Long Lake

Well, here goes nothing. This is my first post on the forum, I have been posting comments from time to time, but had never officially joined. I enjoy this forum immensely. So much talent, creativity (Todd may be excluded after Godzilla), and dedication to the craft.
C&C-Si`Si`

Welcome Morris, and a very nice image to start with. Solid comp with a nice lead in line. Maybe a slight burn in the sky to hold the eye in the frame? Nice capture..

Yes, welcome Morris. What George said. I love that area!

Welcome! I'm a newbie here too, and it's definitely intimidating to put your work in front of so many really excellent photographers. But we get better (hopefully) by playing with people better than us.

The colors in your streambed, flowers and grass are really lovely and glowing in the soft light. And I like how the patches of grass on the far side of the lake tie the foreground to the distance. Nice first post!

Welcome to the forum, one of my favourite areas is the Indian Peaks. Nice use of the lake outlet as a leading line, I also like the dark clouds, which could even be darkened some more!.

Very moody, Morris. The stream bed leads you nicely into a very peaceful scene. My only thought is maybe a little less sky might improve upon this.

Welcome Morris. With first posts like this you fit right in as this is wonderful. Love the lead in and the moody sky contrasting with the cheery FG.

Pam

Thank you all for your kind comments, and very helpful hints. Yes, George I think I need to do something with the sky. It's a little too neutral here. John, I love that area, too, it's easlly accessed, and beautiful. Thank you Jackson for the encouragement. NIck, I will try it darker.
Guy, I agree with you after your comment, less sky would be better, and I probably should have aimed at a little steeper angle. Pamela, you are very kind, as usual, thank you.
Morris

Welcome to the forum Morris, I think you'll find this to be a valuable tool in your photography. The artists, both amateur and professional are very helpful in their critiques on your images.

I do like your composition on this image and the lead in of the stream.

nice shot, I would agree with a little less sky on this

I am a relative newbie to photography in general. So I definitely get easily intimidated from posting alot of my stuff with such great photogs on this forum (Todd excluded- sheesh Godzilla? What in the purple pokadotted hoppopotomases will be next )

but I have learned alot and an starting to see all the things that these other guysies on this site can see that I couldn't before

Sweet first post, Morris! Nice work with the stream lead-in, and the greens really pop without being over-the-top. Springboarding off of previous comments, some slight burning of the sky and a modest boost in contrast up there would be beneficial. A little sharpening would crisp it up for the web presentation.

Yep - lots of talented folks here to learn from. I'm learning as much today as when I first started hanging out here. Can't tell if there's just that much to learn, or if I'm just not retaining anything....

I took the suggestions and reworked the image. I selected the sky, increased contrast, adjusted curves, and burned-in a little, and finished with sharpening. Also, cropped out some of the sky.
How is it now?

Morris, welcome to the group. Glad to see you posting your photos!

I like this comp; strong lines and no ambiguity as to the subject and intent of the photograph.

I think the second round of processing is better than the first, but looks to be a bit aggressive in terms of sharpening and burning. The ridgeline looks oversharpened, and the sky is showing some noise, although the foreground held up to the sharpening well.

This is a good example of a photo that could benefit from selectively sharpening areas of the photography differently.

I like the less-sky, but the top left corner has some unnatural teal colors happening. I might try to neutralize those a bit.

The flowers stand out much better in the second version; I almost overlooked them in the first (due to the sky, I think).

Overall a solid introduction to your work, looking forward to seeing more!

Yeah, Nat, I just need to save up for some classes with you. I'm sure you could help my post processing immeasurably.