Chimney Rock in Colorado

Sunset at Chimney Rock

At first the light wasn’t as gorgeous as I was expecting it to be but a 1 stop underexposed file did help to light it up reasonably

Specific Feedback Requested

Anything useful, besides being nice :slight_smile:

Technical Details

Is this a composite: No

This is quite nice, Karl. I like the soft light on the mountain and also the trees, and the yellow foliage is a nice addition. The exposure looks good to me, it has a nice evening feel.

I find myself wishing that the camera was tilted down just a bit from this view. The bottom grass feels tight, and you could lose a little bit of the upper sky. If you don’t have any space below, I would still crop just a little off the top, because there are a few lighter clouds right on the edge.

I think this is an image with some nice potential. I’ve come back and looked at it more than once and each time, my reaction is that it is underexposed. I know you said you underexposed by a full stop. I don’t know what effect you were going for, so my edits may just not be applicable. The colors as presented feel pretty lifeless and that just isn’t Colorado in the fall.

Here’s my edits to change the entire mood of the image.

Hi Karl,

Fantastic scene here. I like the combination of the all colours and the interesting cliff line. For me the highlight of the scene is the soft directional warm light hitting the rocks and the near by clouds.

I would look to highlight this light while keeping the foreground dark so that there is a transition from dark to light.

Karl, my comments are the same as Nathan Kleins. To me the best part of this image is teh soft light, and how it reveals some nice subtle colors and textures. I think Nathan’s rework has opened up the exposure by just enough to showcase these colors and textures.

Thanks @Keith_Bauer , @Ed_McGuirk , @Nathan_Klein , @Craig_Moreau - all of you have some interesting things to consider
Opening it a bit on the rocks and the clouds makes sense - I might also try a little more blue in the left sky
Whilst the aspens were in the shade, I might try to give it just a little more pop!.And yes, white edges are distracting!