Cumberland Basin

A view of Kennebec Pass from Cumberland Basin in the La Plata Mts. of Colorado. There's a couple of things that bug me about this photo, but I'd like to hear your thoughts.

Thanks!

Nikon Coolpix 8400
1/125 sec. at f./7.2

John,
Other than the fact that it looks like it was shot at mid day and the sky though really nice & blue, with the puffy clouds isn't a sunrise or sunset sky, I actually like this shot a lot. The gully leads me back into the mountain. Its really quite nice and probably as good as you could have done at this time of day. I might crop just a bit off the right, not much. This is a nice shot.
JG

I like it, too, John. The wildflower path into the basin is invites the viewer to walk on in for a closer view of the peaks. Might like a little more detail on the face of the mountains that form the bowl. But I like the play of light and shadow. Clouds behind the mountain tops sets them off nicely.

John, this does enough for me to make me want to be out with my backpack on a nice summer time trip. However, the image itself is not doing a whole for me besides that. I can't pin point why for sure but the clouds do seem a little off to me, not completely natural looking.

John: Now that winter is here it's great to have a fresh shot of a flowery meadow. Thanks for sharing!

I like your image, but you asked for comments:
I agree with Adrian that the clouds appear a bit artificial, for lack of a more suitable term.
The meadow greens appear a bit towards the olive-green to me, and those composite yellows should pop (for my taste, anyway).
I like how you waited until the band of forest in the middle BG was shaded by a cloud.
There is not enough structure to the meadow to lead my eye (or hold it's attention) up to the peaks. There is a very subtle trough going from lower right to the middle of the image but it isn't pronounced enough to do much for me. A few hours later and the right "slope" of the trough would be partially shaded.

I like this John. The lighting is actually really nice to me. It's really a beautiful scene. If I had to nitpick... I wish there was a little more on the left side but that is hard to say b/c I'm not sure what you had to work with. It's a minor point. Nice image!

Thank you all for the valuable feedback! As I've been working backwards through my photos to add to the new site, I've come across some that I used to think were great shots but now question. This is an example of that problem. I agree with most, if not all, of the comments. I think I might be able to help the sky some,and probably the greens and pop of the yellow, but I'm really struggling with the mid day lighting.

The problem with becoming more knowledgeable photographically is that it's becoming harder to accept shots that easily could have been better. Even if I were able to take the best photo possible in the middle of the day, it still comes in a lame second to a photo taken with sweet light. On the other hand, I sometimes fight the feeling that I have to come away with _something_ from that glorious day. I guess the solution is... I gotta go back .

Darren, thanks for noting I was off on my pass. Does the one in the photo have a name? I didn't make it up to Indian Trail Ridge. However, my in-laws live about an hour south of here so I hope to return in the future. I'll have to check it out.

Seems a hair oversharpened in this web presentation. I like the foreground quite a bit but if I got real picky I'd say the best flowers are just a tad too close to the bottom of the frame. The background looks pretty good save for some unexplained softness in the URC.