Monument Valley last Dec

[GB1]

Just get around to scanning some 645 film (Fuji Velvia 50). I didn't play w/ the colors, it's straight off the film. Not sure if it's exciting enough?

G

[Greg McCary]

That's great GB, the lighting is great, the subject, crop ect. One of your best efforts.

[Didache]

GB1 .. the light etc is lovely to be sure. Perhaps the sky could have been more conducive but it doesn't intrude (maybe a little light on the right side).

I think though that the picture needs some foreground interest. Perhaps if you were to crop out much of the bottom and make the colouring a tad more dramatic?

Something like this?

Cheers
Mike

[AgingEyes]

As is, the colors look off to me. If that's what you saw when you shot this, I guess that would be all right. Otherwise, I prefer Didache's colors even though his looks darker on my monitor. I think this scene could use a wide-angle lens shot.

[Overbeyond]

GB; you know whether the colours are off. Does the photograph accurately represent the colours you saw at the scene?

[JBrunke]

As an AZ resident, I would guess that the original image represents the colors accurately. I prefer the image as cropped by Didache, but the recoloring makes the ground on the right sweeping toward the left look a little blue - maybe my computer??

[GB1]

Sorry guys, I just don't remember exactly what the colors were in real life, as it was back in Dec I'm willing to bet though that they were 80-90% the same as what you're seeing here, perhaps slightly more saturated in this photo as Vevlia film leans that way. Most photographers take shots from the west facing east towards of the three mini mountains that make up Monument Valley's famous trio, so that they can get the sun coming up against them (maybe next time I'll try from the opposite side facing west, just to be different), and this photo is of the hills/mountains west of the trio about 20-30 minutes after sunrise. I hiked to this point in a hurry before the light became totally normal, which wasn't easy (had the cuts to prove it, which is what happens when you run over rough trail). Such a thin window of attractive light out there that morning.

Mike, I like your crop idea. Yours looks OK here, but it seems very dark on my monitor. Here's my take: I added a little more contrast to it to liven it up, and also a tad more exposure. What do you think?

AE, hard to see what the colors are on Mike's image .. just so dark on my monitor, can't really make a fair evaluation. But I can say that the original's colors are pretty close to reality (see above). AZ has some wild sunrises and sunsets, which they're known for, and I've found that they're not all the same color. I guess it's all left to chance as to what you end up getting when you're passing through.

I agree on the wide angle, but my Mamiya 645 doesn't have the same abilities as my 35 setup. I believe I was shooting w/ a 55mm lens, which equates to about a 35mm focal length on a 35mm camera (full frame)... Barely wide angle. I did get shots w/ my 35mm too, but that Mamiya produces some screamingly sharp images that my 35mm lenses just can't match.

J, thanks for clarifying the AZ colors. It's just so easy to catch great sunrises and sunsets out there - a great palette. You are right I think on Mike's edit: it is leaning more towards the blues, making it seem cold. That's actually pretty accurate - it was well below freezing that morning before sunrise, .. that I do remember.

Thanks too Greg. Seems that my landscapes often come out a little superior to my model captures.

Here's my crop ..



Here's also a shot facing east, though it only shows two of the mtns.