A Grand Snow (+ repost)

Nice!!  I might have cropped the bottom snow mound fully, or tried to incorporate it more fully in the frame. Feels a little cut off.  Love the atmospherics in the background.  I'm curious how busy it felt with visitors during this time of year out there?  I suspect the tour buses have stopped rolling through?

Hi Doug,

A wonderful image and the comp will be made stronger via Harry's suggested crop from the bottom. The BW presentation works very well for this scene. well done........................Jim

Doug,

Wonderful winter view of the canyon.  A 3rd vote for a crop.  The little mound at the bottom is right on the edge of either, none at all, or more of it.  I think more featureless snow at the bottom wouldn't improve, but a crop eliminating much of the snow at the bottom I think improves. What it does is put more focus on canyon, the stormy atmosphere and the snow-covered tree becomes more a contributing element, rather than the main focus.  If that makes any sense.

B&W works beautifully here, but also curious how the color looks. Perhaps to flat and lacking good light?  

Lon

Doug, I like this as is but also feel the crop suggestions would work great, so worth a try maybe. It is a fantastic winter scene and I love the conditions you captured here. Really nice b&w processing on this. 

Nick Bristol
Lone Rock, WI.

I really like your image a lot, Doug. The distant storm in the mist and clouds is superb IMO. And the gnarly branches twisting and reaching out into space is great as well. You had a good high vantage view so that the branches don't overlay the distant canyon and that worked out really well for you. Personally I don't think you need as big a base for those trees. I would crop much of the snow off the bottom to almost the beginning of the tree. I also would tone down the highlights of the mesa in the center left a bit because it draws attention to itself. 

Here is the same image with the mound cloned out and a smaller crop.  I had thought before of cropping right above it, but the bottom snow layer looked too skinny.

Harry- there are still surprisingly plenty of tour buses with Japanese and Chinese tourists, more than in past years it seems.
Lon- yes, the light was flat and colors in the canyon were drab and muted. A color version would not seem compelling to me.
Igor- thanks for pointing out the left point.

Doug,

I think a good compromise with your repost.  Thanks for taking the time to rework and repost.  Looks great!

I like this a lot, Doug.  To begin with i like the layering of the tones from light to dark and then light again.  The texture and tonal contrast in the clouds work well and the snow squalls add a lot of interest.  Compositionally, the branches on the tree and the fingers of the snow squalls connect the top and bottom of the frame and add just the right amount of tonal contrast in the dark layer in the canyon.  The B&W processing looks great.  The fine detail in the snow comes through well in the large version.

This is very nice! The darker background really pops the trees. I might experiment with adding a bit of contrast to the back formations, but I like it a lot as posted. 

Repost does it. I really like the far off cloud action, very well done.

Superb image, Doug.  The repost is spot on.  Perfect b/w.  I've never been to the canyon in the winter and this image makes me want to be there.  Just excellent.

Wow, another beauty Doug.  I prefer the repost here.  Excellent composition.  Exciting to view.