Death Valley wildflowers rising in major bloom

[David_Senesac]

Believe me, there are some places in the backcountry that have far more incredible colors than Artist's Drive, and Provia won't touch some of the mineral greens
worth a damn. There are all kinds of strange rare things in those rocks. It's not like taking pictures of flowers. But of course, there are many other exciting things that most E6 films will respond to. But there are some ethical issues involved. I'd hate to see someone stumble onto some of these sights that even the Park
Service wants to keep secret due to their sensitivity, and have someone plaster pictures all over the place with specific titles and damned GPS coordinates. But
if you don't carry a big canteen nobody will have anything to worry about anyway.

Agreed about color gamut film/sensor limitations in nature of course and that goes beyond rock. A important task for photographers is to find light for difficult subjects that can render within the range of film/sensors. And as you noted as someone well acquainted with minerals and geology that is not always possible particularly with close-ups. However film and image sensors given good lighting can display the vast majority of non-contrasty landscape colors with reasonable fidelity those judging color would be satisfied with.

And I'm glad you have that attitude about special places. Much the same as attitudes of tight-lipped fishermen for backcountry lakes with lunker fish. My website displays many fantastic places a lot of people would like to know where they were taken. But my audience will have to be content reading vague regional references. Otherwise..."Put your boots on, get outside making an effort exploring, then you too might just happen upon special places."

[Sirius Glass]

Drew, sometimes a polarizing filter will help bring out the mineral colors.

[Drew Wiley]

More likely a polarizer would either kill many of these hues or render them false. Iridescence, fluorescence, interference, all kinds of strange things going on.
In the latter case (interference), sometimes just changing the angle of view a few degrees utterly changes the hue. Manganese deposits, desert varnish etc - you
look at it straight on and its basic rusty brown. Twenty degrees off its can be electric blue or purple, just like the wing of a Morpho butterfly. If I showed a few of
these prints to somebody today they'd accuse to of Fauxtoshopping them. The only problem with that idea is that the hues are actually more intense, and everything else in the scene looks credible. Printed on something like Cibachrome, it all becomes downright iridescent, just like the actual subject from the correct angle. Well, quite a few films can handle that; but Death Valley is quite a gem and mineral museum in its own right, with many unusual challenges.
Sometimes the colors can be almost unbelievable, yet in a very exotic sense, and not like something you can cook up with inkjet. But most of that terrain I'll
have to enjoy in my memories. I'm not much of a hot weather hiker anymore.

[Sirius Glass]

I will stick to the Kodak Ultra Color until I use up the stock that I have in the freezer.

[Drew Wiley]

Got a film stretcher to turn that into 4x5? I haven't been there since my 8x10 Portra 160VC days, but do have some recent shots on Ektar from parts of NV not too far away. I'm optimistic, but with no time to print color anytime soon.

[Sirius Glass]

I have Kodak Ultra Color in 135 and 120; I have Kodak Vivid Color in 4"x5".

[Drew Wiley]

160VC was a good stepping stone for me. I worked out a lot of color temp issues and darkroom tweaks with that last DV shoot, hung a number of 30x40's in a corporate installation, all very nicely framed, and probably much better than average for this kind of decor application, but other than a couple of them, a bit too picture-bookish and not something I'd keep for myself. A serious learning curve, which I can continue monitoring for permanence under less than ideal display conditions. I expect better results from Ektar, in which case I have printed a number of exotic warm neutrals from volcanic areas in Hawaii, but not from SoCal
deserts yet. But there are still issues. No film is perfect, and mere saturation is no substitute for overall neutrality. I am bagging certain hues I never could get
right with any E6 film, but of course am sacrificing others. I haven't resorted to the "nuclear option" of dye transfer printing chromes yet; but even RA4 can be
tamed for a high level of chrome printing if b&w tricolor separation negs are made first, something I am equipping for right now. I expect distinctly better results
than either the inkjet or interneg routes. But that is more of a retirement hobby sort of exercise. Most of my color printing will just be advanced RA4 tweaks right from color neg film originals. It's all fun anyway, even the mistakes along the way.

[David_Senesac]

Above not LF but small digi info pic of my dispersed camp site location for 3 nights.

After returning from a Death Valley road trip February 12>16 has taken 3 on and off weeks of work post processing images then coding the html feature for my website. Numbers of large images with he largest 18700 by 9000 pixels. Although I had my 4x5 Wisner Expedition along with Provia loaded into a bag full of holders, the time when the breeze was calm enough even for a digital camera was rather limited so just did not make time for it. But you folks can see what the park has been looking like on link below. The road trip was February 12>16 that is on Page 2 and Page 3 of this Contents page:

http://www.davidsenesac.com/2016_Tri...onicles-0.html

Will be returning sometime between the end of this month of March and mid April dependent on how all this current stormy weather plays out. Much of my work on that trip will not be about the vegetation but rather rock so won't have to worry about them bobbing about in the wind and in fact the usual slow shutter speeds I'm used to at f32 ought to be fine.

David

[Sirius Glass]

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/el-nino-...-death-valley/

[richardman]

Speaking of colors...



I wish you can see this one large. The tonal and Color range is unreal, thanks to #kodakportra #largeformatfilm. #sunrise light with this sublime quality only lasts but about tens of seconds. Glad I was there #filmisnotdead #deathvalleynationalpark #Grammasters3 #chamonixviewcamera #zabriskiepoint