Aha lava

[pluton]

It's goddamned hard to get a satisfactory, somewhat realistic but not ugly rendering of dark lava rocks.  They just suck up the light.  Here's one of my tries, plus a wide shot to show the area.  In the wide, my car is just above and to the right of center.  Black Tank Wash, Mojave desert.

[Lars Hansen]

Keith - that lava rock really is black. I've never seen black lava rock in reality but to my eye it seems to convey it well.
I looked at your shot earlier today but the daylight in the room suppressed the details in the rock on my screen and the bright white clouds (and the sun?) in the background doesn't make it easier for the eye. In dimmed light it works much better and I really like the contrasts and composition - also, I see a ghost like face in the clouds looking back at you...       

Fascinating landscape.

[David H. Hartman]

If the lava is the stuff I'm thinking of it's maroon to very dark maroon and it can have many tiny holes from bubbles. The shadows in the holes make the darkest very dark. I may have a few rocks my father picked up along Route 395 in the '60s.

Dave Hartman

[pluton]

Thanks Lars and Dave for your comments.  I couldn't see any shadow detail on my crummy laptop screen when I checked later, so I'm posting a second version with the lava lightened a bit.
Dave, you are right about the dark maroon color;   I de-marooned it in the processing 'cause I thought the maroon was ugly.