I had tagged along with some friends out to Little Sahara State Park, in the western part of Oklahoma. I went out to spend sometime with friends, and get some shots of the park and the dune riding, check on both accounts. I ended up using some editing techniques that I usually don’t do. For one I really pushed the exposure, contrast and saturation of each image. With that being said, I do like the out come. Let me know what you think.

Sand Dune and Clouds at Little Sahara State Park, Oklahoma

In this shot I was trying to capture the drift coming off the top of the main dune, as well as capture the clouds for some context. That meant waiting, waiting for the clouds, then waiting for the drift to be large enough to be noticeable. However trying to balance the exposure and the contrast all in camera was proving difficult. So I knew at the time I was going to be doing some fairly heavy post work on it. I increased the contrast trying to even out the exposure, then increased the saturation in blue, azure, yellow and orange channels, for obvious reasons. Then I worked on the clarity and over all sharpness. Hope you like, let my know what you think.

Clouds over Little Sahara State Park, Oklahoma

I was up on top of a dune, and taking a break between my friends jumping. I thought look up, and this is what I saw. With this one I looked at the clouds for a very long time, watching how they were moving across the sky and coming together. I wanted to capture something that reflected the motion and the energy of the sky. I hope I was able to achieve it. Let me know what you think if you would.

So I think, if there are any lessons from this they are, its important to take your time, and not to rush it. When you are aware of the elements and how they change overtime, then you are able to predict when the moment will occur for a best shot. This only comes with shooting in a given area over and over. Taking the time to learn the environment that you are shooting in the most is invaluable. Also, looking at things in a different way, in a new perspective I think is oh so very important, it helps to keep your images fresh because not only are you shooting the same things in varied ways but then you begin to shoot different things all together. Don’t just be better, be different. By working at being different you intern become better because you continually push yourself to not only try new ways of shooting but to shoot new things all together.