Shrine Ridge again

I posted this same scene earlier, but it was a quick digital shot. I also shot it on LF, but had to do some trickery to get it to work. I used 3stop hard grad and 2 stop soft grad, and still film couldn't get it all, so had to pull one of the slides to retain some detail in the sky. Then I combined the two shots in Photoshop, but I also had to clone out some flare. Just wanted to hear some opnions on what people think. Even though the process seems a bit over the top, this is ultimately what I was trying to capture when I was setting up the scene. thanks for looking.

Shen-Hao 4x5, 90mm, f16.

Chris, I like this a lot. I missed the last post, but this works for me. Makes me want a tilt/shift lens. I'll suggest some cropping. Maybe 10% off the bottom, and it removes some distraction in the foreground. Also consider cropping a bit on the right, where the focus plane really drops off. Despite the amount of processing, it looks pretty darn natural to my eyes (on my monitor). Nice rich, warm light. Good job!

Overall, it looks nice, but the middle is out of focus...

Without a deep look, the photo is great. Nice composition, perfect exposure throughout, and very warm colors (maybe just a tad too warm). However, the middle ground is out of focus. I would suggest cropping from the right, then doing some selective sharpening of the middle ground and see qhat you can pull off. Thanks for posting.

The center-right area is a bit too soft and becomes a distraction. Other than that, good job working the scene.

Like Momo, my initial reaction was, wow, nice depth and wonderfully exposed. The flowers in the foreground hold nice weight, and really lead the eye into the shot. Then I noticed the middle being blurry. You said you took at least a couple of shots? Do any of them have the middle sharp? If so, maybe you can layer it in. Wonderful work, though, to get the tricky exposure!

I dig it Chris! Sure, the mid ground IS out of focus, but just maybe let's let this shot be about the sweet, back lit flowers, and wonderful mood!

Thanks for the input everyone. About the focus, that was an unfortunate consequence of the wind. I was forced to use some serious rear tilt to get some decent DOF while retaining a reasonable shutter speed. I determined that getting some focus in the background was more important than just the flowers (without tilts - even the middle would still have been OOF). and the warm light, I swear this is how the tranny looks. This is why I went for this shot is because I loved the super warm light the sun was giving just before it dropped below the mountains. but i now realize the need for some cropping to tighten up the image.