clothing and a camera, and have lots of fun!

About the photo - you can see the original color version in the WS. Let's say that I felt it was too vivid for my purpose of this post. Our concept of the MOON is of a barren, wild and grayscale landscape, with dark space surrounding it. So, I did a partial desaturation to create this ALMOST B&W version to get that twist of color and at the same time, to get the unique texture of the wild rock formations - hope I succeeded!

Floydian, KevRyan has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

Floydian (30970) 2006-12-18 12:51

Hi chen,
Long time since i saw something from you.
The moon colour on the surface is perfect in this one, but seeing the colour version, oh man, you should upload that one as main post. It looks beautiful with that golden sand tones and beautifuil blue sky on top. Here the sky looks not good, it's full of grain and does not really good to the picture. Although i like the surface in moon colour, i really prefer the colour one.
Best regards, Henk

KevRyan (22422) 2006-12-18 15:53

This is just fantastic Chen - yes welcome back too - sorry I was just so excited to see this image - tonally it's extraordinary - a really beautiful composition and such an aptly named place - and one of those images that really inspires me to visit somewhere.

bw Kev

SamB (1948) 2006-12-20 0:54

Hello, Chen--
Great work on this one, the road is a nice touch, leading through the frame to the background. As Henk said, desaturating really gave you a lot of noise... and it doesn't look so great in the sky. Otherwise it's really nice though... although i, too, prefer the color version.
Thanks!
sam

Clairedelune (4885) 2006-12-24 16:38

Hello Chen,
What a strange photo! Yes, truly "moony" in a way (though I never visited the moon lately...)
Are my eyes correct in seeing small people down on the road? They are more visible on the color version. Incredible space! Frightening, in some way, for a urban junkie like me. I love the desaturation and I understand your reasons behind your choice.
Very visually impressive...
Claire...de La Luna! ;)

shirgold (2439) 2007-01-09 14:38

Hi Chen,
Nice to see more of your SA images.
Great capture of this beautiful place, my points do not only got for the image but also for the climb taken for achieving this shot.
TFS - Shir

xavis (3176) 2007-10-09 13:12

Hola,
great shot, and here B&W works really well. Shadows and lights as the composition is amazing, giving a great depth and a lot of details.

Good job.

hasta la vista,

Javier