Mountain Carpet w/Repost

Zack, this looks as if it was taken at 25mm + wide and if so, you should have been able to shoot it at f/8 in only one shot with the correct hyperfocal distance selected. In any case though, it's worth mentioning that I find with detail-reliant scenes like this the blending for DOF is usually complicated enough to make any tiny increase in sharpness ineffective. DOF blending works great if you have something with naturally similar textures and segments like sandstone, but I wouldn't rely on it as much in scenes like this. Even with the best technique it can make a total mess out of some things (though not the case here). The shot has a nice array of greens and good depth from the hazy atmosphere. The 50/50 split might be turned into a slightly more effective (IMO) 2/3 presentation with a crop off the bottom, as most of the action is in the background. I do love the green mosses though.

Thanks for the critique Marc, I just looked, it was actually shot at 17mm. Focus blending is still very new to me so I appreciate your thoughts on this. I do remember being quite close to the foreground here to emphasize the light on the moss. I will try your crop suggestion as well.

Nice image Zack. I like the foreground moss and the light and shadow on the hills. I agree with Marc that image blending probably wasn't 100% necessary here, but all in all this turned out very well.

I teach a lot and what I see with focus blending is that more than half of the time when people do it they are trying to make the shot print sharper and end up doing the opposite. You have roughly about 3ft to infinity that you can get in focus at f/8 at 17mm, though you may have been closer than that here. f/13 is still a very good option on most lenses though, and there you've got 2ft or so to infinity at 17. Good luck!

Zack,

I don't understand the first thing about focus blending or many of the technical processes of combining images, though I do use layers to adjust single exposure images. This is a very nice view of the sky and peaks with light after viewing the larger image I realize now it's just the fuzzy texture of the moss. AT first I though the image was soft in that area, but it's just a nice bed of fuzzy moss. While the moss is nice, I'd crop a little to emphasize the background ridges and the sky. Personal opinion of course.

Paul

Here's a cropped version with a little taken off the bottom.

Nice image. I looked at both images for a while and I think I like the repost better. It puts more focus on the mountains and the background.

I like the cropped version a little more, but still, the color and light are very nice here. Beauty.

What an optimistic feel this one gives me! Must have been so nice to be there, to feel the wind, to look into the distance...Great!

This is very pretty Zack. The green mosses look great to me. I like the crop version even better! Nice work.

Nick Bristol
Lone Rock, WI

this is nice, i like the crop version

very lovely scene

Hamed

I'm in the cropped camp as well Zack. Makes me want to get back to the Adirondacks!

Looks like quite a place. I like the layering of the green, gray, and the mountains.

Really like the expansive feel to this image, Zack. Gives the viewer a nice feel of the open expanse of this valley and the age of these ancient mountains. Being one who likes details, especially moss, I still favor your original composition although I can appreciate the reasons for the cropped image. The cropped image looses some of the sense of place and the feel of the original in my opinion.

Zack,

A grand and beautiful mountain landscape. I'm really enjoying the view, the colors, the light striking the landscape and even the slice sky adds to the grand vista.

Really hard to judge sharpening effectiveness at these small web sizes. But I can certainly agree with you that compression is hurting the wonderful texture and detail in the foreground. Even the larger version is suffering a bit. But that's just for our viewing here, I'm sure if you've prepped this for print that you've got a great one.

Lon