Thanks for all the positive comments about these images - Akira, Simone, Ann, Carl, Hugh, CS and Floyd
Ann and Floyd - the scanner was a very old Epson Expression 1640XL Pro (A3 flatbed). Using Vuescan, I scanned at the max. resolution of 1600ppi, interpolating the file-size upwards by 20%. This gave me a file big enough to make a 23" (57cm) print at 180dpi. Incidentally, I have experimented widely to determine the smallest file that will provide an exhibition-quality 23" print, and the answer is to print at 180dpi. No-one who has seen my test prints - the same image, same size print, printed at 180, 300 and 360dpi - has been able to tell them apart without using a magnifying-glass.
I would crop tighter, to just above the top of the dune at the far end of the sunlit ridge.
Just a matter of personal taste, obviously...
Well, I would have to agree on that point.
The top of both images is a problem area, I admit. I was very conscious of this when I was shooting because I wanted to keep as much distance as possible in both images, to provide context, ie. showing that the foreground dune is not some isolated freak but part of a huge system of dunes. But you guys both have excellent taste - I will take another look.
This illustrates very well a major difference between shooting film and shooting digitally. I was on a self-financed 4-week shoot in the big western states of the US, sharing expenses with an old friend and fellow photographer. In the late 90s, each time I pressed the shutter I had just spent 50P, or 75 cents (US; at 1990s rates) so each time I finished a 10-exposure roll, I had spent £5.00 ($7.50) on film and processing costs. 20 rolls per day = £100.00 ($150); 4 weeks - 28 days = £2800.00 ($4200). As a result of this kind of expense I often shot very tight if there was no client paying the bills. Sometimes I shot too tight - not enough variations of a potentially exciting image, and I almost never did exposure-bracketing - so sometimes I didn't get the absolute maximum out of a good situation . Such as dawn in the Death Valley dunes.
Shooting digitally in 2018 I would shoot the dunes "every which way and loose".
