Help me Pick!

2 photos from Oxbow Bend Dec 21--only one can survive! Help me pick!

#2 (you can only pick one! )

Both have some very nice qualities, and this would be hard for anyone to choose. In the first one, I like the colors in the sky better, but the second one has the nice first kiss of light on the mount moran. I might like the first one just a hair more because that leading line of (sagebrush?) ends up at mount moran with that distant line of shrub. Just my two cents.

I will choose the second, as the angle of foreground shrub is not working for me. I like the light hitting the top of Moran also. I wonder if #2 could use just a touch more contrast.
If you had a pano of the first without the shrub, I would choose #3

#2. There seems to be too much foreground in the first one that is dark and also does not add a lot to the picture. In #2 you still have a nice foreground, but the mountains really show well.

I like the first one Stan. I think the group of trees on the left, the extreme foreground willows and the meandering lake bring this image together. Moran is such a huge mountain it never has a problem being the obvious subject. I also like the before sunrise light a little better.

I agree with Kane...number 1.

#2 for me. The cleaner comp, the layered look and the increased prominence of the clouds work much better for me, and the kiss of light on Moran is a nice bonus. The clouds in #1 are a hair better, but the shrubs just don't add anything for me (kind of like a big gratuitous rock in a foreground ).

So far 1: 3 votes, 2: 3 votes. I knew i could count on you guys for a definitive answer
Jackson: the shrubs are softer than rocks.

Let me be, at least temporarily, a tie-breaking vote. I'm going with the second one. I agree with what Jackson said, the kiss of light on Moran puts it over the top for me. The first one seems a bit right-heavy on the composition as well. #2's simpler comp works better for me.

Number 1. Stronger and more interesting foreground. Both are great, though. Tied, again.

Doug Beezley
Snellville, GA

number 2 for me.

Let me end your agony. #1 with the bottom cropped off. A more symmetrical comp.

Another vote for #1 for all of the reasons stated. Much as I like the kiss of light in #2, the stronger foreground and the inclusion of the other mountains bracketing Moran make this my favorite.

I like the first, the one with the row of brush in the foreground. It creates the path to the mountain.

Count me in for #1, Stan. While I like the light in #2, with all that white emptiness in the foreground, the background seems kind of one dimensional.

#2. Look at that nice light hitting the top of Mount Moran. #1, although great, seen it to many times.

I like #1 better. Really gives you a feel for the location and I like the foreground.

Andrew

#1

#2, more dramatic and in your face type comp

#2.

#1: 10 votes
#2: 8 votes
I'm leaning to #1 (which was my slight preference0 with maybe a slightl bottom crop.
Thanks for the feedback, guys!

It is now 10 to 9!

#2 takes my eye directly to Moran. I like the idea of a Snake River lead-in, but I got a bit lost in #1. The second is a really sweet shot.

#1, I think it is a better comp and like the colors better.

i give up...