I recently returned from a 2-1/2 week trip through Utah, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Nevada and the eastern Sierra on the way home. Here is one from the Sierra. D810, 70-200mm. I am always happy to hear thoughts or suggestions on composition or processing. Or life in general. 
3 Likes
Real nice, sir! Red aspens are not that common in the Sierra.
At first glance, I thought about suggesting a crop from the left, but two left-curving branches would have been cut off, which would not have worked.
The color looks great, and I really like sage and grasses in the foreground.
Well done!
-p
I really like that color combo with the greens in the foreground and those rusty red/orange aspen leaves. When combined with those beautiful white trunks, you have something very special. If this was mine, I would increase the saturation just a hair. To me, this looks a bit less saturated than reality judging by the color of the foreground brush.
Harley, welcome back. Very clean looking group of aspen trees here. Never get tired of seeing the eastern sierra autumn photos even after all these years.
I might try the suggested left side crop just for a different look. But it may not be a final thought there without trying it.
I agree on the comment with regard to global cont/sat increase. I might use the FG sage to gauge the increase and decide from there.
The composition is perfect Harley. I personally like the colors this way. The white birch/aspen trunks look bluish and I’m fine with that. I think the sage is a bit too bright in some places (bottom left) and could use more definition through contrast and/or sharpening. I would prefer their individual strands well defined, less amorphous.
Either way it’s a great image, primarily due to an excellent composition.
Great image, @Harley_Goldman. Your images have always something I can learn from. I really like the composition and the colors look perfect for the mood. I would slightly increase the luminosity/constrast especially on the leaves. I imagine an overcast/after sunset condition but it looks to me a little bit too “dull”.
Nice image! Try darkening the sage brush in the FG and see how that looks. I think it will bring out more of that cool, turquoise color and draw more attention on the trees again.
Harlely, the red/orange aspen leaves are great and the colors look just right to me. They are set off very well by the trunks and the sage. The sage is a good addition. I could see a bit of burning-in on the foreground to increase the focus on the trees. Sorry we missed you in MT.
Mr. H.! Glad to see you back. Hoping we’ll get to see a bunch more images from your trip!
Really enjoying the arrangement of elements here - including the addition of the sage/grasses below. Really love the color combo with the cyans of the sage mixed with the reds and oranges.
Also impressed with the processing and natural rendition of color and saturation. this looks just like I think it would look had a been standing there. This is a wonderful, and understated autumn image from the Eastern Sierra.
Lon
Beautiful composition and mix of colors. Way to make order out of chaos. Processing looks good but suggest two minor tweaks. Firstly, as already mentioned I might burn down the brightness of the sage a bit. Secondly, I might experiment with dodging the upper left corner to open up the shadows a bit. I think it would provide a stronger compositional balance.
Harley, this is a lovely scene. I think that it could use a crop off the left. I don’t feel like that side adds to the composition. Maybe a 4x5 crop to emphasize those beautiful reds in the center? There’s just the right amount of the grasses to my eye to create a strong base to the image.