Zabriskie Point Washes, Death Valley National Park (click to enlarge)

During a quick trip to Death Valley I stopped by Zabriskie Point on the way out of the park.    I still had a long drive ahead of me, but wanted to check out Zabriskie Point for future trips.  Of course, it was midday and the light was just awful for photography.  Normally sunset is the time to be at Zabriskie Point.  The washes have bands of color that just pop in late afternoon sun.  During the midday sun, not so much color.

So, if color is not important to the image, convert to black and white!  If you are shooting during midday, look for strong compositions, these convert very well to black and white.  As a matter of fact, I recently learned a good tip that I plan to use during my next trip.  Jennifer Wu did a YouTube video for Nik Software.  During the video Jennifer suggested that you set your camera mode to black and white.  That way your monitor shows black and white, but if you shoot RAW you still have all of the color information.  Jennifer suggests that this will help you focus on your composition.  I have already set up my camera in this manner for a trip to the Outer Banks next week.

Back to the image above.  By taking out what color there was, I place the focus on the repeating patterns of the washes, the slight S curve of the dry creek bed, and overall texture contained in the image.

Zabriskie Point: N36 25 12.12 W116 48 94.09