On a recent trip to Yellowstone, I found this little geyser that I’m sure some of you will recognize. The conditions were perfect after a fall snowstorm with just a little dappled light. I didn’t do much to this image besides a little burning and dodging and removing some debris. Let me know if you could see anywhere to improve it.
Rework:
Final rework:
The lighting here is spectacular and it really brings out the best in the image. I personally prefer the highlights to be toned down a little bit as I think it competes with the detail in the geyser itself. I keep on getting pulled into the “main” fog and not the texture on the ground. I am thinking of something along this line:
Beautiful image with great light and mood. I love the mystical feel to the image. The bright highlights in the post work for me as presented, as I get an other-worldly feel from their effect. No suggestions here, this one is excellent.
David, yes, I think I know where this is. It’s a great, nicely different take on a familiar sight. The high lighting of the large and small geysers along with the blueness of the surroundings makes it very mysterious. As I look at the large view, I wonder how either a bit of dodging or a bit of burning on the brighter area below the large geyser would work. That’s my eyes either looking for more of a triangle comp or wishing for reduced attraction to that area. Of course, neither of those may fit your vision. 
Msytical, ethereal, wow this just has a ton of emotion and mood to it. The light is spectacular, as is your processing of the light and color. What’s interesting to me about the processing is that the overall feel of the image is one of coolness, but the areas of light create a feeling of warmth. It’s the light that creates the color contrast here. The actual warmer tones in the thermal area are so subdued and de-saturated that they don’t create any warm/cool contrast for me, rather its the light that does that.
My only suggested tweaks to this image would be to burn or clone away the tiny patch of light about 1/4 up the left edge from the LLC. And I would very gently dodge the small puffs of the 3 tiny geysers in the LRC.
I have to say that I’m a big fan of these type of images. They remind me of some of the best landscape painters of the 18th century - Turner, Aivazovsky. They’re impressionistic without being Impressionists. I’m doing a print of such an image and the same issue has come up that you have here. How high should the highlights be? If you lower the highlights you get more definition and richness in texture in the mist. But you still want it to be highlighted with respect to the rest of it. There’s a lot of wiggle room in this image. Even the darks could be raised to have the light radiate out towards the sides. It’s a judgment call. There’s also room for color adjustment here. Should the entire image be cooler while retaining the warm areas? I find all these considerations more obvious when I start to print.
Overall it’s a very moving image. It’s an image I would be proud of. Too bad I missed it a month ago.
BTW, I like the title Geyser Gazing. Catchy.
Thank you all! I’ve added a rework taking in some of the suggestions.
@Adhika_Lie, I added the slightest touch of warmth to the highlights in the rework. I’m undecided if I like it. I typically add warmth to the lights and cool the shadows, but something about this scene called me to keep it all fairly cool. Maybe it’s what Ed is referring to with the light being the warmth without it actually being a warmer tone. I also toned down the highlights the tiniest amount, going any further and I felt it lost a little life.
Thanks @Harley_Goldman!
@Mark_Seaver I did a tiny amount of dodging on the dark area below the geyser, but I quite like the highlights on the terraces, not sure if that’s what you were referring to.
Thanks @Ed_McGuirk, like I said above I’m not too sure about warming the highlights and curious what you think of the rework now? Dodging the little spouters was a brilliant idea, really brings them to life, not sure how I didn’t think of that! I also agree with the bright spot on the left and toned that down.
Thank you @Igor_Doncov, the classic landscape painters have been a big influence on my photography so I’m not surprised that comes through. I did play with all the points you brought up and eventually settled on this, the highlights were a bit challenging to balance dull and lifeless vs. overly bright without detail. That’s too bad we missed you in Yellowstone, it would have been a pleasure to meet you!
I feel like I’m flying above the surface of another planet. Beautiful.
i would be interested in a sense of scale. what was your focal length?
I like the subdued colors in the image and the sense of mystery and other worldliness of the image. Great image.
Your rework of this dramatic scene is exceptional. No suggestions for improvement from me.
Thanks Michael, full frame equivalent is 275mm. It was fairly far away but you’re above it on the boardwalk.
Thank you @Richard_Teller and @Patricia_Brundage!
Exactly what I meant David , the steam is “warmth by comparison” if you get my meaning. The neutral whites give the illusion of warmth due to the coolness of the rest of the image (for me anyways). Don’t warm the highlights, leave them as they were in the original, that’s my suggestion.
David,
This is simply a phenomenal nature image! Wow! The rework is excellent. I especially like how you’ve enhanced the little plumes of steam on the right. Just amazing, I have no other words.
Michael asked about scale and it really made me take a look at this. Revealing this was equivalent to 275mm, still doesn’t answer the question - at least for me. I’ve not been to the location so I have no idea. the image as presented my impression is that the main geyser on the left is large in scale like who knows, 20ft, 50ft high? But then little clues like “from the boardwalk…” I’m now rethinking that the scale is much smaller - little spouts in one of the “springs”
I dunno - it doesn’t matter in the least really. This is just a beautifully captured image of the wonders of nature.
Lon
I agree Ed, there is something off when the lights are warmed on this one, I’ve reverted back and like it much better.
Thank you Lon! I like that there is no sense of scale here because the reality isn’t nearly as exciting 
This geyser is just a little guy, it’s hard to estimate, but I would guess that it’s only shooting about 10-20’ high.
It is a fascinating image David. I love how you accentuated the little plumes on the right. A surreal image that just keeps the eye glued in fascination. My only suggestion would be to see if you could find any texture in the brightest areas of the main plume. To me they seem a bit overexposed.
Many nature photographers think of Yellowstone primarily as a wildlife photography destination. But David, this image is a great illustration of how amazing it can be for landscape images as well. It’s like being on an alien planet…
Thanks Ed, I was guilty of this myself. For years I never gave Yellowstone a chance because there’s not many obvious grand scenics. Jennifer has an obsession with the park so I had to learn to love it, which I’m very thankful for now. We have a whole portfolio of images from Yellowstone now that we haven’t released, we’re excited to share them next year and show that it has endless opportunities.
I thought the area around the Firehole River looked promising but we were too busy pursuing trout. That is, Alex was pursuing and I was watching
But overall I agree. There are no sharp cliffs and mountains. It’s sort of a rolling landscape in the area. There are a lot of opportunities for intimates. Also, it was all pretty much evergreen trees as I recall. The fall colors were more outside the park.
I really like this one David. The edits are quite subtle at this point even to a trained eye but you can see the improvement, even if incremental. Overall, I would not change a thing at this point. Strong image!
