Pink Canyon

This image reminds me of a stupid mistake I made, from which I (hopefully) have learned a hard lesson. These beautiful pink clouds were the first thing I photographed that morning above the canyon and they only lasted for a minute or two. When reviewing my 3 bracketed exposures I realized that I had screwed up... I had mounted the sun hood slightly skew, resulting in it being visible in the bottom of frame at this extreme WA... That despite the fact that I was working in Live View; I was clearly still sleeping. As a result I lost a sliver of canyon here, which at the time of composing seemed rather critical to the overall comp.

The other thing about this image is that I used a polarizer because I liked the effect it had on the clouds, it makes them look so surreal. In hindsight though I wish I had also shot this without a polarizer to get maybe a more 'realistic' looking scene for comparison.

Your honest critiques are, as always, much appreciated.

Fish River Canyon, Namibia
Camera Model Canon EOS-5D Mark II
Shutter Speed 2, 1 and 0.5 Sec. (blended)
Aperture Value f/18
ISO Speed 100
Lens EF16-35mm f/2.8 L II USM @ 16mm + CP
Live View, Remote