Lonesome Morning

Beautiful Craig.  I love the sweep of the shoreline and the mountain looming in the background.  The only suggestion I have would be to burn the rock and it's reflection on the right side so that it more closely matches the rock on the left.  Just bright enough to draw the eye.  Nice work on this one.

This is a beautiful study of greens, and the morning light is lovely. The dark background really makes the shoreline pop.
Reflections fill out the foreground. Very nice.

Nice contrast between the background trees and the foreground trees.  Love the reflection.

Beautiful warm light here Craig. I like the sweep of the row of trees against the dark mountainside. The reflection puts the icing on this cake.

Lovely use of light and flow in your composition.  The lines formed by the lit trees and their reflections work very well. The darker background with tree adds the extra icing to make this all come together.  

The beautiful early light resulted in a wonderful array of green shades, Craig. The reflection is sublime. Processing looks great. 

Craig: 
I think this is an awesome image. I played around with the crop and took out half of the dark green trees and balanced 
the lake to 1/3 and the illuminated trees to 2/3 of the image. Give it a try and see what you think. Overall great image
that is super beautiful with the crop. 

Thank you all for the comments.
Gary, good suggestion on burning the rock a bit.
Michael, I tried a crop as you mention, but I find that eliminates too much of the curve of the treetops, which I feel is a key part of the composition. Thanks for the suggestion! It's always good to look at other options.

This is flat out fantastic, Craig. The layers work nicely here and that morning light along the shoreline is nothing short of gorgeous. Glad you were there to catch this beauty. My brother and I will be in the area in a couple of weeks. Are the photo opportunities worth the hike in to the lake? I have noticed that the hike is 3.1 miles; is that one way or round trip? Thanks.

Ed

Thanks all for the comments!

Ed, there are 2 ways to get up to Lonesome Lake: from the Lafayette Place campground is 1.2 miles one way, steeper, and not as scenic. The other is from The Basin, which is 2.1 miles one way, not as steep, and follows cascades and waterfalls most of the way up, and of course you get to go to The Basin area as well. You can make those 2 trails a loop along the Pemi trail or the bike trail through the State Park.

I'm not sure how long the lake area itself would keep you busy shooting, but if you link that up with the hike from The Basin, it can make for a good day of photography. To me, the best time of day at Lonesome is the evening, when the sun is lighting up the Franconia Ridge. The views from the AMC hut and the dock area down in front of it are fantastic (see the photo with this comment, and imagine a photo with towering thunderheads lit up by the setting sun!). Also, from the south side of the lake, the views are good up toward Cannon Mountain, and that's about it for big views. The rest of the lakeshore is basically what you see in my photo.

As an additional note: if you're there in a couple weeks, expect a lot of families and kids to be around the hut and dock area. I don't know if you'll find that to be a problem with your photography...just something to be aware of.

Wonderful light on these trees.  The dark background really enhances the feel of your image.  Excellent work.

Thanks for the information, Craig. I am familiar with the Basin and have been up as far as Kinsman Falls.

Ed

I'm really enjoying the light and comp here Craig; no nits.

A wonderful display of warmth Craig.  The calm reflection adds a lot to the scene.