Color vs. Black & White

Both of these shots of petrified sand dunes in Zion National Park are processing of the same image.  The top one has all of the color desaturated to leave only the lines and textures, while in the bottom one, the color is so bold that it becomes the story (with the textures becoming the subtext).  The bottom one was done first in Photoshop and Photomatix with HDR processing, then the color was used in the "Black and White" command in Photoshop.  

The photo was taken along Highway 9, just before the Zion-Mt. Carmel tunnel (heading west).   These are sand dunes that were once buried and became petrified.  Even though the ripples look like wind blown sand, it is solid Navajo Sandstone.