Longs Peak Sunset

Last Saturday night I went up to the Dream Lake area for sunset. The shots looking into the sunset at Dream Lake turned out a little harsh so I headed down to Nymph Lake and got this one.

Comments and critiques welcome

By the way, we stopped into Erik Stensland's shop and I have to say Erik's work is not only spectacular, it's very motivating. Do yourself a favor, stop in his shop and see what it looks like when it's done right.

Here's a larger version:
http://www.alpinegalleria.com/p913171418/he763ff6#he763ff6

Russ
http://www.AlpineGalleria.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeuFTPmtEo0

Hi Russ,

Don't you just love going out for one idea and ending up shooting another! I like the comp here a lot. You've also done a nice job capturing the spirit of ideal sunset conditions too. Lastly, that nice band snow at the bottom helps balance the entire image.

You have an artistic arrangement in most if not all of your images where Cyan dominates your whites, so I'm beginning to think it's just your style.

Nice capture,

Kane

Thanks Kane. The cyan is probably a white balance/vibrance thing in raw converter. When I look at it, it seems to look right to me, until I really think about it. I'll play with a little and see what happens.

Thanks for taking time to comment.

Russ
http://www.AlpineGalleria.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeuFTPmtEo0

A very nice image that captures the essence of Rocky Mtn National Park. I would agree with Kane on the cyan, but at the same time, it provides the cold winter feel.
From the small slice of the lake, it appears the most of the ice is off? I believe someone else had posted Dream with the ice off which surprised me. I suppose our month of above temps is also up at high elevation as well. I am thinking of going up myself sometime soon to capture a winter scene, but with the ice off the lakes.

Ken, Dream lake had a good sized spot of open water on the east side when I was up there last weekend. Might be larger by now.

Russ
http://www.AlpineGalleria.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeuFTPmtEo0

A gorgeous, picture postcard image. Just enough detail in the trees, too.
Back off the cyan in the whites and call it very, very good!

Ken, here's a shot of what water was open as of last Saturday evening on Dream Lake.

Russ
http://www.AlpineGalleria.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeuFTPmtEo0

Thanks Russ. Now I can game plan which lake I may shoot at. I suppose I better contact the park to see if the Bear Lake Rd is open late. By the time I may shoot a sunset and get back to my vehicle, it could be pass 8:00 pm.

If this image was viewed on a dark background, it would look much better (IMHO)...a warming filter might help take some of cyan out of the whites.
Excellent detail.
Your website is off the charts.

Russ, my taste would be for a little more (not much though) lightness and detail in the trees. I have come to view the blues in your images as part of your processing style.

Russ, that's a beautiful image. I too would like to see a little more detail in the trees and there is a bit of a strange greenish tint on the bottom half. Fix those and you have a fabulous image. It makes me wish I was out there that evening. Light like that is very special!

Wow, nice sunset!!! I agree with the overly-cyan-snow comments. Selective-color in PS should take care of that!

Called the Park, as I suspected the Bear Lake road is currently being closed at 8:00pm Sunday-Thursday. So that pretty much eliminates taking sunset images at Dream Lake during the week.

Really like the warm light and colors in the sky and clouds.

Uncle!! Just kidding! Here's the suggested edit. I like it alright but it looks a little less "last light". Did I go to far with the edit?

Russ
http://www.AlpineGalleria.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeuFTPmtEo0

The repost looks better on my monitor, Russ. The upper portion still has that great light on it and the bottom looks a little more natural. Nice moment captured.

I agree with Morris. Nice work with the repost!

Nice shot !