White Pocket Reflections

Robert, I think the image is very nice. I'm glad to see it and plan to be out there in days from now!

I do think it could improve a little in post processing. I would be tempted to bring in another version where the upper area's highlights were even more tamed and maybe as a layer in PS graduate it in from top to bottom and play with an opacity level.

Nevertheless this is a beautiful image and I hope there are some reflections when I go too!

Nice spot. If the light were a little softer, would have some wonderful potential. It feels that shifting a bit over to the right (if possible), and pointing back left would create a little better balance between the foreground rock and the backdrop. This might also place the reflection of the very cool clouds in the reflected saddle of the formations in a slightly better place- essentially moving them over to the left a bit in the gap. Nonetheless, nice image, especially for a scouting mission.

Robb

Great feedback Mark and Robb.

@Robb, I think that you're spot on regarding the composition. While I know that I was consciously trying to frame the clouds in the saddle of the rock formations when I was composing this image...I'd struggled to keep the foreground rock in the frame at all (it kept falling out of the right of the frame and the clouds were flying in the wrong direction to allow me to bring it back together)...but I felt that I wanted the rock in there. After looking back at the images from that afternoon...I didn't capture an image from a position to the right of this composition. Wish I had for comparison's sake!

@Mark....Safe journey out there in a few days! I think that the dark rock/dirt below this pool is the reason that the reflections of the sky (and the rocks) are so vibrant and contrasty...and significantly darker than the top part of the image. I had a version of this that that I'd worked to more closely match the sky tone, highlights, and contrast to the reflected sky and the reflected rocks...but I thought that it just really looked fake (it WAS impactful, but appeared unrealistic to the scene that I'd witnessed)...

Thank you both for some really thought provoking words and ideas!

Robert

Very unique perspective, Robert. Agree with the other that a bit better balance to the light would increase viewability here. I have a "soften contrast" action set at the bottom my blog that seemed to help the image a bit when I tried it. Just a thought though. There are lots of things you could do with this.

Robert, I like the composition a lot so I cant say too much about it :) Also the reflections are in sort of my area of interest at the moment so perhaps I will be treating it too personally lol. My comments are only based on my personal perspective so don't treat it as a constructive critique:o I try to tone down a bit the sky and the rock on the right. Both are taking a tod too much attention from the whole scene and specifically from the refelctions. Again, this is only for my personal liking so might be not what you wanted to achieve :)
Otherwise, I do think it is gorgeous capture :))

The reflected clouds do pull you into the scene but I would tone down the highlights on the rocks Robert.

Awesome reflection here Robert. It seems as though it may be leaning to the left a little bit...

Overall I like the composition. However, in my opinion the rocks below the surface of the water detract from the image. I think it is because the color of the surface below the water doesn't compliment the rest of the scene. I would recommend one of two possibilities: 1) if you used a polarizer dial back on the polarization so that you would have more reflection on the surface of the water (of course you can't fix that now, unfortunately) or 2) possibly a crop to a panoramic format from just a little below the reflections of the buttes.

I also wonder how this might look as a B&W image. As you already stated, the lighting isn't ideal. You have controlled the shadows well but on my monitor at least the highlights seem a bit harsh.

Overall you still have a nice shot from a fascinating location. Compared to your other posts this just isn't quite in the same league.

I like this for the sense of being somewhat suprised by an expanse of water in an apparently arid place. The colorful mounds are interesting. I might suggest a 3rd exposure to bring down the brightes parts of the rock you mention.