Lake Haiyaha

The landscape encompassing Lake Haiyaha is complex, to say the least. The area is boulder ridden, thus difficult to navigate. "Boulder Ridden" means rocks the size of your house, which exists in lesser numbers, and rocks the size of your car, which is the norm, and the thousands of rocks that help you navigate through the maze that is Lake Haiyaha. The actual lake is quite large; however, the lower creek draw which resides just west off the Haiyaha Trail is where my photogenic opportunities reside.

I have to admit I’m a little surprised that a picturesque place like this is available to all of us just another mile from the iconic Dream Lake, but we just don’t see too many images frome here. Yes, a recon trip the week before was extremely helpful.

Last week I wined because I'm never in luck with cloud cover in this area, but this time I got what I was looking for.

6 blended images, stitched to pano to achieve wide, distortion-less perspective.

Critique welcome, my main concern is the blend.

#2 I think this one needs a touch of work but I really like this one. The clouds just left of the tree are too bright to the clouds to the right of the tree.

Kane, as always spectacular! I think #2 is my fav, it looks a little more natural.

Russ
www.AlpineGalleria.com

What a beautiful place! I like the composition and the sheer natural beauty of the first. A few overexposed areas in the clouds, but that's pretty minor.
However, I think that #2 is better for several reasons. I love the clarity of the water on the left above the rock, and the sunstar adds just enough 'oomph' without being overpowering. It complements the scene very nicely. I think that you could crop an inch or so from the bottom without losing anything important. I find the reflected cloud bank in the lower right to be a bit murky and quite unlike the clarity that's so prevalent in the rest of the scene. I'm really not seeing the difference in cloud brightness that you're referring to.
Fine work from such a lovely area!

Nice shots Kane. I'll agree the blend is a little more natural looking in the second. The first looks just a smidge HDR. I'd lighten the UR corner a pinch. Minor nits though, love the comp.

Both are very nice. I feel the sun peeking through in #2 makes it special.

The blends look good, except for the cloud brightness issue that you already mentioned. That should be an easy fix.

Nice control of a pretty busy scene in #1. I think the blend looks pretty good.

Both are very nice and would also give #2 a slight edge. I think both are really nice.

Nice work, esp. #2.

These are great - esp. #2. Was up there on Monday, but it was dull lighting/rainy. Still a nice day hike though.

It's good to see someone else shooting something else other than Dream Lake besides Stensland.
Both shots are your usual excellent presentations and I think all of the possible improvements have been covered. Well done, Kane!

I agree with the others--both are nice, especially #2!

I like them both and really don't have any nits. I do give the slightest of edges to numero dos. Fine work.

Awesome stuff Jane, but number 2 looks so much less cluttered to me and I love the simplicity of the lower part of it, as well as the dreamy cloud reflections.

#2 is really very nice.

Really like the sunburst in #2. Nice clouds as well.

Nice work on man. I definitely like the cleaner comp on #2, and the sunstar is a bonus. They are processed a bit cool for my taste, but that is personal taste. Sounds like you skipped the camping idea?