Moody Ox Bow

Lovely, moody image, Ryan. Mt. Moran looks great, and I love the trees and the mist. You might consider backing off the cyan just a bit. The blend works nicely so that you have detail in the Moon.

--P

Hi Ryan, This image feels great. I really enjoy the view and absolutely love the mood. Capturing the Super Moon at this location had to be a wonderful experiance, and you did a great job of doing it. The fog over the water added a special touch and I can just hear the elk bugling.  Very cool shot!

Nick Bristol
Lone Rock, WI

Really beautiful work Ryan. I really like this. I'm thinking you can try getting some more detail out of the white aspen trunks by dodging them so the fall color doesn't completely dominate the scene. It's a bit disorienting to the see the river brighter than the sky too so I would try balancing that out a bit more.

Very beautiful and quite dramatic, Ryan. Difficult to get anything different from this spot, but you certainly pulled it off as this is unique. I can see that the final version is subject to a wide latitude in interpretation. Personally, I find the trees a bit too light and brightly colored for the overall nighttime feel, but I can see why you want to show off the beautiful colors.  

Magical image, Ryan!

The cyan does look more saturated than I would expect to see in nature, but what is important is your memory of this time and place.  (Who is to say that one person's memory is more real than another's?)  I know there must have been some kind of glow in the sky to light up the trees so beautifully.  How long after sunset did you shoot this?

I think I said recently in a post that I avoid shooting "tourist attractions," but then I went and did just that, trying to produce an original take on a beautiful scene.  That's just what you did here. 

I can't imaging having to "reserve" a spot to shoot, or seeing 70 other people anywhere I go in the outdoors, but your description of your experience makes me less uncomfortable with visiting famous places.  When I photographed Chapel Pond (a local "hot spot") a couple of weeks ago, I saw 8 other people, and "it was all good and talking with some of them was a treat" ... for me, too.  I suppose showing the world photographs of such places has to result in more people visiting them.  Maybe that's a small price to pay to get those people to join us in fighting to protect the Earth's special places.  It just means that people who cherish solitude have to go farther to find it.  Maybe that's not so bad either.

You have received  interesting comments on this fine image.  I agree with Wayne,  different takes on the photo.  I would hang it on my wall for sure!  For me, I would like to see more detail in the moon.  Thanks for sharing, must have been an exciting time.

Moody indeed, Ryan. My first reaction was that the trees were too bright but then I realized how much I enjoyed the very graphical nature of the image. If anything I would make the moon a bit less bright.

I can't imagine being at a location with that many other photographers but you sure came away with a stand out picture.

Wow what a scene!

One of my favorite places in the world. You did an excellent job of capturing one of the iconic scenes in nature photography. I am not sure that I have seen an image from here taken at night, but this works really well. The way the moon light has lit the trees really sets off the composition. Fine image.

Very nice atmosphere you captured here! I do think something about the blending looks a bit off, maybe because the trees are relatively bright? I can't really put my finger on it.... Oh, and shooting with 70 photorgraphers around you??? Damn, the sight of that would have scared me away within 3 nanoseconds. Good you persisted, because this is quite a special pic.

Beautiful and very dreamy. Very nice!!!!

A way cool image, Ryan, the blend looks fine and you've created a wonderful mood with the fall trees in a very blue scene.  Yes, the trees are too bright and the direction of the light is wrong for coming from the moon, but it seems clear that you weren't trying to depict reality and the mood you've got here works great.

This is one of those images that just doesn't come around very often.  I'm pretty sure this will make your top ten by years end.  Outstanding.  I love your interpretation of the color and light.  Beautiful work, Ryan.  

I like this quite a bit, Ryan. In fact, a lot. But I feel that the colors and image have been so manipulated that this should be in the photo art category. This looks more like a painting where some parts have been emphasized and others have been removed. It reminds me of the art that I saw from the 1920's. In terms of composition you could crop some of the bottom off and give greater emphasis to the moon. You would lose some of your reflections but the moon as it stands now seems less consequential that it could be. Either way, however, it's a great image and a great achivement.

Wonderful. Love the mood, the moon, complementary colours and long exposure effect.

Thank you for all the interesting thoughts on this image. I am going to have another look at this image and do a re-post in the future. I think there is a bit too much cyan, and the trees are fairly  bright compared to the rest of the image. I very much appreciate all these thoughts, and I hope y'all are doing good on this Saturday morning.

The image was captured about at 7:00 am and sunrise was at 7:16 am.

Nice mood and atmosphere here.

Ryan, the composition is wonderful. I think your own comments listed here is thoughts for further processing. But as always, the composition, focus, and exposure are the critical part and they all look good, the processing is ALWAYS subjective and can be modified to personal tastes.
I do think the lowering of the cyan is key to bringing out the best in this scene....

This is a unique shot. 70 other people? OMG

Hi  Ryan   Paul  echoed  my  thoughts perfectly         a breathtaking scene


Albert Darmo
Canada

Beautiful Ryan.  I agree with the previous cyan comments, but only you know what it really looked like.  A very special shot, for sure, and well done!

One of the best Oxbow shots I have seen. Super moon and sunrise is nice combo. Only nit I have is that the Aspens seem a little too saturated. Having shot the same location/time the weekend before my memory doesn't recall them being that bright before the sun rose.

70 photographers is nothing. The second morning I was there, Sept. 19, there were well over 120. A Chinese lady walked right into my shot and planted her tripod squarily in the middle of my view. I had to move to get her out of center of my shot.