White Sands - Real or False?

[JimFox]

I captured this 2 weeks ago after I left the Solar Eclipse in Texas. It had been a few years since I had been to White Sands, but it's a place I always enjoy. For me as a photographer it's a fun challenge as it can be pretty barren, and it causes you to focus on lines and angles without a lot of other distractions because basically it's just all white sand and a few plants here and there.

As I first processed this, where we use a custom WB, my first thought on seeing the golden sky and the blue plants was that if I converted it to the False Color look (which is basically just swapping colors 180 degrees), is that if the plants turn yellow, they may not look that much different then one might think. The plants are green and brown, but the yellow look doesn't seem too out of place. It's not hard to turn the vegetation White in IR processing, but not sure white plants on white sands would work.

So which do you prefer?

Nikon D7100 converted to 590nm IR

All comments are welcome,

Jim

PS. Real refers to Real in the 590nm IR sense, not Real in the Real World sense.

1 - "Real"

2 - "False Color"

 

[AlanLichty]

I find myself leaning towards the false color. I like the blue sky contrasting with the white sand and the yellows. You could go even darker with the skies with the false colors and add more pop to the contrasts.

 

[JimFox]

I find myself leaning towards the false color. I like the blue sky contrasting with the white sand and the yellows. You could go even darker with the skies with the false colors and add more pop to the contrasts.

Thanks Alan. I could easily swing the gold of the sky to Orange as well. Sometimes I like that orange look in the sky.

 

[Jameel Hyder]

I much prefer yellow foliage to blue. That and the blue sky steers me to second image. I like Alan’s idea of going darker in the blue sky as well.

 

[Kyle Jones]

I think I like false better, but that might just be because it looks more "real" to my eyes.

 

[JimFox]

I much prefer yellow foliage to blue. That and the blue sky steers me to second image. I like Alan’s idea of going darker in the blue sky as well.

Thanks Jameel.

I must have misread Alan's comments, I thought he wanted the yellow sky darker? But your idea is great. I better read Alans comment again.

 

[AlanLichty]

Thanks Jameel.

I must have misread Alan's comments, I thought he wanted the yellow sky darker? But your idea is great. I better read Alans comment again.

I was looking at the image you labeled as "false color" and talking about the blues......