Death Valley Dunes in Black and White

This photo by +Lori Hibbett was captured during one of our visits to Death Valley National Park in recent years.  The image was adjusted in +Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, further processed in the HDR module by Nik Software, then adjusted more in Lightroom.

I like this group's focus on fine art photography and the acknowledgement that "art" requires human intervention.  I've thought a lot about that in relationship to HDR and its context against traditional artists such as Ansel Adams.  His art was highly manipulated, but to me the skill and beauty of his work was that his manipulations didn't beat the viewer over the head with obvious artifacts or distractions.  If more photographers today took a similar approach and payed more attention to how processing gimmicks can compete with the subject of the image, there'd probably be a lot less controversy over post-processing, or specific techniques such as HDR.  I've written a couple of blog posts on the topic, which I should probably update (after I finish my book) to reflect the latest tools and workflow:

HDRs: Good, Bad, or Something Else?
http://activesole.blogspot.com/2011/08/hdrs-good-bad-or-something-else.html

HDR Isn't Just a Crutch, or a Crime!
http://activesole.blogspot.com/2011/10/hdr-isn-just-crutch-or-crime.html

#niksoftware   #hdr   #landscapephotography  +Nik Photography 

Reshared post from +Lori Hibbett

I've been wanting to play around in b/w with some of my dune shots from earlier this year.

I’ve been wanting to play around in b/w with some of my dune shots from earlier in the year. Too much?

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