Many May Think There's Only Desolation in a Desert (Death Valley National Park)

            Many May Think There's Only Desolation in a Desert
But I have seen it quite alive
Sand dunes move, shifting with each passing breeze
Bushes and flowers bloom with drops of rain
Mountains tower over in a watchful glaze
While a raven is perched and another soars above
There's a cool breeze this morning,
Bringing a fresh crisp feeling across this desert land
The desert is most definitely alive,
But doing the dance of life in its own special way

Another work of short poetry or prose to complement the image captured one morning in Death Valley National Park while walking across a desert landscape in the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes. What drew me into this setting was the dune ridge I was on with the sweeping view looking down and then across the Mesquite Flat area in this part of the national park. I decided to angle my Nikon SLR camera slightly downward to bring out more of that sweeping view and have the mountains a little higher into the image. My feeling was that that might help to bring out more of a sense of grandeur with the ridges and peaks, while still including a little bit of blue skies and clouds above to complement the earth-tones and the other portion of the image. 

I started out using Aurora HDR Pro and then worked with control points in DxO PhotoLab 6 and then made some adjustments to bring out the contrast, saturation and brightness I wanted for the final image. With the sun high in the skies that morning, it had a slight washing out effect with the colors in the sand dunes, and I wanted to bring out most of those colors. 
   

Taken in: United States / California / Beatty Junction (show map)

Taken on: March 4, 2023

Tags:

Amaragosa Range

Amargosa Range

Blue Skies

Blue Skies with Clouds

Canvas

Chloride Cliff

Corkscrew Peak

Creosote Bush

Day 5

Death Valley Buttes

Death Valley National Park

Desert Landscape

Desert Mountain Landscape

Desert Plant Life

Dunes

DxO PhotoLab 6 Edited

Free Verse Poetry

Great Basin Ranges

Intermountain West

Joshua Tree National Park and California

Landscape

Landscape - Scenery

Looking NE

Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes

Mountain Peak

Mountains

Mountains in Distance

Mountains off in Distance

Mountainside

Nature

Nikon D850

No People

Outside

Partly Sunny

Poems Used

Poetry and Prose

Portfolio

Project365

Ridge

Ridgeline

Ridges

Sand

Sand Dunes

Scenics - Nature

SnapBridge

Sunny

Thimble Peak

Travel

West Great Basin Ranges

California

United States « less

Sets appears in: • Free Verse Poetry • Death Valley National Park more » • California • Joshua Tree National Park and California • Canvas • Portfolio • 365 • HDR • Nature & Landscapes « less

Groups appears in: • California Desert • U.S. National Parks more » • U.S. National Parks and Places • Mountains • The American Southwest • GeoTagging Flickr • Death Valley • California Photography • HDR from a single RAW • Death Valley National Park • Nikon Full Frame Cameras. • HDR-Imaging • California Landscapes and Desert • California Nature • Best of U.S. National Parks • Geo-Tagging the Planet one Photo at a Time • hdr spotting • Geotagged: California • Breathtaking Landscapes B&W and Color • Nikon D800-D850 and Nikon Z7-Z9 Users Group • HDR WORLDWIDE • California Landscape Photographer • GEOPARKS & GEOTOURISM Worldwide • Un-enhanced American West • Only ᒪandscapes • TOURISM magazine • Photography with a Story • (A) MOUNTAIN VISTA • America's Parks Fav+ • Today's Flickr • AuroraHDR • Aurora HDR Pro • DxO PhotoLab • A NATIONAL PARK • Mountains and Forests of the U.S. and Canada • DSLR Autofocus Level 1 • Nikon America (USA) • DxO PhotoLab 5 • ALL AMERICAS • D850 Club • DxO Photo Lab « less

Camera: Nikon D850, f/8.0, 1/200 sec, 52mm, ISO 64 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Nikon D850
Lens:	AF-S Nikkor 24-120mm f/4G ED VR
Aperture:	f/8.0
Exposure Time:	0.005 sec (1/200)
Focal Length:	52mm
ISO:	64
Exposure Bias:	+1/2 EV
Flash:	No Flash
Exposure Program:	Aperture-priority AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Scene Capture Type:	Landscape
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	DxO PhotoLab 6.6.0
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