Scoured

Welcome to NPN Parnell! This definitely conveys a cold mood, both in subject and in color and tone. I do like the monochromatic nature here, and could even work as a straight B&W. The comp works for me, with the curving ice pattern leading through the image and to the peaks in back. For critique, it looks to me like the mountains are a bit soft in focus, so I'm curious what f-stop you shot this at? I would also like a little more definition in the clouds which you could probably partially achieve in PS with some simple selective curves/levels adjustments. Again, welcome to the community, hope this helps

Welcome to NPN, Parnell! I think Jared did a great job of summing up all the main points worth critiquing here, so I'll just add that I like the mood here, especially like the cool patterns up front, and it has me longing for the first mountain snows--which should hit in a few weeks here in CO! Look forward to seeing more from you!

What an awesome and dynamic foreground! I think Jared's critique is spot on.

I appreciate the very realistic look in the image, but at the same time I wish I could experience more of the foreground's textures through some selective contrast adjustments and brightening. It might take a larger presentation (print) to satisfy my curiosity. I don't know.

Jared pretty much nailed the critique. Very nice first post overall. In addition to Jared's points, I might also suggest considering selectively brightening and perhaps desaturating the brighter tones in the foregound ice to help give it a bit more "pop".

Excellent! Thanks for your responses. Jared - the shot was taken at f16. There was a lot of cloud that obscured the mountains that day which whipped by as the wind was vicious so I think some crispness was lot there. However I also struggle with focusing and wearing glasses so it may be front focused as well. I tried to make them a little more contrasty to solidify the detail. It was an amazingly cold day when this was taken and everytime I removed my gloves my fingers instantly swelled and stung in the cold. Actually thinking about that Stan I'm not really longing for winter to much myself! Kent I tried to increase the size and still follow the guidelines though I don't know if that helps. And lastly Phil I tried to brighten and remove the blue tint from the highlights in the foreground as well as dodge a little to bring out the texture. I'm still wary of over processing so let me know if it has had enough of an effect.

I prefer your repost--better fg detail. You may want to add "repost" to your title--that lets people know you reworked. I also like the warmer color--but i'd guess i'm in the minority on that cause people usually prefer blue to gray.