This picture was taken in Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada. Over the last 150 million years, compression, uplifting and erosion of sand dunes form the park fiery red sandstone that we seen today. Although the color is awesome, the wavy and swirling patterns of the sandstone stand out very well, and these combined provide endless creative opportunities. I decided to go for black-and-white conversion, which is the best way to see these shapes and patterns without much distraction of color.
Ok, what's next? The composition. I recalled a very useful composition strategy from Visual Flow by Ian Plant (it's a great ebook!!) - to create a better compositions, you must learn to see the scene abstractly. Instead of seeing rocks, mountains, and trees, you see the shapes, lines, and pattern. Importantly, organize them into the frame is the key.
This is the corresponding abstract diagram of the picture above:
The lines form by the sandstone and clouds point toward the triangular rock in the background (red). Perhaps, you may seen as the interplay between the five triangles formed by the sandstone and sky (green). All these lines and shapes guide you to go deeper into the scene.
Sometime we can be distracted by the beautiful scene. To get a great shot, we have to learn to see the scene in different ways. The lesson is, sit back and think before firing the shutter.
Happy Friday and have a great weekend!
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