Singh-Ray Filters help make the most of Thanksgiving in the Desert - Part 2

In the previous part of this Thanksgiving travel story, nature photographer Ernesto Santos recalled his experience shooting in the Arizona deserts near Tucson and Phoenix. Ernesto continues, "This part features some shots taken in a much more desolate place -- the Valley of Fire in Nevada -- which is only a short drive from Las Vegas and offers some great Mojave Desert scenery unlike anything in Arizona's Sonora Desert. The photo part of this excursion was somewhat part-time since my wife was focused on visiting Las Vegas for a a few shows and little R&R. However, when we got to Nevada and checked into our Las Vegas hotel, I was nevertheless eager to get out onto the surrounding desert.

"Not more than a two-hour drive from the city there is a great little state park called the Valley of Fire. I was amazed by the stark beauty of this area of the Mojave Desert. It is not like the more famous Death Valley. Here the sandstone has unbelievable color and variety. The sandstone formations are whimsical and many resemble familiar shapes. In this first image you can see what I mean. This is Elephant Rock, a red sandstone arch carved high on a bluff. I was able to get to this formation just as the sunlight was fading behind heavy cloud cover. Using the Singh-Ray LB Warming Polarizer helped saturate the red sandstone -- especially in the areas lit up by the direct sunlight.

"The always-changing light on this day made photographing a little challenging. The sun was shooting rays of light through a bank of high clouds that thickened and then opened up and then thickened again. This constantly changing situation kept me on my toes the whole time. While touring some stone cabins in the park built in the 1930’s, I came across this view of the Muddy Mountains. Yes, that is their name and it’s one of those names you just love saying out loud to yourself. In a matter of seconds the mountains suddenly lit up and I scrambled to get a shot. I used the LB Warming Polarizer and a 3-stop hard-step Galen Rowell Graduated ND filter that I hand held to expose for the gully and scrub in the foreground and still retain the color saturation of the sunlit range and sky.

"The most interesting area of the park is without a doubt Rainbow Vista. Here the landscape is literally a rainbow of colors. Multi-colored strata make up the sandstone ground and, where it is free of sand, the color and effect is spectacular. Here I used my LB ColorCombo Polarizer to accentuate these strata on the eroded sandstone.

"This afternoon spent in the Valley of Fire afforded more quick-changing lighting conditions. I had never quite experienced something like this in all my years shooting the outdoors. As the afternoon wore on it was becoming evident to me that the golden hour would be something to revel in. But that didn’t happen. The clouds began to get thicker and there was a curious blue cast to them. Here in this stitched panorama of Rainbow Vista, you can clearly see this phenomenon. Using my 3-stop Singh-Ray Daryl Benson Reverse ND Grad I was able to retain the correct look of the sky as I saw it that day. The reverse grad also helped to hold back the glare of the sun hidden by the bank of blue clouds. In the end, the golden hour never happened, the sky just got darker and grayer. You'll want to enlarge this panoramic image to fully appreciate its effect. No golden light on this otherwise wonderful day in the desert, but it's a very rewarding image, nonetheless. I had plenty of reasons to give thanks."

You can feast on many more of Ernesto's dramatic, award-winning outdoor images on his website.