American Basin

I'm finishing up my five days in Ouray and Silverton. Went to Yankee Boy twice and today I went to American Basin for sunrise. It's amazing to see the4WD roads in the daylight after going over them in the dark .

Anyway, the flowers are coming along well and should peak in the next week or so but there is still plenty to see right now.

Here is a post from sunrise this morning and I have a question. I like the shot overall but I had to use a 3 stop GND filter to hold the sky in perspective. Problem is it extends into the sides. I did some selective lightening and a little dodging...did I do ok or is there a better way to fix this problem. This is a 2 image blend with some saturation, sharpening, linear curve, etc. C&C welcome.

Thanks,
Jack

Canon 50d 24-105L
3 stop gnd
cant remember setings

Those side slopes are awfully dark.
If you have Tony Kuyper's luminosity mask actions, you could choose 'Shadow Darks' or 'Super Darks' and make quick work of fixing that issue.
Or you can simply select those dark areas, apply a 5 pixel feather, create a Curves adjustment layer and then lift up the Curve 'til you get a match.

This is a great example of why blending two different exposures is superior to using GND filters.

Aside from a bit too much saturation for my taste and the shaded slopes, this looks pretty good to me. Did the sun continue lighting up the mountains further down after this shot?
Did you have much company up there on that evening/morning?

Very nice image. I like the saturation, especially in the greens. The dark "ears" are bothersome but should be easy to fix as John suggested.

I've often wondered how many people, besides me, would find a "V" or "U" shaped ND grad useful.

Cheers,

Jack,
Would you email me with some specifics about your trip to Ouray/American/Yankee Boy. I am leaving on Friday and the shot you posted is just the type of image I am looking for.

A nice comp and light. Just a little more work, and it will sing.

Hey John, This was sunrise, about 6:00AM. I drove up and over cinnamon pass at O'dark thirty. I've driven that road before so I was fairly familiar with it otherwise I wouldnt have tried it in the dark. The sun did continue lighting the whole front face. I just grabbed a quick image and now that I'm back home I'll go through them and post some others for opinions. I had a great time between here and Yankee Boy over the past 4 days. Thanks for the info on trying to eliminate that GND in the corners.

Mark- i've often wondered the same thing!

Nice shot jack and thanks for the update. I'm heading there in the next few days so i'll try to update next week.

Thanks for the comments. I'm gonna try that luminosity thing and see what happens. Mark, you may have amoney making idea there!