Serene

Peter,

I think this is a bold composition and I really like that you made a purposeful decision to fill the foreground with the texture and detail of the rock and let the lake and bg simply provide context and supporting detail to this near/far landscape.

For me, I'm a little bit unsure about the light balance. I know it's always tempting to use the graduated ND to cut down the sky, but I think in this case even a 2-stop would have been too much. I think if you could even out the brightness bottom to top that would help things out - at least from my point of view. This may indeed be just how you wanted to present it.

The only other thing I would comment on is the inclusion of the cacti in the LLC. I think it's too small to be an important element - and gets back to one of my unoffical rules - if you're going to include something, make it on purpose. Include it like it was meant to be included, or don't include it at all. That's my thought anyway.

Crop out the cacti, apply some luminosity painting and you'll have a great one.

Lon

Thanks Lon. I tried my best to even out the grad line, but did want the foreground to be the brighter part of the image. As for the cactus, for some reason I feel it gives a slight sense of scale to the foreground rocks. If I were to crop it out, I would lose some important space from the left/bottom (in my opinion). I will play around with it and see if I change my mind.

Peter, I like the image overall, but I agree with Lon re the cactus in the LLC. I think reducing the foreground rock by cropping the bottom would also help balance the overall comp, IMO.

While i agree with the comments made above, I really liek the image and feeling as a whole here, very serene indeed!

I stopped by this place a couple of years ago and thought it would be a fascinating subject but for the "bathtub" rings left by high water on the rock formations. Anyway, I like your take on it here and agree that the location holds a lot of potential. As far as nits, I have to agree with Lon on the light balance and I also I find that the cactus in the LLC is unnecessary.

Here is a repost with the crop and some other editing. It's more of a square crop (even though I'm not fond of them) but I wanted to hear your opinions.

Peter,

Thanks for taking the time to repost. I do think this one is a stronger composition and the balance of light is better. BUT, I think with the change you lost some of the darker contrast up top.

I thought you did an excellent job mitigating a 3-stop hard grad line, but there wasn't an issue with the line. I think I'm splitting hairs here and I understand wanting the foreground brighter to emphasize the rock, I just think the overall light balance is better now. Bring back some deeper shadows and contrast and this will look great to me.

Lon

I noticed that when I posted the second version, must have forgotten a step in the processing from the original up there. I do like how the image splits in two, from the seam of the large boulder and the crack. I'm still working on my processing skills and trying new things. Most of my images have the same processing and others simply don't need them. Thank you for breaking down the image for me to get the most out of it.

Peter, I like the 2nd post as is. I cannot really comment on any technical issues as I am still learning myself, but I do love the light & the comp here. This is a place I've wanted to visit for awhile now but it's hard getting away when you only have 1 day off per week. Thanks for sharing!

Also, here is just a crop from the original and did some dodging and burning on the brighter rocks.

I really like the tone and palette of colors on this image. Looks like there is also a lot of detail in the FG rocks that would show in a larger size. Terrific DOF with the f/22. If it were mine, I would see what a version looks like w/o the small cactus in the LRC (I see that's already been addressed). All in all a very nice image and wonderful light.

Thanks Peter, I did a re-post cropping the cactus out that does seem stronger.

This is lovely, Peter. The comp and light are very strong.

Thank you Tony. It sure was a heck of a light show despite no clouds. I can't wait to try this again with clouds.