'X' Marks the Spot

[RobFellows]

This is an image of the salt farm (technically a mine site) in Dampier WA.

Looks quite good from the air.

[Shadowman]

Nicely composed and captured.

[Dave A]

Cool, I like it.

Dave

[Manfred M]

Moved to appropriate forum.

Nice shot Rob - a nice demonstration as to how simplicity can make for an compelling image. Having the tank separators lie at the corners of the image and having a perfect diagonal would be the only thing I would change in this shot.

[DanK]

nice image, and an interesting composition. My one suggestion is it is a little lacking in pop because it doesn't have much tonal range. To illustrate, I did a simple curves adjustment, moving the black point up a bit and imposing a fairly severe curve by pulling down the darks. Nothing fancy, but it illustrates the point. See what you think.

[NorthernFocus]

Nicely composed and an interesting subject.

[bnnrcn]

Very interesting image, I haven't seen a salt farm before.Thanks for sharing

[RobFellows]

Thanks Manfred, I took a load of shots here but none of them were quite what I was after. This was actually taken through the window of the commercial Jet as I was on my way to work. I would love to get out in a helicopter because there are some really interesting images from the air in the Pilbara.

I will keep trying though because I would like one with a proper 'X'"

Dan,

Like your version better. I will get in and apply that. Thanks

[Tringa]

That is a good one, Rob.

On first viewing I had no idea what it was, other than it was an interesting image. Your narrative gave me a bit of a mental jolt when I realised those are roads. The contrast between the earth roads and, I assume, the evaporating salty water, along with the simple composition is appealing.

Dave

[RobFellows]

Updated

[IzzieK]

Better, Rob -- diagonals nearly made it to both sides but the crossroads looking good. Is it normal for you to go to work via commercial jet? Can call that ride the equivalent of a chartered flight? Just curious...

[RobFellows]

Ha, commercial as in Qantas Boeing 717 or similar. I have a 2 hr flight up to our mine, rail and port infrastructure when I go to site. It's a pain but I prefer living in the city.

[Rob Ekins]

Ha, commercial as in Qantas Boeing 717 or similar. I have a 2 hr flight up to our mine, rail and port infrastructure when I go to site. It's a pain but I prefer living in the city.

Bloody FIFOs ruining the state

Seriously though, great image. I would love to know how accurate you think the colour of the water is in your images, to me (having never been there) I think the water lacks vibrancy that would contrast nicely against the roads, it may be a better shot trying to emphasise the natural colour of the water against the roads as opposed to trying to get more detail from the roads if that makes sense?

[RobFellows]

Hi Robbie,

I agree about the FIFO's but unfortunately there are very few people who want to live up there with the extreme weather and general lack of facilities. We did it for nearly 5 years but that was enough for the wifey.

Anyway, for reference and information I have included below the original image, a white balance corrected version and a black and white one I tried. The original colours are pretty crappy and the final image is not intended as a true representation but rather an artistic impression (if i can dare to use the term).

I basically cranked up the clarity to get rid of the haze, cooled down the WB and added a bit of green, wound up the contrast vibrance and saturation and then after some comments on here i dialled down the black point.

Original SOOC



WB Corrected for Daylight



A pretty rubbish B&W

[Rob Ekins]

Rob,
I was being tongue in check about FIFOs I have a relo that does the same in FNQ for the same reasons.

I was surprised to see the colours in the original image, I expected them to be a lot more like your updated image in post #10.

Thanks for taking the time to answer my question.

[Wavelength]

Excellent; i loved the blue version and its various edits....Is direct vision more neer to SOOC or to edited?

[RobFellows]

Hi Nandakumar, from the window of the plane on a sunny day it looks like the SOOC version. After a bit of rain and at the right time of day it looks a little more blue. Still not like the Blie version above though.