Kings Canyon

Autumn in the Eastern Sierra. The sun almost peaking through the distant clouds as it sets behind the range. Thanks for comments.


5D, 24-105 at 60mm, 2-stop and 3-stop GND's, 1/20 second at f/8.

Man! Your posts are always such a treat. Another cracking shot!
The only nit is that the blending appears a bit unnatural at the junction between the peaks and the sky.

I actually didn't do any blending here, Younes. The grads were placed just over the top of the central peak resulting in darkening of the uppermost areas of mountains on either side. I just took care of that with some localized adjustment. It could be better though, I agree. I'll revist that. This was one tough exposure!

The subject and composition are great. I especially like the flow of the vegetation's color into the photo, capped by the color in the sky at the top. While many of my favorites of yours have a large portion of the photo at lower luminosity levels, I think this one could benefit from opening the trees and hills up a little to let those tree colors glow a bit more.

Did you use the two GNDs at the same level, or were they spread apart a bit?

The grads were pretty close to the same levels, with the 2-stop a little higher I think. I revisited the original file and it seems to have lost a little something in the web version. Don't know why. Once and a while images do that it seems. I'd like to see the trees pop a bit more also. I'll get a repost up at some point when I'm not being lazy.

no kidding this must have been a tough one...I find that as soon as I start stacking GNDs it's hard to predict the outcome. I really have to insist though, this is one heck of a shot , the river of larches (??) leading the way to that amazing sky is simply awesome. It must have been quite the spectacle to be there in person.

This one is great for me Marc. Pulling that much detail out of the FG with such bright backlighting is awesome.

Marc, like most of your shots this one has great depth. The trees really lead the eyes through a beautiful composition.

On the critique side, I'm with John about the trees needing more punch. Also, for me this web version has too much tonal difference between the center and outside peaks. Fix those and it's a winner in my eyes.

Nice to hear you are occasionally perplexed by web conversion. I know it haunts me all too often. Congrats on a great capture.

Cool shot. Looks like an amazing place to be. Like a big ampitheater...and kind of has a minor 3d look to it. I kinda wish the bottom half - 2/3rds were brighter though.

My feeling it it seems a bit flat. John might be on to something about opening up the trees, but I'd say JUST the yellow trees. I'd also like to see better separation between the distant peak and the flanking mountain on the left - burn it out a bit to allow the center peak to stand out better.

Repost?

Thanks.

Hans - I agree about the trees. The tonal difference you speak of is natural and caused by the light snow falling in the distance, not necessarily apparent in the image. You'll notice the peaks even further back being mostly enveloped in the approaching storm. The lens compressing makes it appear as though the distance between the central peak and the peaks on either side is less than it really is.

Perfection! That rocks Marc, awesome photo.

The repost looks great Marc. Thanks for offering futher details; now things make better sense. It's amazing how a relatively small change to the foreground really alters the feeling of the scene. This one should make for a wonderful print.

The repost is definitely a notch above the original, which was already a killer image. Excellent work as usual, Marc.

Repost is definitely better, but I'd still like to see more separation between the center peak and the mountain and its shoulder on the left - particularly immediately below that prominent snow patch on the center peak.

2nd version is near perfection. The peak/sky transition is still a little funky, imo... but it is what it is.

The first post is very dynamic, and the 2nd one is really fantastic, Marc. Kudos to the guys for the great tips to make the photo really show it's stuff! And of course, kudos to you for making this shot. I think the repost is just terrific the way it is. Accounting for the weather you describe, the subtleties in areas of transition from one peak to another seem necessary to create the appropriate atmosphere.

Well, I just got on line and certainly agree with all the superlatives written. Thanks for posting another striking image of the Sierra.

Second one looks great to me. I'm not really seeing the funky transition mentioned above.