Sunset Over Badwater
Jun, 2014Views
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Contest Finalist in Natural Surfaces Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Geometry In Nature Photo Contest
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Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken on the salt flats of the Badwater Basin in Death Valley, CaliforniaTime
After flying into Vegas and then driving out to Death Valley I was hoping to get into my room for a little rest and then head out for sunset. My room was not ready and from the time I was given I clearly would not have been able to make Badwater for sunset once my room was ready, so exhausted and with all my bags and gear still in the rental car I headed out. Coming from winter where it was snowing and the plane had to be deiced before we could fly and hours later walking across the salt flats with a heavy pack of all my camera gear - well I wasn't going to leave it in the car was I? You can steal all my clothes and luggage if you want but you aren't getting camera gear! - was something of a shock to the system. The sky was looking grey and bland, I took some photos of the landscape to get a feel for compositions but I didn't think a good sunset looked on and was very tired so chose to head back to the car. After the long walk back across the salt flats and getting in the car I decided I was wrong to give up and look for rest, so I pulled the car over and hiked back into the salt flats and waited until after sunset. This was one of those times where such stubbornness was rewarded with great after sunset colors and light. I am so glad I made this choice because for the rest of the trip there was not another sunrise or sunset approaching the beauty of this one.Lighting
I love the light in this photograph, the sky and foreground are relativity bright. The foreground patterns in the salt fade into the distant shadow of the mountains which form a strong dark dividing lines across the middle of the image.Equipment
Nikon D800, Nikon 16-35mm Lens, Manfrotto carbon fiber tripod and head modified with arca swiss plate. If I used a polarizer or other filter I do not recall, I really wish somebody would make a way for filters used to be added to exif as you shoot, that would be really helpful!Inspiration
For many years I have seen photographs from salt flats and have been wanting to make an image involving their great shapes and textures.Editing
The sky and foreground were processed differently to balance the light and relative dark. Lighroom now offer great tools such as the graduated filter do make such local modifications to make a scene more like the eye sees. When possible I now prefer to add my gradient filters in Lightroom or Photoshop as opposed to gradient glass at the time of exposure because you can move the gradient line on screen to exactly where you want it, its harder to change your mind about exactly where the gradient should be if the glass filter was used at the time of exposure.In my camera bag
Too much usually! Its always tempting to add more lenses than needed to my bag just to make sure I have focal length ranges covered. There is a balance between just taking the lens for the main shots you know you want and being caught with an unexpected possibility for a shot and not having the right lens to best get the shot. As well as lenses I usually have a large selection of ND filters in my bag as one of my big loves in landscape photography is long exposure.Feedback
Visit your locations in the right light. Planning this can get you far in landscape photography but unfortunately it requires a certain amount of luck with weather conditions when it comes to sunrises and sunsets.
