Zion morning

Hi Kathy, my quick impressions of this photo is it has individually strong elements …but they are not unified….”hang together”. The bottom third with the flowering shrub (tho a tad soft), then the band of pine shrubs in center and finally, the blazing sun-drenched mtn. The biggest disruption is the gap in the center between the lower blooming bush with the mtn. Were the flowering shrubs continuous and forming a nice Z- or S curve flowing up the drainage in the center of the photo to the mtn…that might help.

You're correct about the mountain top. Try this as a "creative" technique to bring the bottom portion into better relativity with the top - Darken the side edges a bit at the bottom up towards the mountain, then lighten a "trail" from the bottom flowering bush towards the top. That "trail" of light will, or should, help lead the eyes.

I think this hangs together OK although as others have noted there are some compositional weaknesses. I would add some contrast to the fore and mid ground for more pop to match the alpen glow.

very nice scene Kathy and I agree with Kah Kit about adding some contrast to fore and mid ground. Also Michael's idea of dodging some spots to leave a trail of light to follow through the scene. A very nice scene though.

I'd like to compare a comp where you got lower and closer to the foreground flowers. Closer would have reduced the empty spaces on the sides, and lower would have shrunk that mid-zone some. You don't happen to have one of those hanging around, do you? The color is beautiful on the cliff face too, but I'd back the saturation down just a tad; it looks like some detail has been lost there.

This is actually a very nice shot, we're just picky around here and a few changes could really add zip.

Kathy, I've come back to this image a number of times. I actually think the contrast between the bold color of the mountain and the more subtle color in the foreground works well. I think you have a really nice composition.