Eureka Dunes

Carlo Didier

Well-Known Member
I like the first one, but where do those blurry patches (like on the upper left side) come from? They look unnatural. Strong winds blowing the sand there?
 

Jim Dockery

Well-Known Member
Nice shots, I've got to get out there next time I'm in DV.

If I encounter a drone pilot flying in a NP I'm going to talk to them if I can. I already do that with nit-wits who go off trail in popular areas that are marked not to. I look like I could be a retired ranger, and I try to be diplomatic, starting off on a tact that they must not know the rules. Most people play along with that, apologize, and get back on trail (at least until I leave). With a droner I might also snap their picture if they keep flying, and try to get their license plate to turn them in. I hate it when a few bad apples ruin it for the majority of rule abiding citizens.
 

JimFox

Moderator
Staff member
Hey Tim,

Both of these are really cool. I like how large the plant (Wishbone Bush?) is in the foreground and yet the dunes are also very large in the frame and it's all in focus. Did you use some focus stacking?

#2 is very cool too and has a very artsy feel to it with those shadows and softness.
 

Timmeh

Well-Known Member
Thanks for the Featured Post Jim!

I like the first one, but where do those blurry patches (like on the upper left side) come from? They look unnatural. Strong winds blowing the sand there?
Carlo, which blurry patches are you referring to? Do you mean on the dunes themselves? The winds were calm in the morning so I don't think it's that. Eureka dunes have much less in the way of texture when compared to Mesquite, so they look smooth. I did use glow on the image, but I don't see any focus stacking issues in the upper left. If you're referring to the edges of the shadows, the umbra/penumbra is a natural occurrence.

Nice shots, I've got to get out there next time I'm in DV.

If I encounter a drone pilot flying in a NP I'm going to talk to them if I can. I already do that with nit-wits who go off trail in popular areas that are marked not to. I look like I could be a retired ranger, and I try to be diplomatic, starting off on a tact that they must not know the rules. Most people play along with that, apologize, and get back on trail (at least until I leave). With a droner I might also snap their picture if they keep flying, and try to get their license plate to turn them in. I hate it when a few bad apples ruin it for the majority of rule abiding citizens.
Thanks for taking the time to talk to those types of people. It is sometimes hard to tell if it is ignorance or flouting the law. With all the signage posted on the way, I'm pretty sure this case was just not caring about the law. The drone user was all the way up on sand mountain while I was at the edges, and the dunes were busy enough that I didn't see where they got to, or which vehicle was theirs.

Hey Tim,

Both of these are really cool. I like how large the plant (Wishbone Bush?) is in the foreground and yet the dunes are also very large in the frame and it's all in focus. Did you use some focus stacking?

#2 is very cool too and has a very artsy feel to it with those shadows and softness.
I played around with the 90mm tilt shift, but it was too long. I was completely flat at 70mm, and I took 7 frames for focus stacking. There were still some blurry patches in the foreground, but I think I covered up the most of them. I still need to work out how to use Helicon Focus better. Whenever I edit some spots and try to save the file as a dng, Lightroom claims that the file is damaged. Boo.

Tim
 

Carlo Didier

Well-Known Member
Carlo, which blurry patches are you referring to? Do you mean on the dunes themselves? The winds were calm in the morning so I don't think it's that. Eureka dunes have much less in the way of texture when compared to Mesquite, so they look smooth. I did use glow on the image, but I don't see any focus stacking issues in the upper left. If you're referring to the edges of the shadows, the umbra/penumbra is a natural occurrence.
Tim
This is what irritated me: The far away ridge looks sharp, but the nearer dune looks very blurry. It looks unnatural to me.
Dunes.JPG
 

Timmeh

Well-Known Member
Thanks for giving me specifics Carlo. There isn't much detail there period. It does have some glow, but looking at the original file, there isn't any visible texture to the sand over there (at least from this distance).

Tim
 
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