Sundown at Toroweap

After almost a week at Death Valley with mostly bluebird skies, I was pretty exhausted and thinking about calling it good and heading home. However, I had considered a last stop at the Toroweap Overlook (GC North Rim) since I'd never been there before. I'm so glad I decided to go out there. I'm happy with this image I came away with, but the whole visit just rejuvenated me. So many things to enjoy: the fun 4x4 road out to the overlook, the breathtaking view, the peaceful solitude, the gorgeous campground (completely empty except for me). One of my favorite all-around places I've been to so far. I suspect the experience would have been different during the more crowded seasons of the year, but still a very cool place and I'll be going back sometime for sure.

It ended up being 7 exposures that went into this image: 3 for DR in the sky, and 4 focus blended for the foreground and mid ground. Among the challenges were strong gusty winds, so in addition to trying hard not to fall 3000 feet to my death I was trying to capture the small foreground tree without motion blur from the wind. I ended up using ISO 1600 for just the tree, and longer (ISO 100) exposures for the rest of the terrain. I hope the effort was worth it. Thanks in advance for your thoughts and suggestions for improvement.