Paintrock Falls

This is pretty sweet, Nic. There's hardly anything here that doesn't fit nicely. A very picturesque scene throughout. The most nit-picky I could possibly be is to point out that small smudge/blur spot going on over the top of the largest white flower in the large version.

indeed a very picturesque scene. Love the comp and the colors.

Excellent full composition here Nicholas!

I am having a hard time finding anything to critique. Maybe a little haloing on the horizons edge with the background clouds (not a sharpening halo, but a smoother wider one). Very subtle though and doubt many would see it.

You are really making me want summer to come even sooner with this. It's just so great to be at a spot like this on a day like that! Sweet shot.

This is a real beauty Nicolaus, and as others have said there's not much to find fault with. A fine, balanced composition and lovely vibrant colors. If I had to suggest something I suppose it would be that I find the foreground grass a little too light but in any case this is excellent work.

Lovely scene. It looks like the wild flowers in the Bighorns were great. They are a beautiful mountain range.

I can see why you like these falls so much. Overall the composition is pretty nice. Something looks off in the processing in the sky. I can't quite put my finger on it but at a minimum it looks like it is oversharpened and you have added too much contrast.

Gorgeous image Nicolaus. I like the diagonals in the composition as well as the beautiful color and the wild flowers. Seems like a wonderful place.

Great soft light Nicolaus.

Thanks for the feedback you guys. I do appreciate it much.

Marc, that smudge is the one thing that bothers me most about this image, but I made the mistake of taking only two dof shots and this is the one area I was just unable to pull anything from either exposure. I suppose I could clone in a sharper section of the grass, but I hate doing that...feels too unrealistic, although it might be a necessity on this image as that spot could be pretty obvious on a larger print. I'll keep this image for now, and maybe try and clone something. There is always the chance I'll get something better this summer!

Mark, that haloing you see could have something to do with the way I added contrast to that portion of the image. I might go back and see if I can darken things up a bit. Thanks for pointing it out.

You are correct Robert. Actually the entire image is slightly brighter than it was in reality. I wanted something bright and colorful in my portfolio. Something that gave the sense of the joy and excitement I feel when in areas like this.

Brian you are correct as well, but this was actually intentional, although I should have had the contrast gradient blended a bit better. In a print I don't think the clouds would look over sharpened...not sure though.

Hi Nicolaus - This is a really beautiful scene - makes me want summer to arrive sooner rather than later. I like the composition, as it seems balanced throughout. My first reaction was that the image seemed a bit bright but see that you noted that you wanted a bright and cheery image, so that decision makes sense. Nice work.

To me the most important aspect of photography is the "feel" an image gives you. This one says, happy, joy, glad to be alive, God's Glory, you name it. Great interplay of sky, rock, water, and flora. For my taste(and they are different I will acknowledge) I would consider cropping from the bottom anywhere from the top of the large green large leafed plant on down. Print this large and put it in a place of honor.....GREAT IMAGE!

A very nice comp, Nicolaus. The bright lighting and strong color brings a positive, uplifting mood to the image. A beautiful scene with strong elements that are well balanced. Nice processing too!

I can relate to wanting comething bright in the portfolio and I reckon you've made a good one here. Some of the highlights seems just a bit fierce to me but no one else has mentioned it and I'm not on a calibrated motnior at the moment.

Nicolaus,

What a beautiful landscape image with so much to enjoy here. Bottom to top, all the elements work very well together. this is simply very nicely composed and balanced. And you've got a terrific sky to compliment the scene. My only nit does have to do with the sky; it seems just too much of a pretty blue, if that makes sense. Maybe it's the cyan, I'm not sure. Then again no one else has mentioned it, so worse case, it's a very minor thing.

Reminds me very much of Sonora Pass area of the Sierra Nevada.

Lon

Very nice image Nic - nice comp and great color combination. Looks like a great place to relax and spend some time.