Whitney Cactus (with repost)

Looking at Preston's post from last fall brought back fond memories from that season last year. I have a few flavors of these cacti in various areas of the Alabama Hills from over the years, this is a look I have never posted before anywhere. Thank you in advance for your comments.

Wista DXIII 4x5
Schneider APO 210mm
Fuji Velvia 50ASA
Slight forward tilt to increase DOF.

Nah, come on Paul.....that's a blow-up cactus you carry around and place where you want, right?
What perfect placement and it's colors are just right! Congrats....
You guys really know how to hurt a gal....
Do you have the GPS for that location?
just kidding...love it...
and.....the Better side of the Sierras
Waiting for Fall again.....

In gratitude,
Nelcha

What a place! What a place! I love the early morning light, here, Paul, and I think you might want to enhance it a bit; especially on the cactus and the grasses in the midground. I really like the shapes of the rocks, but the dark mass on the right draws my eye. If you crop down from the top just a bit and also crop from the right, the cactus and the grasses form a nice leading line to the peaks and provides a nicer balance.

I hope you don't feel like I'm picking nits, Paul. This is a nice shot and it deserves enhancement and refinement.

Kind regards as always,

-PB

Nelcha, thank you so much for your review. Sorry, no GPS on the location. I just stumble around the Hills as it were until I find a shot.

Preston, thanks for the review and ideas. I'm posting a revision here hopefully with your ideas taken into account. It is a smaller non-720 size. I did not have time to take the VERY LARGE original file from the 4x5 scan to bring down to the web size right now. Thanks again.

Paul.... I was KIDDING about the GPS
If anyone need s GPS to find Mt. Whitney
then they need their glasses cleaned.....

I think the web is not doing your image justice...
Both images looks the same to me....
maybe it's MY glasses that need cleaning?
Great cactus tho......wish it was a portable one

Understood on the Whitney GPS item, Nelcha. I meant the location I was setup at in the Alabama Hills.
So far as the second post, I only did a slight crop that Preston suggested. His suggestion did provide a different look to me and I saw what he was looking for after the change, although not a dramatic impact at first glance. Also, this was a 4x5 shot that was hurt by transitions throughout the entire process to get to website sizing. Thank you for your comments as always. take care.....

I finally had time to re-work this image again. For me, the only true test is to print it large, which I did. I found the middle ground foliage was really lacking. I re-scanned the image and made some changes, along with Preston's suggestions too, and re-printed it as a 12x16 on Premium Luster Paper. This one worked out much better.

Hey Paul,

Outstanding Alabama Hills image - as usual. I love the colors and composition in this one. The soft colors and light on Whitney is wonderful. I think I prefer the composition in the second, cropped image. I would like that crop applied to the reworked image in the last one. Regardless, not major differences between all of them and I would be happy with any of them.

Beautiful shot - I've got to get back down there one of these days.

Lon

Thanks Lon. Good luck on your backpacking trip. It sounds like it will be a lot of fun, and good luck with any possible photographic opportunities too.

Paul, very nice. I like the colors of the Alabama Hills and the cactus in the 3rd image more than the color in the other two, well done

Hi Reno, thanks for the comment. I too like the third much better. It shows up in the prints I made too. The first two were the same scan and failed to bring in the middle ground well at all. The re-scan seems to have cured that issue. Take care.

The rescan and rework is the ticket Paul. This is basically what I was hinting at in my first reply. Good job!

-PB

Thanks for the review and the ideas, Preston. It always helps to have others review the work for additional "eyes" to the project.

I like the last version a lot.

- Dan.

Dan, thanks so much for the comment. I was out of town for a few days and just saw this post. Take care.