Monument Valley

I made a trip to Monument Valley at the beginning of November and brought back a couple of images. The weather was not cooperative as a cold front was moving in from the west and it was very windy with a lot of blowing dust in the air. These are my two favorites and I worked awhile on the curves and B&W conversion.

The Mittens with Rocks. Pentax K20D, DA* 16-50mm f/2.8, 28mm, 1/125 @ f/8, ISO 100.


B&W conversion. Ansel Adams stood nearby when he took his image in the 1930's.


Agathla Peak is just off US163 south of Monument Valley. Pentax K20D, DA* 16-50mm f/2.8, 45mm, 1/500 @ f/8, ISO 100.


B&W conversion. This peak is 7100 ft ASL and approximately 1600 ft AGL.


As always, C&C is welcome. Thanks for looking.

Hi Steve,

These two photographs of the monumental rock formations carved by wind and harsh weather over millennia are remarkable in shape, form and color. The clouds, (blue in the first and pink in the second color image) make a soft covering with a great deal of nuanced detail.

All this physicality is enhanced with the color removed. However, to me at least, these B&W pictures are still not exploiting all of the potential for reassigning colors to tonal ranges and using variable local microcontrast to bring out texture.

This process of transforming an impressive color image to B&W is not straightforward and is more work than a lot of us might think. However, the payoff for the extra study of the picture is great. An optimally rendered B&W of such rocks and clouds will be wonderful.

A simple window on what is possible is an S curves layer to lighten the B&W version.

Asher

Thanks Asher. I wasn't sure about what values to assign to the B&W version. I did the PP on the B&W separately from the original color image. I'll go back and revisit the B&W versions.

I looked at the B&W's again and realized I had gone more for extra drama than for matching color tones.

Mittens with Rocks.


Agathla Peak.