Valley of Fire

Taken at Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada last spring.

Canon 40D 28-75mm @ 28
ISO 100 f8.0 @ 1/250

Ryan, I like the composition here. I see some great positioning of the elements in your shots. I'm not sure, but it looks like there's some nice reflected light bouncing off the big rock. I think there's a lot of potential here, much like the Crater Lake shot. It simply needs a bit of post processing magic. I'd like to see the sky more even, with the clouds on the right more dramatic. A bit of contrast in the foreground area would help to make it pop too...You might consider running this through a bit of Viveza polish.

I have to say, I have been a doubter of Viveza, but you and Jack have changed my mind, and decreased my savings account!

For those that haven't seen a demo or review of NIK Viveza, think of it as a tool that allows localized control of the normal controls--brightness, saturation, contrast, etc...without having to create complicated masks. Quite a unique and powerful product...

Ryan, the little black knob in the upper mid right keeps drawing my attention over there. I like the flow of the foreground rocks leading you through to the back left into the b/g. :)

Thanks for the input. I was worked in Viveza...from a very bland beginning. I'll work with the clouds a bit more, but I may have pulled as much as I can given the exposure without making them look too funky. The sky definitely needs to be evened out, and Cliff, that black knob is distracting....now that you pointed it out.

Thanks again for the input.

Ryan,

add a little structure to the clouds... just a tad.

Also that small bit of mountain in the distance at the bottom of the rocks--right side--where the rocks meet the sky about 2/3 up from the bottom on the edge---loose it

Viveza is mastered by practice.... The NIK tutorials are very helpful. There is going to be a NIK SOFTWARE summit in May http://niksummit.com if anyone's interested. I'll be there!

Also if anyone wants a discount on NIK products shoot me an email. They are a sponsor of my workshops.
JG

I like Jack's crop idea, and agree that working the sky a bit will keep it from stealing the eye from the better parts of the photo, the tree and red rocks.