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The Painted Desert
The Painted Desert
cutlassdude70


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: Night Shot III (Basic Editing III)
Camera: Canon EOS-20D
Lens: Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6
Location: Desert Queen Mine - Joshua Tree National Park, CA
Date: May 6, 2006
Aperture: f/11
ISO: 100
Shutter: 31 min (1856 sec)
Galleries: Abstract, Landscape
Date Uploaded: May 9, 2006

This was taken out in Joshua Tree National Park at about 3 AM. I took the winding dirt road out to Desert Queen Mine and found this shot while walking along a ridge that ran along the trail. 30 minute exposure at f/11. Color in the trees and brush was added with a handheld spotlight and set of colored gels. Slight detail was added to the rock formation in the right-hand side of the frame with a few passes of a dim flashlight.

The pale glow in the distance, behind the hills, came from the Coachella Valley. I was worried about what it would do to the shot, but it served to illuminate the clouds that passed overhead near the end of the exposure. In addition to the star trails, I believe that brightest trail was from Jupiter (which was supposed to be visible that night).

Post-processing included adjustment layers for Curves, Hue/Saturation, and Brightness/Contrast. Also cropped to remove distracting elements. Ran through Noise Ninja. No USM, but used Bicubic Sharper when sizing it down.

Statistics
Place: 34 out of 287
Avg (all users): 6.3702
Avg (commenters): 7.5938
Avg (participants): 6.2903
Avg (non-participants): 6.4082
Views since voting: 1853
Views during voting: 522
Votes: 289
Comments: 39
Favorites: 3 (view)


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AuthorThread
08/23/2006 02:41:07 PM
You was really robbed on this one, in my opinion :-) I gave it a 10 myself.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
05/20/2006 07:55:48 AM
thanks for the detail on this exceptional shot. well done.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
05/20/2006 01:58:13 AM
Originally posted by rennie:

Suspicions hit you hard here. People didn't believe it wasn't processed within basic editing rules. Very undeserved score.


Huh? If people didn't believe it wasn't processed within basic editing rules then they would believe it was processed legally within basic editing. If that's the case then there wouldn't be any suspicions to "hit" anyone.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
05/17/2006 08:29:15 AM
Suspicions hit you hard here. People didn't believe it wasn't processed within basic editing rules. Very undeserved score. The image is fantastic and well planned. From the description I can see a lot of work went into it.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 Comments Made During the Challenge
05/16/2006 07:28:47 AM
love it! - a little slanty but doesn't really damage the photo - maybe works to its advantage. 7
  Photographer found comment helpful.
05/16/2006 05:45:26 AM
I been wondering all week about this one. I'm glad to see it validated. Bumping to 10 for the sheer audacity and vision of the thing :-)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
05/16/2006 03:19:22 AM
Sorry, but the paint doesn't work for me. I would love to see the out of camera image. Would have been my favorite, without the pinks, blue, and red.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
05/15/2006 10:22:41 PM
How interesting, freaky good shot.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
05/15/2006 01:47:43 PM
Wonder if these really have these weird colors or if you put some light on them? Maybe the explanation is in your comment - looking forward to see the explanation when the challenge is over.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
05/14/2006 07:48:50 PM
Funky and cool!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
05/14/2006 05:21:53 PM
I like the colors....
  Photographer found comment helpful.
05/14/2006 12:22:01 PM
wow!! where is this ? and I am waiting to see the exif details.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
05/13/2006 07:04:13 PM
Ohhh, after the challenge, I wanna know how you did this beauty!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
05/13/2006 05:34:49 PM
That's really cool
  Photographer found comment helpful.
05/13/2006 01:07:16 PM
Very imaginative! I would guess this was at least a 15 min exposure and you painted the cacti with coloured light. Well done.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
05/13/2006 07:06:06 AM
Wow...this is beautiful and into my faves.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
05/13/2006 01:02:16 AM
quite cleaver. All you need is a pink flamingo now.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
05/13/2006 12:40:42 AM
This is so beatiful!! Congratulations!!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
05/12/2006 10:43:07 PM
Cool colors...definately catches the eye. I hope this photo does well.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
05/12/2006 02:17:27 PM
The colors look to ounnatural to me.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
05/12/2006 12:31:02 PM
Okay, that's just bizarre.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
05/12/2006 03:10:34 AM
One of the best desert shots in this challenge. No idea, how did you achieve the colours. Amazing. 10.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
05/11/2006 11:57:04 PM
I was at this spot at the same time you were. Too bad I was not as creative. I love the movement in the sky. The light on the forground is great.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
05/11/2006 11:16:36 PM
Love this as a thumb-nail and also when blown up larger as well.....
  Photographer found comment helpful.
05/11/2006 09:15:33 PM
This makes me want to go out anbuy some filters for my flash.
good job on this, too bad there wernt more stars in the sky
  Photographer found comment helpful.
05/11/2006 06:58:02 PM
Great coloring! i love this one.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
05/11/2006 01:41:15 PM
I recognize the effort that you put in this but the final outcome, while above average, is nothing really to say hooray about, just not that aesthetically pleasing to me. Think the sky needed to have more star trails or something just to make it go pop. Anyway, got a 6 from me, like I said, it´s above average.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
05/11/2006 01:17:48 PM
Very creative. I like it. 9
  Photographer found comment helpful.
05/11/2006 01:15:01 PM
I really like this shot alot. The colors the streaks in the sky. But I feel like I have to lean to the left to get it straight. I realize the horizon in the back is correct, but it just seems odd to me to have to do that. I still give you a 7. Nice fit for the challenge.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
05/10/2006 05:16:11 PM
I rate 10 this shot. but where is this desert? i see that there are lights in the sky (the stars??????????). and the shot parameters?
best regards
  Photographer found comment helpful.
05/10/2006 04:15:42 PM
I always really liked Troy Paiva style photos. I think without the additional ground lighting this would work better but still quite interesting.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
05/10/2006 03:36:54 PM
funky colors!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
05/10/2006 02:16:21 PM
great gob
  Photographer found comment helpful.
05/10/2006 11:40:30 AM
Wow wonderful capture! Top 10 at least IMO. Good luck! 10
  Photographer found comment helpful.
05/10/2006 09:50:34 AM
Reminiscent of Dr. Seuss

Good luck in this challenge!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
05/10/2006 07:38:46 AM
what fun!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
05/10/2006 07:29:25 AM
excellent...I'd be surprised if this didn't ribbon...colours are vivid, well done
  Photographer found comment helpful.
05/10/2006 04:28:15 AM
Very funky shot. I have no idea how you got the colours like that using basic editing but it gets an 8 from me.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
05/10/2006 01:04:34 AM
Wow - this is weird. And I like it.
  Photographer found comment helpful.


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