REWORK: Went back to the drawing board and started over from scratch. The current tools in PS are better than when I first processed this, especially the noise reduction feature. I took @John_Williams suggestion to dial back the contrast in the foreground so it doesn’t compete so much with the shadowed hills. Remasked everything to get rid of the masking artifacts in the original.
ORIGINAL:
Critique Style Requested: Standard
The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
This is from last spring when we made a trip south, eventually to Anza Borrego. On the way, we visited the Alabama Hills. Clouds were passing across the sky and made this pattern on the mountains to the east. I liked the contrast between the rounded outcrops of the Alabama Hills and the way the clouds striped the more angular far hills. Converted to b&w because it was about the shapes and textures, not so much the colors.
Specific Feedback
I fiddled around with this off and on for quite a while, tweaking the contrast within and between the foreground and background areas. Any suggestions welcome.
Technical Details
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Whoa! Bonnie this is stunning! It is all about the contrast, and you have contrast throughout and on many levels. Contrast between the rounded FG rocks of the Alabama Hills vs the straight angular shapes of the BG hills. Contrast between the lighter tones of the BG hills to the darker tones of the FG rocks. The micro- contrast variations naturally in the FG rocks to the large scale contrast set up in the BG hills by the sunlit and shadowed portions of the hills. It is really engaging and keeps the eye both glued and moving throughout at the same time. Very neat indeed.
There are two very small bright spots in the URC corner that just seem out of place and keep pulling my eye up there. That is the only thing I would change if at all.
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Bonnie, I’d say you succeeded admirally. The contrast between the rounded rocks in the foreground and the sharply defined ridges at the back is quite striking as the cloud shadows add drama to the ridge area. I also like the hints of more ridges along the top. One thought is to do a slight bit of edge burning in the brightest parts on both the left and right edges.
Very arresting image. The two cloud shadows are perfectly placed on the distant hills.
Fascinating!! The contrasts and varied shapes are wonderful – all said above! When viewed large, I get the feeling I’m being pulled into the image! (Too much morning coffee?) This image is seriously good!!
Thanks @Youssef_Ismail, @Diane_Miller, @Ronald_Murphy, and @Mark_Seaver! I’m glad you all enjoyed this - I was unsure if there was “enough there there”, as one of my local photo pals is fond of saying.
Eagle eye! I think I’d noticed those, too, and decided just to leave them in. They’re easily dealt with.
Now that I’m looking at this, I see some bad masking in spots, too. 
Will have to fix those things if I print it.
I just love how you find such unique takes Bonnie, and this is another great example. The hills are such a common photography subject, but I don’t ever remember seeing an image like this. While I like the image overall, the cloud shadows and the way you’ve processed them are what really sets this apart.
I wondered what dropping the contrast some in the foreground boulders, to let the contrasts in the distant hills stand out a bit more, would look like. Here’s what I came up with, but honestly I’m not sure I like it any better.
Thanks @John_Williams. It might be worthwhile to lower the contrast on the foreground boulders. I had to really work on them to get that high contrast, so it wouldn’t be much trouble to dial it back. My husband wants me to print this for our house, so I’m going to revisit it to fix the bad masking and I’ll look at that contrast, too. Thanks!
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This is a very cool image and very creative. I love the graphic nature of it and I agree with your husband in that you should definitely print this!
I think you did a really fine job with the reposted version. It feels a bit “softer” and I can imagine not tiring of looking at it if it were on a wall somewhere. The first version, with its strong contrast is super nice as well but I think it would be over stimulating and would eventually make me search for some relief.
