A Break in the Storm

In between swimming, and fending off mosquitos, I managed to capture this image late afternoon as a break in passing thunderstorms lighted the mountain and a meadow opposite this shore. I originally worked this in color, but found that the black an white focused on the composition and natural lighting better.

Santiam Lake in the Mount Jefferson Wilderness, OR. This is a beautiful lake, great for swimming, at the base of Three Fingered Jack mountain.

C&C Appreciated

Canon EOS 20D
Tokina 12-24mm F/4 DX @ 17 mm
ISO 100 : F/16 : 1/2 sec : 1/3 EV
Circ Pol : 1 Stop Soft GND
RAW in Lightroom : Levels and Conversion in PS CS3

Wow do I like the top! But, not so much the foreground. I'd be tempted to crop it square and drop the logs.

Hi, Chris--
Gotta agree in total with John's comment. Sure looks like a great place, very tranquil, serene. Um, you were swimming during a thunder storm??

Great choice for B&W Chris. I think both compositions are strong. However, I prefer the one with the logs and rocks as it gives more elements to explore in the photo and has a more intimate feeling. Cropped square is also pleasing, but doesn't hold my attention as long. My only nit with the foreground is that some apparent dodging around the top and right side logs is noticable. If these are natural highlights, I guess you get what nature gives you. Well done nonetheless.

Thanks for the comments so far. I did wonder about the FG when shot it.....not being terribly beautiful. But I thought it added interest and I liked how the rocks emerged from the shadows.
Hans : What appears like dodging and burning at the logs is really just the reflection of clouds that happen to overlay the logs. I did very little blending on this image, and only for the sky and mountain.
I did add some vignetting which is probably fairly noticeable in the corners.

Very nice! I agree with Hans that both compositions are nice but I tend to lean towards the simpler square crop.