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Salvatore Rossignolo
{K:13559} 8/22/2005
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I can't tell you how taken I am with this shot! I was driving with the family from Vegas to LA and was only a 1 hr. side trip from Death Valley and was voted down. With great envy, my highest compliments.
Sal
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Guido Tweepenninckx
{K:20076} 7/7/2005
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maybe a rock from space
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Lee Harris
{K:14694} 4/13/2004
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Tom, this image is a bit harder for me to see the dof affect, but I do believe that I'm catching the jest of what you are telling me.
I'm sorry if I ask silly questions but, I think if I'm understanding you correct you are also telling me that longer shutter speed also improves deep dof ?
Thanks again for taking the time to explain this to me.
Lee
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tom rumland
{K:14874} 3/26/2004
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glad you like it todd. thanks for the e-backpat ;^) i'll be going back in a couple of weeks and have a few ideas for this place. stay tuned...
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Todd Miller
{K:16464} 3/26/2004
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great shot!! what an odd phenomenon...
hmmmmm, colors-awesome, composition-awesome, detail-awesome. can't give any real criticism, only some e-backpatting. well done...
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WALT MESK
{K:10691} 3/25/2004
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a beautiful landscape.I like this drammatic sky.walt.
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Roberto Arcari Farinetti
{K:209486} 3/25/2004
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una fantastica foto, colori e spettacolo che portano la anima a vedere oltre e gustare tutto quello che ci circonda ..questa è la fotografia.. trasmettere emozioni... una vera pace. il gioco che le nuvole creano con il cielo e il contrasto del deserto due "forme" diverse aria e terra che ci sono familiari!
complimenti roby
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Gerhard BuschEFIAP/AFIAP
{K:18382} 3/3/2004
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Interesting motive. Before some time was explained this Phenomen on the
German television. Greeting Gerhard
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SarahM none
{K:7836} 2/29/2004
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Tom, I think this is excellent. I love the color version! I wouldn't change anything! I like the "low" perspective and the just off center composition. I think the sky is beautiful. Great job! I wish I could remember the bar in Key West. It was about 3:00 A.. when I took that picture.
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Mary Sue Hayward
{K:17558} 2/29/2004
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Thomas, thank you for your comment on my street abstract.
I am so glad you love Death Valley. What an amazing place to have a camera! Of course you should not move the other stones...even with PS! Having them there adds tension because the viewer has to wonder when those rocks are going to suddenly move too!
The color version is much more interesting to me. The blue tone in the background adds such incredible depth.
I'm envious of your trip in April. Get up early for every sunrise...don't miss a thing!
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tom rumland
{K:14874} 2/28/2004
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To answer a few of your questions:
- The dark spots you see on the playa are indeed other stones. The are hundreds of them on the playa floor. They fall/roll down from the hill you see on the left. You probably can't see it but that hill is basically a giant rock that, through weathering, rain, wind, etc. is breaking up. Rocks are constantly (in geologic time) rolling onto the playa. They vary in size from pebbles up to 1 cubic foot or so. The rock in this pic is about 12-15 inches in diameter and about 4-5 inches high. Probably weighs 10 pounds. They can be upwards of 40 pounds, tho.
- I didn't want to remove the other rocks from the photo as I think they add to the character of the place. Without them, this is just a dry lakebed. Unfortunately, they are relegated to dark spots when you shrink the photo for usefilm.
- I guess my intent here was to show the place as-is but do so in an interesting way. The place is interesting visually and viscerally, beautiful and striking, and at the same time eerie and unreal. How would you capture all this as well as the intellectual component of "How the $%^## do these rocks move? and why?". I took other shots here that focus on the stone and it's trail (eliminating the background), some shots showing multiple stones with parallel curving tracks, etc. This picture was the one that captured the "feel" of the place itself. Maybe I should change the title to reflect this. So Hugo, net-net, I can tell whether this is a "landscape" or "journalism" either ;^) Let's call it "Landscape Journalism" ;^)
- The blue mountains (Inyo Mountains) in the background are 5 to 10 miles away and are peppered or amttered with snow patches and rivulets. The surface of the mountain is bare rock (granite I think). They don't usually look blue but on this day they did. The color is fairly close to reallity that day. Nevertheless, I see Hugo's point. I'm still learning my way around PS but I'll see what I can do.
- If you'd like to see other aspects of the Racetrack Playa (and other places in Death Valley) I've posted pictures of my last trip to DV on my website:
http://www.trumland.com/~trumland/portfolio/myport.html
- Thank you all for your great comments. I'm going back to DV in April and I already have a few ideas on how to portray this.
Thanks again,
tom
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Hugo de Wolf
{K:185110} 2/28/2004
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Wow! Amaising story, and very well illustrated. Looking at the thumbnail, I envisaged a "Knightrider" type of shot. Am I glad I took the time to study your photo more carefully! Well composed and great level of detail. I think this version is more appealing than the B&W version because the contrast between the earty tones and the deep blues of the sky (not withstanding the blue tone of the background, but I'll get to that later) is essential for this kind of reportive photography.
I'm in doubt wether this is "only" a landscape (and a nice one at that) or reportive photography. If you want to focus our attention to the unseen motion, as the title and description tend to imply, another solution might have been to focus (and zoom in) on the rock, using a small aperture value, using the DOF to obscure the track a bit. (unimportant how far the rock has moved), If it is intended as a landscape, then I think you take some of the attention away from the rock by inserting quite alot of distractions (sky, patterns in the lakebed, etc, etc.)
I feel the blues in the mountains in the background and in the sky are a bit too similar. I think this can be quite easily adjusted to play with the saturation and brightness a bit.
Despite the phylosophy behind communicating the message, I think it is a very inspiring and interesting photo. The atmosphere is there, as is the dynamism by the trail pointing towards the incline of the hills surrounding the lakebed. Very well composed. A very appealing photo, and inspiring work.....:)
Cheers,
Hugo
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Kaan AYDIN
{K:1984} 2/28/2004
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very interesting picture. i think the blue skies and colors add too much depth to it too. but im really curious about this rock now. mountains seem far away where did it come from? i'd like to see more pictures of this place:)
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Teunis Haveman
{K:53426} 2/28/2004
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Thomas, beautiful Landscape
Teunis
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Marcia .
{K:16108} 2/28/2004
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I?m not professional, but I think it looks nive with the colors. Very intersting your comment about the place. We learn a bit more here :)
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Steven H
{K:7142} 2/28/2004
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Besides the desert and stone that you capture really well, the sky is an added benefit. Looks wonderful . . . You may have wanted to eliminate with PS the more distant other stone (if that what it is) a little to the right and further off . . . it is the tiniest bit of a distraction from the beautiful curve of the stone's path, and the rest of this really great shot.
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![bathwater [TR]](http://thumbs.imageopolis.com/images/2/5/6/8/2568/657482-Micro.jpg "bathwater [TR]")
