White Sands
|
17th February 2009
Canon 5d Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L USM 24mm F/16 ISO 250 1/200 sec |
I visited White Sands National Monument in 2009 while living in Houston, Texas. Located in the northern Chihuahuan Desert area of New Mexico it is one of those 'must see' places for any photographer within striking distance. Exposures are challenging and even when metered correctly you may still find a need to overexpose most images a little to prevent the sand appearing grey in the finished image (or preferably, shoot in RAW format and that way you can correct any slight underexposure later during post processing)
Images are not as easy to come by as you might think, most of the pristine sand will be found well out onto the dunes where hauling a DSLR, tripod and other photographic kit can be hard graft. I hiked the Alkali Flat Trail (about 5 miles) with lots of up and down involved. Composition is another challenge as vegetation is hard to come by in many areas. In my main shot I dropped down between dunes where old grasses have a foothold, I ignored the rule of thirds and minimised the sky and distant mountains to exaggerate the desert. I crouched close to one of the grasses to give myself a strong foreground, the middleground is made by the diminishing dunes and larger patch of grasses and the background is completed by the mountains and sky. Even though there are signs of human traffic here I still really like the shot very much.
Images are not as easy to come by as you might think, most of the pristine sand will be found well out onto the dunes where hauling a DSLR, tripod and other photographic kit can be hard graft. I hiked the Alkali Flat Trail (about 5 miles) with lots of up and down involved. Composition is another challenge as vegetation is hard to come by in many areas. In my main shot I dropped down between dunes where old grasses have a foothold, I ignored the rule of thirds and minimised the sky and distant mountains to exaggerate the desert. I crouched close to one of the grasses to give myself a strong foreground, the middleground is made by the diminishing dunes and larger patch of grasses and the background is completed by the mountains and sky. Even though there are signs of human traffic here I still really like the shot very much.