Sunset in American Basin

I spent a night in American Basin last week and watched the sunlight disappear from the valley.

And reapear the the next morning...

Me thinks you need to calibrate ye olde monitor. The first shot is over-the-top yellow-biased. The second one, oddly enough, looks pretty okay. In #1, check out the sky and clouds. They're yellow, man!

Yet the water in the center forground is neutral...

Of course in Commerce City the sky is yellow all day not just at sunset...

Dave, does that sky look right to you?

clouds do look pretty yellow--was a filter used?

The whole shot is yellow! Milky, dusty yellow at that. The reason the little bit of water looks neutral is because it should look totally blue, being in complete shade and all.

Beautiful views up and down the valley, Dave - looks like a wonderful place to spend the night. The sidelighting on the slopes in #2 is wonderful.

I agree about the yellow cast in the first shot. I wouldn't go by the water - there's too little there for it to be a reliable indicator. A better gauge might be comparing the sky in the first shot to the sky in the second shot. Although different shots at different times, I'd expect the sky to be roughly the same color.

Nice images. I also agree with the overly yellow tones on the first one. I know storm light can drastically change the color of light, but I'd think that any sky poking through would still be some sort of blue.

The first photo was taken as the lighting was changing after a thunderstorm and as the clouds were clearing. This one was taken a couple of minutes earlier, but before the light started changing. The colors are closer to neutral.

Dave, is that clear sky behind the obvious clouds in the 1st shot or maybe just darker sunlight colored thunderheads? I wouldn't expect clear sky to turn that yellow, but I could see darker clouds becoming colored like that. But I would say Todd is probably right here. Experiment with a color balance closer to blue and see what you think.

I agree with Rick about the second shot, love the side lighting.

I agree. If that is clear sky behind those yellow clouds, there is certainly something amiss. But if it's a dark thunderhead, like Craig mentioned, then it's not a problem. I actually thought it was a big dark clouds when I first viewed this image.

You can select a white balance that preserves the yellow in the clouds, while maintaining the natural color of the sky. A couple of minutes is not going to change clear blue sky from bright cyan/blue to yellow/blue. Go with whatever seems right to you. You were there.

I really like the second version of the image with the waterfall you posted. The clouds are a bit more dramatic and the color balance is much better. The highlights of the clouds on the morning image are way too blown out. This is a great place to be though!

Nice shots overall. Could the yellowing be a highlight/shadow issue?

There is also some fringing around the tops of the mountain in the first shot and some light halos in the blue sky areas of the last shot..

Now this is just getting silly. The difference between the first shot and the one you just posted is not due to a few minutes' difference in the time they were taken. The first one looks like you have a fogged up yellow filter on the lens. And it's not even a natural-looking yellow.

As for the new one, there's a halo of monumental proportion around the peaks. Do you think an angel lives there?

Here. I spent about two minutes on this. Does it look more natural now? I would do more work on it, but this is just to neutralize the yellow cast.

Todd's version is definetely on the money there. I hate to say it Dave, but there was something really screwey with your white balance on the first post...

The sky looks normal in Todd's version, but the grass looks too blue in the sun. I think I'm going to just can that exposure, even though it still intrigues me.

There was about 15 minutes difference between the two exposures and both exposures were taken from the same spot. As for the 'Halo' of what ever proportions, it's just clouds. Here's a detail of a section of the second photo that shows what it is. As Far as angels, as Dave Kirby said,
"And if God doesn't live in Colorado,
I'll bet that's where He spends most of His time,
I'll bet that's where He spends most of His time."