The “sand” here is made of gypsum and is white instead of the normal tan. Processed with AI Clear. This screws with your mind’s color balance when trying to process.
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Nice image, but I would have cloned out those 3 little black dots in the far background on the right? The sand and sky/clouds came out very nice looking.
Great looking image …
Hey John, the three dots are people which can be more easily seen in the original size. Knowing what they are give a bit more perspective to the size in the picture. 
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OK… I understand your intention of leaving them in.
Nice processing of the sands …
Excellent capture and you did a great job with the natural-appearing processing!
great image - capture and treatment - did you do any surfing on the dunes (what I remember most about White Sands, that and “bomb day” - two of my colleagues when I taught at the University of New Mexico had witnessed the original test)
When I went there it was late November and very cool. The nice thing was there were very few people there as well though I captured some in photos. I just walked around and climbed some dunes, no sledding. This park did not seem to be connected to any military installation or monument. Pretty neat to see and it has picnic tables.
Rising from the heart of the Tularosa Basin is one of the world’s great natural wonders - the glistening white sands of New Mexico. Great wave-like dunes of gypsum sand have engulfed 275 square miles of desert, creating the world’s largest gypsum dunefield. White Sands National Monument preserves a major portion of this unique dunefield, along with the plants and animals that live here.
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Trinity Site, the site of the atomic bomb built in Los Alamos, is located in the White Sands Missile Range, as is the National Memorial - Trinity Site is about 60 miles north of the Memorial - it is a huge location (WSMR)
Los Alamos is a long way from White Sands and I didn’t know where the bomb was actually exploded. I’ve been to Los Alamos when I was in my 20’s and I live in the four corners area of NM.
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Bomb was exploded at Trinity Site in the White Sands Missile Range - Trinity Site - White Sands National Park (U.S. National Park Service)
I’ve seen documentaries about it and also saw the casings of Fat Man and Little Boy at Los Alamos. I see that the Trinity site is only open a couple times a year so I would not have been able to go there at the time.
From the park service: Today, visits to the site are sponsored by the Alamogordo Chamber of Commerce and WSMR on the first Saturdays of April and October. The rest of the year the site is closed to the public because it lies within the impact zone for missiles fired into the northern part of WSMR.
great capture. I like the depth of this image
I just recently watched a 2 part TV movie series called Manhattan. It was an excellent movie that went into all the details of the making of Little Boy. I highly recommend this movie if you have interest in the development and storyline behind it’s making.
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Hey John, I saw the two season series aired in 2014 and 2015 and I think it may be what you saw but with more episodes (each 1 hour). It’s available on disc from Netflix and well worth it for anyone that hasn’t seen it.
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Thanks everyone for the comments (don’t stop now), much appreciated.
The clouds - The clouds. Nobody mentioned the clouds.
Well, finally you did. It was a very overcast day and the sun started to peek through just before I left.
I like the composition; the foreground footprints, those in the mid distance and the people together do a great job conveying the vastness of the dunes. The monochrome-like blueish color theme is nice too and goes well with the overcast weather you mentioned. Overall a nice image.
One thing I would attempt to improve it would be to try the get the same end result without the halos on the people and the ridge lines.
Best regards
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