It was a balmy morning at Mesquite dunes in Death Valley, around 7:00am, early December. I parked my car after eye-balling the set of dunes I was aiming to hike. I have been a handheld shooter every time when it comes to shooting dunes, as it gives me immense compositional freedom and opportunity. Since light was low, I decided to lug my tripod to experiment the slow way.
Right after 30mins of walk, I was at the middle of dunes. Then I started to scan around at different focal lengths ranging from 200-500mm on my Nikon Z7. Immediately I found this curve glowing with some warm sun light, I have been a single-exposure photographer till that point. The composition was irresistible, and same time a single-exposure would not make it. It had to be focus stacked. I did it. I took 3 exposures, one each for foreground, the curve and the background. Minor contrast adjustments and some curve pulling brought this image to life.
I have visited Death Valley over 40+ times at this point in last 2-3 years. I have been shooting the dunes over and over and it surprises me how much they change in texture, shapes and overall feel. My favorite conditions at the dunes are windstorms, which are not unusual for Death Valley. Right before this image was shot, I had a good group shooting session with my fellow landscape photographer friends Shashank Khanna (@shashankkhanna) and Aashish Sheshadri (@aasheshadri). We had some good discussions and shared insights on composing dunes.
One thing that got me hooked was “compose the dunes using your camera and not the eye”. Shashank Khanna has been inspiring me since my inception into landscape photography and his dunes work showcases a unique approach in showing the complexity of dunes and its patterns.
What do you think are the TWO most impactful features that make your image a good photograph? Don’t be shy!
Composition and Minimal Processing. Period. I have been a big fan of Hans Strand, TJ Thorne and couple of other photographers who are composition gods to me.
If you would be able to make this photo once again, what would be the ONE thing you would like to do better or different?
I wish I took another shot including the cool-tone mountains in the background.
Ram Ganti shared this photograph in the FRAMES Facebook Group.
Photographer
Ram Ganti, Charlotte, North Carolina, USA
Equipment and settings
Nikon Z7 + Nikon 200-500 F5.6
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