Badwater Salt Crust Sunrise 1
Posted onI created this dramatic image on the Badwater salt flats during the 2nd morning of my recent Death Valley National Park Photo Tour. My favorite landscape lighting scenario is the one that you see here, when sunrise light illuminates a mountain range underneath ominous clouds. I could not have asked for anything more. Over the next hour, the light interacted with the clouds giving me some very different images, but this early one is my favorite. On my way to Death Valley, California photographer G Dan Mitchell was kind enough to send me a Facebook comment about looking for nice salt crust patterns around the first corner south of the Badwater parking lot. I’m not sure if I found the exact spot that he was referring to, but I probably would not have parked in that area and walked the short distance from the road to these bizarre salt crust eruptions without his recommendation. As the sunrise began, I was mostly walking back & forth answering my 4 clients questions, but I still managed to briefly set up my camera to capture the wondrous scene unfolding before me.
Hi Jon, this is more than takes your breath away! Not only the softness is splendid, but the definition in the salt flats is intriguing.
On the bottom right above your name, in my minds eye it looks like a shoe…Jon..many thanks
Some nice light, Jon. Were the smoother sections of the salt flats in your iPhone video from around the corner? I never did find “pristine” areas, but I wondered if they were further out or around the point to the south.
I shot the shorter salt flats in my video about 30-40 minutes straight out from the Badwater parking lot. It was a long difficult slog over all of these more pronounced crust eruptions. It was pretty far out there in the middle of the flats. Around the edges it was a lot more of this really dramatic cracking than what most people think of Badwater. I like both of the areas for different reasons. Good luck next time!
Beautiful shot,Jon! Approx. how high was your camera set up from the ground? I am pretty much a beginner, and am interested in some of these basics. Thanks!
Outstanding shot! That’s also one of my favorite times of day for obvious reasons.
Barb,
My tripod was only 3 feet above the salt flats. The legs were fully retracted. I like to get down close to the ground and am often on my knees when I am shooting. I hope that helps!