Badwater Basin is the lowest point in North America, with a depth of 282 ft (86 m) below sea level, and is one of the truly wondrous landscapes you must see in Death Valley National Park. The basin floor is a starkly white salt flat that stretches as far as the eye can see to the north and south, and is bounded by mountains to the east and west. The flats are covered in an endless lattice of salt ridges, forming a giant honeycomb of patterns and shapes. Photographers have an endless choice of compositions to work with, making this a fun place to create images. This location is best shot at twilight, sunset or sunrise, and benefits greatly from color and clouds in sky to make an image complete. This is a great place to work the light. The salt ridges ridges can cast shadows, the basin floor sparkles in the sun but can also take on different hues of reflected light. To find the best ridge lines and shapes, you will need to walk for about a mile out onto the basin floor from the parking area.
High level clouds drift over the sparkling white salt flats. The ridges here are worn down from the huge amount of foot traffic in this part of basin. As you move farther away from the parking area, the ridges that form the shapes become more "crusty".
As the sun drops behind the mountains, the basin floor sparkles and the ridges throw shadows.
Alpen glow-like lighting on the mountains results in the ridges glowing like a giant jigsaw puzzle.
Early twilight colors.
Late twilight. The salt flat takes on hues of grey, purple, and blue.