Interesting Photo of the Day: Artist’s Palette Trail

Interesting Photos

Who knew Death Valley could be so colorful? At a glance, today’s image is more reminiscent of an otherworldly ice cream sundae than an inhospitable desert.

“Ice Cream” by Al Baker. (Via Reddit. Click image to see full size.)

Landscape photographer Al Baker managed to find a strategic perch on the Artist’s Palette trail in California, where he then snapped a shot of his girlfriend strolling ahead. Using a G Master 16-35mm wide angle lens, Baker managed to capture the beautiful range of peaks and valleys created by the area’s oxidized rock formations.

Of course, the colors and tones seen here aren’t entirely true-to-life. In fact, the artist admits going back and editing the image from scratch on several different occasions in order to experiment with contrast and saturation levels. However, the combination of timing, polarizing, and post-processing it took to create this composition is inspiring nonetheless.

With pinks, golds, and teals swirling into one, this image feels more like a watercolor painting than something generated by a camera. Though it took many tries to get just right, the model is placed in perfect position to guide our eye deeper into the photograph. As it turns out, getting an outstanding picture is often a matter of venturing out of your comfort zone and having a little bit of patience. Go the distance, climb each obstacle, and experiment – chances are you won’t regret it once you’ve seen the results.