Land of Gold

Peter, I clicked so i gotta comment lol:
Ive seen a million shots like this so ive gotta be a bit tough on you. First the good--nice colors in the aspen, great mix of conifers in the midst, good glow, pretty overall. The comp feels unbalanced to me. All the near trees are on the right side, the middle one is a bit divisive, and the extreme rhs feels too dominant to me. The sun also is a tad too overpowering, maybe a little more leaf blockage would have helped there. As i said, this is way better than the stuff you see all over the web on every tv news station contest etc, but because it has so many similar shots to compete with, the little details make or break it.

I like this one. Sure lots of people shoot these, but this is better than average, and not the run-of-the-mill uniform stand of trees. I like the fact that the two FG tree trunks break up the uniformity of the stand of aspens.

Thanks for the honest critique Stan. The comp was something new I felt in approach. I haven't seen too many shots showing the trunks up close with the leaves blanketing the background. I'm a bit with you on the unbalanced feel here, however the way the trees were, this was the best I could do with the type of comp I was looking after. For me it seems to work because you have the nice detail of the tree trunks and then the display of color that follows behind. Sure it is a bit 50/50 with that middle tree, but I see it cutting it in a good way. As for the sun, I probably could have done a much better job with it. I didn't think of stopping down more to get a well defined sunstar, and didn't quite move around enough to block it as well as I should have. The good thing is I still have quite some time to get back out there and work on a similar comp as well as shots I have been thinking of for a while.

Lovely golden glow. can't wait to see what else you come away with this fall.

Very well captured, Peter. I like it as is....

Love the mood and processing on this but yeah the comp isn't totally winning me over. I do like the more intimate approach over others of this type. Still, it is eye catching!

Thanks everyone!

Paul, I would have preferred a somewhat different comp for this image, but just wanted to experiment with it first. Will have a few more chances to get it right hopefully.

Not easy to do, I think this photo works quite well.

I actually think the composition works rather well, and indeed it is different from the classic up in the sky view. The burnt out sun is a little strong - a clean sunstar would have been a little more ideal

Thank you Matt and Floris.

Floris, the next time I attempt this shot I will be sure to use a smaller aperture to get a more defined sunstar.

Great job on this one, Peter. The glow is awesome and I love how the composition really places me in the scene.

This works very well for me. No significant reservations. Very pretty.

Peter, I think the composition works well. While the tree trunks on the right side are strong, this makes for a unique comp. I agree with the sun being a bit strong.