Four! - Devil's Golf Course, Death Valley National Park, California

Portfolio & Services

--The Shot--
Steering back to my monochrome conversions from Death Valley last year, this is one from Devil's Golf Course. This is an interesting area and I found it extremely challenging to photograph here. First off, the crystalline features of the geology here are sharp, sharp, sharp! One false step and blood will be drawn. Second, despite wandering for hours before sunset, it was still somewhat of a scramble to make a decision on what to use as a focal point.

I settled on this spherical shaped formation that looked to be cracked in fours. Thus the title...and the play on words with golf. Yeah, I know, not all that original. :)

--The Gear--
Nikon D300
Nikkor 12-24mm @ 14mm
Nikon MC-36 cable release
30 sec, f16, ISO 100
Singh-Ray thin mount Gold-N-Blue Polarizer (not needed in the end as I converted to monochrome)
Singh-Ray Daryl Benson 3-stop reverse graduated neutral density filter (hand held)
Markins M20 ballhead with Really Right lever clamp and L-plate
Gitzo GT3351 carbon fiber tripod

--Software & Processing--
In ACR, custom white balance and brightness adjustment.
In PS CS5, layers included Expanded Mid-Tones luminosity mask with Curves adjustment for contrast, a new technique for detail enhancement from Calvin Hollywood known as freaky details first learned of by a blog entry by Brent Pearson (brentbat on flickr), custom Silver Efex Pro conversion with about 8-10 control points for brightness and contrast tweaks, two Burn/Dodge layers through 50% gray using Soft Light layer mode with a Shadow Darks and Expanded Lights luminosity mask selections, and Nik Sharpener Pro for a final selective sharpening. Custom action for web conversion. Maybe spent about 1 hour tweaking this one.

Taken on: January 1, 2010

Tags:

black and white

California

Death Valley

Devils Golf Course

erosion

Inyo County

Jim Patterson Photography

landscape

light

monochrome

Nature

Nikkor 12-24mm

Nikon D300

patterns

salt

sunset

texture

travel

Death Valley National Park

USA

jimpattersonphotography.com « less

Sets appears in: • Death Valley National Park

Groups appears in: • *GreatPixGallery 50 Faves+ • Nikkor 12-24mm f/4 more » • Nikon D300 Users • California Photographer • "MASTERPIECES ON BLACK" (post 1 / award 1) • Luminous Landscapes • Images with Filters • eXtremePhotography • Monochromatic Visions • Chasing Shadows (Closed - Thanks for all the Great Images) • Chasing Shadows - The Gallery Wing (Closed) « less

Camera: NIKON D300, f/13.0, 30 sec, 14mm (=21mm), ISO 100 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	NIKON D300
Aperture:	f/13.0
Exposure Time:	30
Focal Length:	14mm (35mm equivalent: 21mm)
ISO:	100
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	No Flash
Exposure Program:	Manual
Exposure Mode:	Manual
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Manual
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Adobe Photoshop CS5 Windows
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