Rim Light in Color

In search of Fall color on Stevens Pass-- sometimes it pays to look up. This was in the area along Hwy 2 approaching Leavenworth that I think is called the Washington Alps. (?) Anyway, I liked the pattern of lines drawn by the boulders forming the cliff and the pine trees on the top of the cliff. And sure enough, with light coming from the top left in the late afternoon, the color up there looked pretty good to me too, although it's not screaming.

What about the comp, with the pine tree in the fg?

D200, 70-200/2.8 VR handheld, braced against boulders; f18, 0.3s, ISO 640, circ.pol.

Thanks for having a look.

Cathernine, IMO, I find the tree in the FG a little distracting and competing with my attention for the BG. I think it would be a better image w/o it. And increasing the contrast, the image at least on my monitor seems to have a slight haze to it which I believe will go away with a contrast bump. Just my thoughts!

Although this might be a better composition without the foreground tree, I don't think it makes it bad. I like all the vertical lines you have going on in the vertical frame and good colors. This is a nice picture.

Autumn haze is real, but I think it can be largely overcome. What if you open your RAW file and reduce the brightness and increase the shadow settings in your ACR screen? Use your good judgment. Then try that USM sharpening technique that uses numbers something like: Amount 20-25%, Radius 20%, Threshhold 3 or 4 to further reduce the haze. Those aren't necessarily the perfect numbers, but maybe close. It's surprising what a difference playing around with the settings can make, and it can be fun to experiment.

Thanks for the comments. I'm surprised that everyone has commented on the "haze." Assuming you mean the ulc? The light was very strong there and shining downward diagonally toward the rt edge of the frame about mid way up. There was a lot of rain the couple days before. So, I thought it was mist. If you think of it that way, do you still feel the same about getting rid of it? Or is there something I'm not recognizing that makes it look like haze. Even so, why is it better to get rid of it? It's part of what drew me to take the shot.

Answered my own questions. Should just do what I'm told!
Implemented the suggestions for haze and applied the technique from Janet (thanks! ) So, I get it. The photo looks different/better to me. Thank you everyone for your help.

Hmmm Catherine... I think I might still like the first one more. Haze/mist isn't necessarily a bad thing, but tends to reduce sharpness and normal color intensity. It's your own artistic interpretation to save it or work it out depending on how it's looking to you, so there's no right or wrong approach.

But, isn't it fun to see the subtle differences you can achieve by varying the development process? Did you also do a bit of your normal sharpening after that weird anti-haze sharpening I described? The foreground tree and the rocks look less contrasty/softer in the repost.

Catherine, I like to overall pastel look of the image that you were striving for - it's quite different than the ultra-saturated images that most of us try to capture here in the dark, dank PNW, and it gives this scene a painting-like quality.