Vulcan's Realm

Very different color, light, and perspective compared to the other slot shots John. I like the high key nature of this which gives it a more ethereal mood.

WOW! Amazing light, John

I love the scene, John, but it feels a bit overexposed. Pulling down the highlights really lets the color differences and textures play a larger role.

Incredible shapes, colors and tones. It's a little hot at the very end though

An amazing array of colors and forms! I love the bottomless feel of the comp.

Looks like the web version could use quite a bit more sharpening to my eye. I don't mind the brightness but it does look like the processing could be improved. It feels a little too contrasty in places and the middle-left has some areas that are nearly featureless and almost blown with little color despite no reflected or direct light being evident. Conversely, I find the blacks a bit heavy to the lower right of that area. Having been here many times myself, I wouldn't figure you could get everything in focus at f/16 either without a crop...maybe there was one.

Anyway, I don't want it to sound like I don't like it. It's just that since I know the area so well I can nitpick a little more. Overall the variations in color and textures throughout are quite impressive and the composition is excellent.

What a fantastic collection of shapes, colors, and textures. Absolutely amazing!

Thanks very much for the kind words and especially the helpful tips.
I did indeed need to crop both sides for optimum sharpness.

I really like the perspective, and the comp! I agree about the web sharpening, but other than that, I wouldn't have noticed the other things Marc pointed out. But, he does have a very keen eye for that kind of stuff.

Chris

The image and colors look nice - however it doesn't look sharpened for the web and loses a little pop in the presentation. Sharpen it up and repost!

I have GOT to visit this place with you some time, John. Gorgeous sandstone, great light, beautiful composition. Awesome, man!

An absolute beauty here John! I do agree you can do a little bit of selective sharpening as Marc mentions. Seems a little soft in parts.

Fabulous color. The bedding planes add a strong horizontal element to a vertical subject. Nice balance.

Hi John,

I really like the composition and I've probably been influenced by reading others' comments below. I too noticed the softness of the web version immediately. Like Tony suggested, I could see darkening the lower half of the image. Overall, I think this a beautiful shot of which slot canyon? I hope all is well.

Michael

Extremely cool comp--great patterns and colors! But it aint 'a little soft'--it looks OOF to me

Cool shot John!

Hey John

Sweet image! I love all the layers and the slightly elevated perspective. The processing is incredibly lively, I like it!

Shane

lovely image John, and I really like the natural processing. Top shelf stuff mate!

Some nice light for sure and the comp is nearly perfect. My only nits are that small piece of wall in the upper left hand corner, and for some reason the left side of the image appears soft, perhaps due to web compression?

The bottomless feel is really nice here. Great colors, too.

I think this shot would benefit from a darker mood.

Very nice, I like it very much. My gut feeling is that it could be improved with a bit more contrast but this would make the highlights over powering.
Maybe try knocking the saturation back on the highlights first. Best of luck.

Hey John. Great shot! Love the composition! You got great lighting here obviously.

I too agree this has some processing issues.

When I get back from my trip I'll call you and if you get Skype I'd love to be of help. I'm not sure it is OOF as Stan suggests, but even if it was, for web that could be easily cured.