Tumwater on Fire

Peak color in Tumwater Canyon. Perhaps my best day of shooting all year - though just after taking this shot I would have been content to head home. Comments and critiques appreciated. Thanks for looking.
30D + Sigma 10-20 @ 10mm, f/18, 6/10 second, 2 GNDs

Wow, 69 views and 0 comments on this photo. I'm not sure why Bryan, there's a lot to love about this one. First, I love the overall scene. I'm a huge color fan and this photo is full of it. I also like the depth, and the way that the foreground has an interesting anchor with the leaves in the damp area (almost a photo in itself). The stream leads your eye to the fall color behind; I like the color reflecting off the water. The rocks, vegetation, and ridgeline really add meat to the photo, and the beautiful sky is icing on the cake.

My primary nit is that the sky seems oversaturated, almost to the point of appearing unnatural. In addition, the highlights in the cloud appear blown. (I'm checking this photo from a monitor at work, which means that if the nits are unfounded, ignore them.) A final personal preference would have been to move the foreground damp area just a bit to the right, so that the photo would lead from bottom right to upper left.

Enough of that though, it really is a great photo!

Bryan, I agree with most all of John's comments. The sky and clouds appear unnatural on my CRT here at work, but I also believe the rest of the colors are pushed too far. Desaturate a bit and I believe you've got a great image.

When I question color saturation, I usually go to a few Pro websites and look at their colors for comparison.

Aside from the white hot cloud in the ulc, this is superb for color and comp, I think, Bryan. Love the reflection pool in the fg that compliments all the rough mountainous terrain elsewhere. I like it. I know you were going for wide angle, here, so this is just a thought: what about cropping out the sky; come down to just above the conifers on the left. I'm thinking then the scene is more intimate with the pools and the autumn color and still a suggestion of mountains. Crop down farther, to a square, and to my eye, there's the photograph within the picture. Anyway, as is, it's a durn good shot!

Bryan,
This is excellent. The colors, comp, everything. If there was a problem, it's that there's too much eye candy.

I, too, think it appears oversaturated..an easy "fix" if you are so inclined. I also really like this with the sky cropped out. The FG pool with the leaves is a very strong element in the composition and simplifying the image to enhance that improves the overall appearance, IMO.

I was over there about 3 weeks ago, the best color I've seen in that area in a long time. Hope to see more of your images from this trip.

Regarding the saturation, I'll concede it might be a tad overboard. The color was really this vibrant as I saw it (at least as I remember it), but I might have overcompensated a tad too much when cleaning up after the web sharpening pass. I'll repost after the 'Hawks finish putting on their clinic.

As far as cropping goes, I definitely see the possibilities with a focus on the leaves and the river, but as soon as I saw the little wet spot and that curved rock, my focus was entirely on illustrating how the flamboyant color was engulfing the massiveness of the canyon. Trevor and I both agreed we would have been content shooting there for the rest of the day (it was about 2pm at this point), but we had set our sights on Colchuck Lake for sunset, so we hoofed it after about a half an hour. I definitely think if the sky wasn't showing through at the top of the canyon I would have focused on a more intimate crop, but there was no way I could leave that out with the conditions as they were.

Would like this more if it were slightly less saturated. Comments on a strong composition with cropping are right on to my eyes.

I recall complimenting you on this while viewing the lcd. There is no loss of impact with the web version.

This is definitely a case of nature overly feeding the eyes with color. I still see yellow, orange and red when I close my eyes. The somewhat harsh lighting and the contrasts it provided definitely did no service towards deemphasizing this visual-skittles pile. I would have definitely loved to see and shoot this under better light, but there were nobler aspirations ahead. Where is my take on this scene you ask: I blew off the golden opportunity out of sheer laziness. The body doesn't seem to hold the necessary flexibility for such an awkward position--as this shot required--after an extended drive.

You were so used to sitting in the car, it wouldn't have been hard to return to that position for the shot.

Kaleidoscope colors or not, it captures a great feeling, Bryan - a brilliant autumn day in the high country. Don't tone it back too much! The reflection is sublime. Not so sure of the floating leaves, but cropping just below them, across the bottom of the little pool, might help them fit in a bit more naturally.

Bryan ,

I hope you worked those colors in the water--there's quite a number of shots within this one. I agree on the sky & the clouds but over all, I wish I had been there to get this image. If you shot in Raw ..maybe play with that white cloud a bit. Overall though it's really nice.
JG

..I'll repost after the 'Hawks finish putting on their clinic.

Here's hoping the repost is as late in the season as possible!

Heh. Alright, I'll wait until they destroy the Pats in the Superbowl then.