Bryce Spectacular (opinions appreciated)

Howdy Folks,

Sorry I've been away from the forums lately. Life has been keeping me busy, with a baby on the way, a wife with severe morning sickness, and work I just didn't have much time. Now my wife is feeling much better, and Jeremy and I got to go on a fabulous trip to Utah as I'm sure most of you have heard. Anyway, good to be back.

A few days into our trip we stopped by Bryce on the way to some slot canyons, man am I glad we did. We got an incredible sky show. This was at it's peak, it was one of those incredibly saturated moments, both the light and just the experience. I had walked out a ways from inspirations point trying to find an original vantage, I chose this spot for it's foreground although it's not a part of this image.

Here are 2 crops of the same image, I like both a great deal, but am curious which you prefer. The first is focused more on Bryce, and the second is focused more on the sky, I'm leaning toward the the first myself, but think both are strong.

#2

I'd go for the first composition. I like the diagonals coming from the lower corners.

My vote is for the first one. I like the inverted "V" in the FG that leads the viewer to the BG (as do the receeding cloud formations). It's much more prevelant in #1. I also think the sky starts losing interest as you get near the top in the second version. Terrific image.

Definately the 1st image. Beautiful Image! it is quite a sight!

Definately the 1st image. Beautiful Image! it is quite a sight!

1st one without a doubt. What an amazing sky !!

You guys BOTH better keep sharing the shots ! I really am bummed I missed Utah this fall but I'll be going next year for sure.

Glad your back, Zack.....

hmmm, my take is that they are both nice and interesting but neither is really that nice or really that interesting.

I think it is a spectacluar scene for sure. It might just be me, but does the sky look rather noisy?

The sky isn't noisy in the original but does have a little artifacting in the sharpened web version.

I'll go for #1.

I've looked at this a few times and couldn't come up with a good take. I read Mark H's comment and I have to say that kind of sums up what I wanted to say. The sky is the best part of both images and if I had to choose, I'd go for the first one. IMHO of course.

Well, it's a beautiful sky and an interesting landscape. I'd be happy to have it as my own, but being real picky...the sky and the land arent working in harmony...I can't totally put my finger on it..but I'd defintely give this a high rating on the cool factor

I think the ground is pretty busy in both of them and I do like the second one better. However, I think the photo might also benefit from a narrower, tall crop, or even a narrow wide crop without the sky.

A little untraditional, but so is the landscape. Just my 2cents.

I think the ground is pretty busy in both of them and I do like the second one better. However, I think the photo might also benefit from a narrower, tall crop, or even a narrow wide crop without the sky.

A little untraditional, but so is the landscape. Just my 2cents.

A very complex image with a lot of conflict. I think the horizon in the middle is a problem. I keep looking upper and lower, as each half distracts from the other. Try cropping off the top of #1 to make the sky occupy only the upper 1/4, raising the horizon. Now the sky isn't screaming for attention away from the great Bryce landscape.

Also, play with curves to slightly boost contrast and brighten highlights, using a slight s-curve, lifted a little in the center. Then you might slightly desaturate the result.

This is a great capture. I am really impressed with the tonal range and the canyon not in dark shadow at that time of day. The sun had to be below the horizon. Did you do any extensive post-processing? If so, what?

I like the second version better. To me it makes the scene feel more expansive.