Paulina Creek

I found this while heading up towards Paulina Lake and Peak only to find the road was closed 9 miles up...it would have been nice if they had put a sign down at the bottom.

Anyway, of all the shots I got this weekend....all were pretty much crap...but I thought I would share this as I tried a few things with my comp to help lead the viewer into the image...

Please comment and critique....

D-70
200 ISO
1/100th sec @ F/5
40mm
WB Auto -2

Clarify
Levels
slight saturation bump

Nice scene, Darren.... I'd be tempted to tone down that black cloud right in the center of the image... it sticks out a bit from the post processing.

That road's closed until, oh, say, some time in June......but it still gives good access to Paulina Creek, via a series of trailheads.....the creak is to the north of the road, about a quarter mile in at most trailheads.....sorry you got skunked. This is a nice image, I wonder what it would have looked like if you'd set your tripod closer to the ground?

Did you happen to go by the Badlands?

This is okay, Darren. I'd try cropping it to a vertical (about an inch off the left; about 2 inches off the right). It looks stronger to me that way in terms of creating leading lines (as you mentioned) and defining the stream as the subject.

IMHO this has the feel of a snapshot. It does tell a story of the conditions but I don't think it's something that I would want to hang and frame. Just my overall feel for the image.

I agree about the snapshot feel Erik.....I keep looking at it and saying "this does not look like what I saw"....when I was driving down the road, this scene looked much more inviting....there was a very small creek near here too but the white of the snow on the banks and the dark water really messed up my exposures