Cathedral Sunset

Oh Scott, this is beautiful!  I can just see this as a metal print in a living room.  The sky is so complimentary to this beautiful scene.  Well done.  No nits here.

This one is nice, but I much prefer your previous rendition, with its warmer light on the formation and valley floor. 

Scott:
Another stunning image. I like how the foreground formations are illuminated and the formations further 
back are less lit. It creates a pleasing 3-D effect to the image. Nice work!

Scott,
Like Harley, my preference is for the other take as I feel the sky and light on the formations are more pleasing.   I also like in the other that the formation on the left is whole. 
Why f/16?  It looks like you may have been able to use a sharper f/8 and gotten the needed depth of field for the scene.
I like the character the virga gives the sky.

Thank you for your comments. Harley and Doug,  just the kind of opinion I was looking for. Some low clouds rolled in over the ridge behind me and blocked the sun just after I shot the previous image. I still got some nice color in the clouds, but no more light in the valley or on the formations. However, I wanted to see what others thought about this later version.

Doug, to answer your questions why f16, there are a couple reasons. First, I have found, at least for my needs, that f16 is at or near the area of max sharpness for the nikon 24-70 f2.8. Second, I still use GND filters, which I handhold. I can move the GNDs during longer exposures which can help even out the exposure and avoid grad lines.

Another truly outstanding image from what had to be a memorable evening, Scott.  I do prefer your previous image though as the light just seems a tad better, especially that gracing the bluffs.  Still, an amazing image.

Really nice, Scott.  I know that there is really not competition between images from a particular shoot.  Everything changes very quickly and you roll with it. I do think that comparisons are inevitable and as such, I also prefer your first post.  I also think that if I hadn't seen that image, I would still really like this one.  I have been there several times, usually with marginal light, and I still don't have one I really like.  Beautiful..

I like the light in this one more, by a small margin. I don't see the "crispiness" that caught my eye in the previous version. What a great place this is!!!