Watching the Horizon

Just have been going through some more SW images. Sunset was close to being really good, but didn't fully cooperate.

How did you do that? I remember it being clear that night.

No Mark...remember that is was cloudy at night. You sat in the car and waited while I shot sunset. It was the edge of that front...
It was completely clear in the morning for sunrise.
Here's the original raw file...

Here's a sunrise shot

Oh, yeah, that's right, we drove into that dust storm on the way to Escalante, thinking my brother (on his motorcycle) must be dead on the side of the road somewhere.

This one is actually pretty nice, Rick. The sky turned out well.

I like this image Rick, I just feel it needs a bit more color.....also I might be tempted to crop out that small half hill on the left side....

with a little saturation and contrast boost I think this image will really stand out.....

I like what color there is... great sky..

Rick,

Nice PP from the RAW file. I tend to agree with Darren on the saturation. Just a hair more color would improve it in my eyes.

I'm always shy to boost the sat. too much... especially after posting the raw file. This looks very much like the light I saw in the SW and a much better image than any I brought home!

(a couple dust bunnies at 1:30 didn't get cloned all the way gone)

Really clean image with great detail throughout. Nice range of colors in the sky. I agree with the crop suggestion but other than that, the first image looks nice to me.

Really interesting to see the original vs. postprocessed shots. It would be great to see more photogs do that. I'm impressed with the detail and color you brought out in the rocky pillars.

When the image first came up I thought you shot this at the Peshastin Pinnacles in Cashmere, then I looked at the stunning background. The little stripe of orange 'way in back is what does it for me - and I agree about a tad more saturation and brightness there. I'm not sure about that L crop, though - you may be crowding the pillars.

Thanks very much for the critiques and comments. Here's a lighter, little more saturated, slightly stretched on the left side, version. Preferences now?

Rick: You may not have had a really colorful sunset but that little bit of color and the awesome clouds definitely don't suck. I like the image a lot, especially the lighter, more saturated version. Looks like there are some nice rabbitbrush blooms on the valley floor, too. Nice work!

The last version is real nice, Rick. You know, it would be great to have done a pano of this. If you had maybe a third again as much cloud on the right the proportions would feel better to me, I think it would have been even more dramatic.

Works for me there bro. I can't decide on which one I like best. I've always been kind of a saturation junkie. Just not sure about it here.

Great shot, you caught an amazing sky to back up the rocks. I like the second one better, but just a tiny bit less saturation might hit the sweet spot.