Ragged Sunset

It's been dead around here!....a week or two before the Fall Contest of course. Let's get the fall shots going!


I love the under appreciated Ragged Mountains here in Colorado. I had some really nice back lighting that rendered some nice foreground dynamic light. Image shot about 15 minutes after sunset.

Canon 6D
70-200
5 image vertical stitch, hand blended.

See Larger Version.

Comments and Critique welcome.

This is one of my favorites from your fall collection. I think the darker shadows on the right contrast nicely in the image and help keep the eyes moving. My only possible suggestion might be to darken the left side slope of oak ever so slightly as it appears a just little bright with respect to the rest of the scene.

Doug, I hear ya and noticed the same thing after stitching the image and before I curved and colored it. I think what Ive got going on here is the late alpen glow moving upward, similar to what the suns rays setting behind me would do, move upward. that brighter hillside is about 150 ft above the road and valley where the glow has already vanished. Its a huge scene too, thus the pano style to capture it. I've had many big scenes show odd variances in exposures in the past. But your right, darkening that hillside might appeal to most.

That is one killer shot Kane! I really have no nits, I'm just enjoying it!

Stunning clear image, Kane. Looking at the photo, I feel like I was there myself.

Outstanding image, Kane

Nice comp! Colors are kinda bleh, but then again i hardly got any fall shots this year so i can't criticize.

"Colors are kinda bleh..."

Au contraire! I think the colors look great here myself. I really like how the image is divided so well by the stream, and it appears that you captured some anti-crepuscular rays which really makes the whole image sing. My only nit was already aired by Doug. This is a really, really good Fall image, Kane. I like it a lot!

Colors Kinda Bleh....Stan you are killing me. Dude you're like the Grinch. Not optimal color, but certainly not Bleh... I suppose the color was tough this season, but a lot of us found ourselves in good situations this Fall season. I shot this one on Sept 25th, when you were driving across the world to Wyoming chasing snow...that socked in your scenes. I sat up on this hill I scouted out earlier in the day, in 60 degree temps and drank a few beers and watched this sunset. And I still had 5 days left to drive to the San Juans to capture great color. Overall, not bad for a short drive commitment.

Im razzing you...

Trust me, the conditions can be better and I will go back.

Maybe Stan needs a new monitor
Colors are realistic and gorgeous without being over the top. One thing this image has going for me is its clarity, with minimal haze. Something that's becoming more rare these days.

Thanks Ken, appreciate the feedback. I spent the night 3 nights up in this area and collected a bunch of nice shots while waiting for the color to ripen around the mountains. Day four I was driving out to Carbondale to get cell phone reception and to re fuel and found this comp. Drove to Carbondale, then drove back that night for this shot. It was cloudy all day and i thought I was going to get a killer sunset but those nice clouds just burned away right at sunset. In the end, I had the an off balanced Earth's Shadow to shoot, but ended up with something called a "anti-crepuscular ray" sunset. Ok I'll take that!

Awesome

I really like the subtlety and tones. I could wish those pines on the right were aspens or a bit brighter but I think this is a wonderful image that is best enjoyed big!