Converging seasons: Capitol Peak

For one reason or another I haven't been able to get out and shoot in the fall since 2008. It appeared that I would miss out this year as well, however, the timing of the colors shifting a little later gave me a very brief window to get out. After hearing the weather was going to change for the worse this weekend, I quickly decided to head to Capitol Peak, since its one place I haven't been and it looked like the leaves were peak. So after a total of 8 hours driving out and back I managed about 3 1/2 hours of shooting before the weather really close in. I took this image midway through the change in the weather, and I had to blend 2 images together -- I realized that I would have a lot of blending to do after this trip, since the light was really challenging as it changed. I don't do many blend, so any feedback is appreciated. I promise I will also post my more difficult shots as I get to them, I think they will turn out better. Thanks!

This is nice, Paul. It looks like you might have a little haloing along the ridges but the lighting in the clouds helps mask it a little. I might lighten the fore and mid ground just a little to give it more interest but the line of the valley and the light and snow on the peaks is nice.
Did you make it up to Hell Roaring trailhead? The view from up there is great too.

Thanks for the suggestion, Kalin -- I will have to go back and take a look at the ridges. I did a little selective dodging and burning on the image, which might be the cause. I'll work on lightening it up as well, I have a few images with more spot- lighting that will probably end up being better (if I can get this blending down). I started up to the Hell Roaring trailhead but went back since I was short on time.

This is a real beauty, Paul. The blending looks excellent and quite natural to me, but I think the trees could use a bit more pop.
Two methods would work well here, That 'Image Polish' technique using the Unsharp Mask filter (in the landscape only, not the skies!) and/or using Selective Color, choosing 'Yellows' and then moving the Black slider left to taste.
Haloing may just be present due to resizing for Web.

Wow, the aspen in that valley are all turning at the same time this year, usually some groves have lost their leaves and some are still green when the majority are peaking. You did very well with this!

Really beautiful scene Paul. I like the winding pattern the aspens create in this shot.

Thanks guys -- John, I will definitely work on the yellows to try and get more pop.

Ok, I adjusted the yellows as per John's great tip -- also checked for halos but didn't find any on the original image. Here is the adjusted version.

Paul, this looks almost exactly like the original.

If you add '+Repost' to the title, you'll probably get more views.

I don't see much difference either. And the halos are still there along the ridgelines. Still, I really like the comp with the sweep to the peaks!

Ugh -- well it looks different to me, but I guess its back to square one.