In the good old days there was often a snow storm in late September or early October that made for beautiful mountains in the background. Still happens, but much less frequently. This is from my archives, 2015. As usual all comments and suggestions are welcome. f/16 1/60sec ASA 100 Canon 5D II, 24-70 f 2.8 lens at 77 mm, heavily cropped
This is a fine shot but I think it would be even better with more detail in the clouds or cropped out all together. That’s just my opinion and I’m often wrong
Tony, to me the most interesting aspect of this image is the spotlight effect on the foothill and the aspen trees. I like the crop suggested by @Michael_Lowe because eliminating the clouds puts a much stronger emphasis on the spotlit area. I think I also prefer having 3 primary “layers” of composition in Mikes rework than the 4 layers in your original image. I’m not sure why that is the case, maybe I prefer odd numbers.
Hi Tony, I wish I were with you when you spotted this. You know this country.
I like the clouds in the picture; it would hardly be a story about now-rare early winter storms without them. I also enjoy the overall composition, with some introductory foreground vegetation, an unlit layer of trees, and the curve or trees around the hill. The red (andesite?) hillside rock is also interesting. But you know me by now, with my inclination to add contrast risking putting the artist’s nuance in jeopardy. I used a History Brush with Multiply mode to bring out a little more stormy texture in the clouds, then also to selected brush and slopes. The foreground brush and trees got some History brush/Screen at their tops. Also fiddled with saturation and luminescence on the trees. Overall, I think it still conveys winter storm, but guides the eye a bit more, hopefully not heavy -handed.
Thanks for the comments everyone. For me the mood of the photo is its strongest point, and for that reason I love the clouds. Dick, I always love it when people make adjustments to my photos!