Gilpin Lake (Zirkels) C&C

A little over a week ago I realized I had done something very stupid - I booked a bunch of work travel over the peak fall colors time period. I decided to head out on a quick backpacking trip with my new Feisol tripod over Labor Day weekend to make myself feel better. Below is an image I got at Gilpin Lake with the Zirkels in the background. My wife and I stopped here to fire up the jetboil and make some dinner, so I pulled out the camera while waiting the 8 minutes for our dehydrated food to hydrate and cook.

C&C is appreciated.

By the way, I think the Feisol is a pretty good value - especially for what I got it for...to fit in a carry on bag during some of my work travels. However, after using a Gitzo 3541XLS, it felt like a child's toy :)

A classic and beautiful mountain and lake scene. I like the high perspective you got here. Colors are a bit muted, but that stands to reason looking at the environment and weather. I think that a healthy shot of Vibrance looks pretty good.
There's no color profile tagged onto the image and it seems a bit soft, too.

I've been using a lightweight Feisol tripod for a number of years now and am very pleased with it.

A perfect spot to stop and soak up the landscape. I like the muted colors.

Nice September alpine scene Scott. I think the colors look very natural given the late afternoon conditions. I would love to see just a notch of saturation.

Thanks everyone. I'm a hard core naturalist who refuses to push the colors beyond what they were that day, but I did push the sat and lum. a bit and think it looks better while still retaining the memory I have of the location. See what you think, and thanks for the comments so far.

I do like revision better, especially the increase in brightness in the trees.

The revision appears to be an improvement to me too. The increase in saturation brings out the colors of the grasses and lake nicely.

A little goes a long way, and I think this version is much better because of it.
This revision still does not have a color profile tagged onto it, so it's kinda tough make any suggestions re: color.

Very cool shot! The revisions looks much better, but still lacks some more color.

Great shot. Like it.

Which Feisol did you get? I use the 3401 as my lightweight tripod and find it decent.

I got the 3442. The weight/cost/quality combo is great (although I wish it came with a hook and bubble level). However, I'm spoiled by my Gitzo 3541XLS - which is huge, but it is also VERY steady. I feel like I could do a 30 second exposure in a hurricane with waves bashing up against it and it would still be tack sharp. I'm also 6'2" and appreciate the Gitzo's 6'6" maximum height, which makes it easy for me to shoot on the side of a steep hill, do overhead shooting, etc.

Feisol will be my legs of choice for overnight backpacking, but for anything else...I'm probably sticking with the monster Gitzo. It's not that much heavier than the Feisol (1.9 lbs more I think) - just really long even when folded.

Viewing the image in Firefox, I'd have to agree the color in the first version was a little too dull (although I certainly wasn't there!) The second version is a bit more lively, but still believable. Is anyone else bothered by the two trail segments in the lower left corner? Perhaps a slight crop along the bottom and left side to remove the left-hand of those trail segments would convert the remaining segment into something of a leading line, enhancing the feeling of depth.

Another vote for the repost as being still natural colorwise and now natural for contrast. I agree with Glenn about a crop or cloning to eliminate the trail llc. It pulls just a little away from this grand scene.