Desert Overland photos

I went out and had some fun this weekend exploring the desert.. There were some absolutely beautiful views. I took quite a few photos and posted some of the more interesting ones on pbase here:

http://www.pbase.com/desertpir8/desert_overland

These were all handheld snapshots.. as I didnt have the time to set up my tripod. They turned out pretty good though. The cabin photo was a little overexposed and I should have bracketed it, but I still like the photo. I also included a few pics of our trucks that we used on the trip so you can get an idea of how little of a road there was.

Here are couple:

John,

nice photos. you should pump up the saturation a bit to bring out the greens and blues. that should make your photos really pop.

John

John James said:

I went out and had some fun this weekend exploring the desert..
There were some absolutely beautiful views. I took quite a few
photos and posted some of the more interesting ones on pbase here:

http://www.pbase.com/desertpir8/desert_overland

These were all handheld snapshots.. as I didnt have the time to
set up my tripod. They turned out pretty good though. The cabin
photo was a little overexposed and I should have bracketed it, but
I still like the photo. I also included a few pics of our trucks
that we used on the trip so you can get an idea of how little of a
road there was.

Here are couple:

Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip! Just tried it on the pics and they look fantastic now. I'll have to reupload them after I'm done.

What would you suggest as a good limit for the saturation? I ran some of the photos up to about 40 or so and it brought out the greens and blues a lot better. The Jumping Cholla pic really jumps out now.

john grayson said:

John,

nice photos. you should pump up the saturation a bit to bring out
the greens and blues. that should make your photos really pop.

John

Click to expand...

i can't really say what level of saturation you should use because i pretty much do everything in photoshop. just use your judgement, i think you will be able to tell if they are over done. let me know when you get chance to upload the new versions, i'd like to see how they look.

john

John James said:

What would you suggest as a good limit for the saturation? I ran
some of the photos up to about 40 or so and it brought out the
greens and blues a lot better. The Jumping Cholla pic really jumps
out now.

john grayson said:

John,

nice photos. you should pump up the saturation a bit to bring out
the greens and blues. that should make your photos really pop.

John

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Nice pics! This looks like somewhere around the crown king area, no?

I saw the recommendation on increasing the saturation, but you might also try a little curves adjustment. I recently followed an online tutorial and found out how much more curves can do for you rather than tweaking the saturation. In a recent sunrise photo I took, using the curves adjustment, I got much better results than using saturation. I'm sorry I don't have a comparison available right now

Here is the tutorial in case you haven't seen it:

http://www.gurusnetwork.com/tutorials/photoshop/curves1.html

Jason

John James said:

I went out and had some fun this weekend exploring the desert..
There were some absolutely beautiful views. I took quite a few
photos and posted some of the more interesting ones on pbase here:

http://www.pbase.com/desertpir8/desert_overland

These were all handheld snapshots.. as I didnt have the time to
set up my tripod. They turned out pretty good though. The cabin
photo was a little overexposed and I should have bracketed it, but
I still like the photo. I also included a few pics of our trucks
that we used on the trip so you can get an idea of how little of a
road there was.

Here are couple:

Click to expand...

--
Jason
http://pbase.com/jgsampso

Very nice photos. i love the desert, just came back from a trip in Death Valley.

Most people commented about the saturation and most people prefer a more saturated image but that's a matter of taste. I, like most people, think that your photos would look better with a saturation boost. But don't take my word to seriously..i like very saturated photos. You can take a look at my Death Valley gallery and see for yourself if you prefer saturated color for the desert or not:

http://www.pbase.com/zylen/death_valley

I especially went overboard with this one, used a Cokin blue and gold polarizer to make it even more colorful:

http://www.pbase.com/image/8568287

You may like less saturation better, that's only my personal taste.

pba

John James said:

I went out and had some fun this weekend exploring the desert..
There were some absolutely beautiful views. I took quite a few
photos and posted some of the more interesting ones on pbase here:

http://www.pbase.com/desertpir8/desert_overland

These were all handheld snapshots.. as I didnt have the time to
set up my tripod. They turned out pretty good though. The cabin
photo was a little overexposed and I should have bracketed it, but
I still like the photo. I also included a few pics of our trucks
that we used on the trip so you can get an idea of how little of a
road there was.

Here are couple:

Click to expand...

--
Daniella
http://www.photosig.com/viewuser.php?id=26918
http://www.pbase.com/zylen
C700 FORUM: http://www.c700uz.com

c700uz, Dimage 7, Tcon14, C210, Cokin 173, Graduated DN, Hoya red Intensifier, Hoya R72 infrared.

A lot of people are suggesting that you crank up the saturation. I might remind them that in the desert, there aren't a whole lot of saturated colors except perhaps the sky.

Great photos!

Cheers,
Jeremy

--

Jeremy L. Rosenberger
http://www.frii.com/~jeremy/

it depends what desert. In Deaht valley there are lots of colors..you would not beleive your eyes.

There is even one place called Artist palette..you can guess why.

I acualy found it to be quite colorful. Surely the grass and green vegetation is naturaly quite saturated.

Jeremy Rosenberger said:

A lot of people are suggesting that you crank up the saturation. I
might remind them that in the desert, there aren't a whole lot of
saturated colors except perhaps the sky.

Great photos!

Cheers,
Jeremy

--

Jeremy L. Rosenberger
http://www.frii.com/~jeremy/

Click to expand...

--
Daniella
http://www.photosig.com/viewuser.php?id=26918
http://www.pbase.com/zylen
C700 FORUM: http://www.c700uz.com

c700uz, Dimage 7, Tcon14, C210, Cokin 173, Graduated DN, Hoya red Intensifier, Hoya R72 infrared.

I suppose you're right--it would depend on what desert, what season, the particular subject, etc. The photos here reminded me of various areas of Colorado (where I live), and the lack of color saturation in the vegetation (what vegetation there is) looks quite accurate to my eyes. Of course I'm going by memory, as it's been a little while since I've hung out in the desert.

Cheers,
Jeremy

Daniella said:

it depends what desert. In Deaht valley there are lots of
colors..you would not beleive your eyes.

There is even one place called Artist palette..you can guess why.

I acualy found it to be quite colorful. Surely the grass and green
vegetation is naturaly quite saturated.

Click to expand...

--

Jeremy L. Rosenberger
http://www.frii.com/~jeremy/

I'll have to agree. The area I was in was predominately brown with some deep reds and the grey of the rocky trail.. The only real color came from the sky (blue) and the Saguaro cactus (green).. the brush and shrubs were a dark green and werent very apparent, even in person. Bumping the saturation up, I was able to get more of the greens out of the Saguaro and started to see some of the green in the brush and smaller cactus. It looks pretty accurate though to my eyes.. Despite the lack of bright colors, it is still extraordinarily beautiful..

Jeremy Rosenberger said:

Cheers,
Jeremy

Daniella said:

it depends what desert. In Deaht valley there are lots of
colors..you would not beleive your eyes.

There is even one place called Artist palette..you can guess why.

I acualy found it to be quite colorful. Surely the grass and green
vegetation is naturaly quite saturated.

Click to expand...

--

Jeremy L. Rosenberger
http://www.frii.com/~jeremy/

Click to expand...

Here are two photos after adjusting the saturation. All the images in the album now have been adjusted.

http://www.pbase.com/desertpir8/desert_overland

The images:

That it is. And your pictures do it great justice!

John James said:

Despite the lack of bright colors, it is still
extraordinarily beautiful..

Click to expand...

--

Jeremy L. Rosenberger
http://www.frii.com/~jeremy/