Alstrom Point Expanse+Repost

I've never made it to this area, but the photos I've seen make me want to go very badly! Despite the conditions that didn't replicate from the previous day, you did well with what you had. I would be tempted to crop out some of the sky to right above the colorful cloud bands.

Amazing depth, colors and textures. Really love the aqua-ish in the distance

Joe, you have a very nice image going here. You caught some wonderful light that brought the colors in the sedimentary rocks quite nicely. The color and texture in the clouds is also adds nicely to the image. I do wonder if you chose to include too much foreground here. The U-shaped curve is a nice touch, but rock seems very homogenous to me, perhaps lacking enough interest to warrant dedicating such a large portion of the frame to it. I would consider a slight crop from the bottom, but that may be up to personal taste, perhaps you find the texture in the foreground more interesting than I do. Also, I think there may be some oversaturation going on here. It is most evident in the sky, but also here and there in some of the rocky areas and portions of the water, but nothing major. One last thing I noticed was a bit of haloing along the horizon just right of center, an easy fix. To sum it up, I really like what you have going here, I would just like to see a couple small tweaks to push this to the next level. Hope I gave you a helpful and appropriate critique!

Hi Joe,

It looks like you were blessed with some wonderful conditions at Alstrom. I agree with Jake's critique and suggestions - most notably the crop from the bottom and lower saturation levels. Overall, it is a wonderful scene. I love the depth and maze of water on display here. There is a lot of visual interest and your comp leads the eye well. I hope to see more from you in the future. Welcome to NPN.

Michael

Thank you very much for all the comments and very appropriate suggestions. The original raw doesn't have as many issues as this web version. For instance the foreground contains more texture and colour (there are some nice green patches in that rock). What happened was that I processed and re-processed the web version too many times, as evidenced by the rather grainy logo; eventually I lost patience and decided to post it as is. Thanks to your feedback, I got the courage to start again from the original and make the necessary adjustments. Here is an edited version.

Cheers.

p.s. Angela, I highly recommend a trip to Alstrom Point; in fact there's no place I've been to in the Southwest so far that I wouldn't recommend. Just make sure I'm not there when you go; I tend to bring the sandstorms with me

Great work on the repost, Joe. The crop looks fantastic, and the colors are now vibrant without being over the top.

A beautiful shot, Joe. The pano crop is a winner in my book and would make a great print.

Thanks guys.