Yankee Boy / American Basin from last week

Here are some from Yankee Boy Basin and American Basin. We experienced mostly overcast, gray weather but the sun did break through a few times for some dramatic lighting. I'll try not to bore you with too many wildflower photos, although they were stunning and I have to include just a few

#1 – I liked the light and colors on the saddle just south of Stony Mountain in YBB.

#2 – we heard these little guys chirping and strafing each other in their fight to own the juiciest flowers in YBB. They are FAST and agile!

#3 – An obligatory columbine photo. This one from American Basin.

#4 – Ditto, from YBB – in front of the big rock to you have to dodge on the way up.

#5 – I was trying to get a different view of the twin falls in YBB. The rock in the UR corner was wet and reflected the green mosses above it.

#6 – Abstract shot of American Basin late in the afternoon.

Meant to say - constructive criticism is always appreciated - and much more helpful than undeserved positive comments!

Love that hummingbird!!

Love the columbines "kissing" each other

I like your interpretation of the waterfall in the basin.

#3 really stands out for the flower images with the columbine blue against the smooth green and yellow background.

Meant to say - constructive criticism is always appreciated - and much more helpful than undeserved positive comments!

Good for you!
The first one doesn't hold as much interest for me as it does for you.
The second is a very good capture! The out of focus flowers are a great background for this particular shot, too.
Only suggestion I might have is to crop the right as close to the most prominent out of focus flower in the foreground as possible (and if you've enough pixels to spare), and perhaps 'lose' the out of focus flower protruding from the left. That seems to put more focus on the bird, IMO.
The third one is my favorite. A gorgeous medley (almost a dance..) of flowers, and (again) the out of focus flowers make a superb background for them. No nits whatsoever.
The fourth one has a hard act to follow. I think that burning down the brightest lichen (matching the ones top left?) would help highlight the flowers even more.
I really like the vantage point you chose in capturing those falls. Kudos for the creative eye there.
Finally, I really enjoy the composition you chose at AB. The diagonal from lower left to upper right is sweet, and the tree grove is located in just the right spot. Wish you had left a bit more room at the pointed ridge near top center, but that's a minor nit.

All in all, an excellent collection of some less than common viewpoints that we normally see here during the season.

John, thank you for your extremely helpful and thoughtful comments! Unfortunately, as you may have surmised, the hummingbird is already cropped significantly. Using my 5D and a 200 + 1.4TC, the hummingbird was still a very small part of the frame. Your suggestions would definitely improve the image and there's still enough data for a nice screen image - or a smaller print.

As for the AB abstract, I think I do have more room - I cropped out the blank sky but I seem to recall it didn't quite touch that ridge. I may have just been a little heavy-handed in the cropping. Thanks for pointing it out.

Thank you again for your thoughtful comments! We had an incredible week of hiking and photographing, and it's a treat to share it with others of the same mind.

Erik

#3 is very nice! The oof yellow background works well with the yellow in the columbine.

I really like the flower shots. Your processing is well done on all of the shots. The colors all look great and natural. #3 would be my choice as well.

#3 is my favorite. Very beautiful color scheme. Thanks for sharing.