Crack Of Dawn (+ Repost)

Ok, all honest comments will be appreciated. I am posting this late at night probably against my better judgement. Either it's a good comp or not. I am on the fence. I like the nice warm glow to the flowers from the fresh sun burst. But I think the left mt is too dark (can't bring up w/o it looking poor though). Another image from Goat Lake this last weekend.

20D / 10-22 / 3 stop GND / 1/6sec and f/16

I like the composition, and the real highlight for me is the flowers and how they are all lit...

I really like this. The light on the foreground is great.

The composition is pretty good IMO. I don't think the dark area ruins it, but it does appear the grad was pulled down too far. The sun-star effect is a bonus, as is the little cloud above.

I like it a lot, but the silhouetted mountains do seem a bit "off" to me... but it's a minor nit. the light on the flowers and the position of the sun are what makes this shot IMO.

I like the composition, the sun flare, and the exposure on the foreground. I do feel that the top 1/2 image is just too dark. It immediately just looks like a GND that was too dark. Maybe softening that grad. a little if possible.

I agree with the others on the grad... maybe a 2 stop might have even popped that cloud a but more.
I love the foreground
JG

Thanks everyone for the comments so far! I agree that I probably should have used the 2 stop grad. I guess I was thinking that I would not get a good sunburst if I did. I still like all the other elements besides the dark mt so I may try to work it some more.

The comp is good, but the dark area is definitely the sticking point. I don't necessarily think it distracts from the image, but it doesn't help at all. Have you tried double processing to pull the detail out of the shadows? The image as a whole could use a little boost in brightness too, imho.

I found another image with the expsoure more for the FG that I could work with to merge the two. I orginially thought it was a slightly different comp but it wasn't. Still not a ton of detail in the darks so not sure I can blow up big like 20x30 but I do believe this one is better? Also adjusted the sky on this one.

I too struggle with the darkness. I think Chris nailed it with

immediately just looks like a GND

. The second photo is definitely an improvement, but still darkens the mountains a bit more than I would prefer. I can see why you keep working on it; it is a beautiful scene and composition.

The 2nd post is better. The added detail in the mountain slope was necessary. It's a hard scene, given the contrast. I think this is the sort of image that would look better presented larger (but maybe not too large as you mentioned Adrian).
The only thing that is still bothering me is at the left horizon, where the grassy hill meets the mountain and sky....this seems a little dark still, like a remnant of some PS work. Perhaps just a bit more dodging in this small area?
The strong slope of this composition is great....makes the lower left foreground flowers really pop!

2nd is better - I'd see if you could lighten the dark areas a tad more. It really does scream GND...