Death Valley location?

[Paul Sumi]

Right. At dawn all the photographers are lining up down at Zabriskie Point, although even there I managed one morning with only a couple of other photographers, in January. Dante's View is indeed spectacular.

Eric

Dante's definitely seems to be more popular as a sunset destination, at at least the times I've been there.  You do have to be prepared for the high winds that can blow up there even though the valley floor is still.

Zabriskie is a zoo on the weekends, it can be less crowded mid-week.

[markhout]

coming into this a bit late, but I offer this:

I've shot at DV the past 5 years, and work the dunes a lot.

Location wise: My (car) GPS has N 36.60482 x W 117.13067 as a spot along the road which is close to what I think is the easiest/best access to the dunes - as others have stated, this is not the parking lot / typical tourist entry point to the dunes, but rather a spot off the road in between stovepipe wells village and said parking lot - it's a LOT easier to head into the dunes from this approach than it is from the lot. It's still a 20+ minute walk to the dunes though.

That being said, every time I go, I choose a slightly different entry point and approach angle as the compositions are quite varied.

Good luck, great place to shoot.

-m

Just a quick reply to thank you for this info. I was there this morning at 6.45am, about 25 mins before the celestial sunrise (the sun comes up 5 mins or so later behind the mountains). The hike is indeed about 20 mins. I was alone, but there were probably a dozen or so photographers at the park-designated trails that originate from the parking spot. (Thought that was a huge number for a weekday in October.) The light is definitely magical, and absolutely worth the early start of the day.

Here is an initial image. D7K, new 50mm 1.8, HDR in Photomatix.

[NashvilleMike]

Glad this worked out for you.

I do have a question - I've been to DV several times, but never in October.
How is the haze/particulate matter in the air? That's the one thing that bugs me a bit when I usually head out there in the May timeframe is that it's hard to get a really clear sky. I've heard from the rangers that October is one of the best times to go, hence my question...

-m

[markhout]

How is the haze/particulate matter in the air? That's the one thing that bugs me a bit when I usually head out there in the May timeframe is that it's hard to get a really clear sky. I've heard from the rangers that October is one of the best times to go, hence my question...

Thanks - I thought that it was quite hazy, both at sunrise and sunset. Blue haze. Sorry, but I understand what you are saying - I was disappointed in exactly that. I find myself lowering saturation in the shadows of my DV images to combat the blue shift.

Mark

[dreed]

Actually, at dawn at Dantes View, I was alone.  The first visitors arrived hours later.

Thanks for the kudos.  That's a self portrait. 

The one time I did Dantes View at sunrise, the wind was howling all morning :-(

Didn't see another tripod for the entire visit at Dantes View.

[dreed]

I am hoping that someone can  help me. I'm going to Death Valley again in September and I'd like to visit the Dunes near Stovepipe Wells. I've seen a few shots where there is an area of dried cracked mud in the foreground and I was wondering how far into the dunes these areas are? Could anyone give me an idea of how to find them?
Due to my husband being a wheelchair user, I can't go wandering off for long, so I am hoping that I'll be able to reach them fairly easily.

If you park in the parking lot for the dunes and walk out through the sand to the dunes, you will have to try really really hard to not see or walk through the "cracked mud."

However finding a composition that you like that features the cracked mud is equally as difficult as it presents itself in many different ways. You could easily spend as long walking around all of the valleys with cracked mud as you do getting there and back combined.

Between the dunes themselves and the parking lot is "scrub", small dunes and shallow valleys. In each valley you'll find the cracked mud.

The kicker is that you make much better progress walking on it (the cracked mud) than the sand.