Cany143 Loc: SE Utah

Early yesterday morning.

(Download)

RWCRNC Loc: Pennsylvania

Stunning!

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Cool!
Great exposure level (at least on my computer).

Watash

Hard to beat that, great!!!

jackm1943 Loc: Omaha, Nebraska

I was going to say Stunning but RWCRNC beat me to it. So, I'll say beautiful colors and composition. 😃

FL Streetrodder

I second this reply!

Cany143 Loc: SE Utah

Thanks, Long. But 'cool'? Nuh uh! It was bitter flippin' cold in there!

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Cany143 Loc: SE Utah

I hadn't intended to go to Sand Dune --I've passed it by countless times without stopping-- but as I came upon it yesterday there were NO vehicles at the trailhead, a phenomenon that virtually never occurs (except in the middle of the night). So I stopped and did the short hike in for the first time in twenty years or more.

The 'composition' is essentially forced. Shooting from the opposite direction could be done, of course, but everything would've been uniformly dull and colorless, and all there'd be would be the arch and an unlit wall of sandstone behind it. I say 'forced' since its pretty much a no-brainer to shoot through the arch toward the brighter wall, lit by reflected light as it is. It took, however, four shots using a 20mm lens on my FF camera --shot intended to pano the exposures together-- to arrive at this shot. Its likewise 'forced' since from the vantage point I used, its only possible to move left or right a foot or so, and there was no room to move back since my back was already to the wall.

About the colors... Oh, heck yes I had to lift the shadows in post, but I tried to keep things as naturalistic as possible. The last time I saw a shot of Sand Dune --somebody had posted a shot here on UHH a few years ago-- and they'd cranked the saturation to the max. When I and a couple responders pointed that out, the poster claimed he'd done no such thing, that what he'd posted was exactly what was there. I, and I'm sure others, knew that was nowhere near the truth. It seems we see this sort of thing not uncommonly.

UTMike Loc: South Jordan, UT

Wonderful shot, Jim! Great that you stopped.

jaymatt Loc: Alexandria, Indiana

I like that!

Umnak Loc: Mount Vernon, Wa.

Forced or not, this is a great piece of work, Jim! Carpe diem in a way, you saw an opportunity, froze your butt off, did just the processing needed and nailed a great shot with your efforts!
Another wonderful image!
Rob

joecichjr Loc: Chicago S. Suburbs, Illinois, USA

Awesome composition 🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡

Retired CPO Loc: Travel full time in an RV

Wow! Never heard of that one! Great shot!

J-SPEIGHT Loc: Akron, Ohio

Nice shot Jim