Is this a composite? (focus stacks or exposure blends are not considered composites): No
Tony,
It is definitely purple, but I like have seen skies in the desert that are this colorful. I do find this to be natural looking. What a treat to experience these sunsets in person.
Gorgeous sunset! Hope the monsoon brings some moisture!
The clouds do look too purple/magenta, though. This sounds elementary but in raw have you tried a Tint balance to a little more Green and a Temp to a little more Blue?? Or just go to Selective Color and bend the purples… I’m embarrassed to suggest such elementary tweaks as I have yet to master the sophistication of your panels.
I think it looks perfectly natural, Tony, at least as far as the color goes. I’ve witnessed many sunsets similar to this. My only nit is the mountains seem a little on the light side. Given the location of the sun, I would expect the mountains to be more shaded (darker). Love your composition and the angle of the sun and the overall scene is just beautiful.
Beautiful sunset, Tony. The purple reflections look fine to me also. When we lived in Colorado I saw many early morning sunrises where the reflections on the tops of those 14ers were definitely purple. I always thought that must have been where they got the phrase “purple mountain majesty” for American the Beautiful. Very nicely done.
Tony the purples look good to me, and very natural looking. I think the cooler twilight tones actually add drama and mood that are more sophisticated than a totally warm sunset might be. However I do love thh sweeping yellow lines of the clouds, they are just right, saturated but not over the top.
At NPN you have posted a number of similarly composed scenes with these mountains serving as a base to a sunset. I’m amazed how fresh looking each one has been though. Each time the light show has been different enough that they have all been interesting. They could make for an interesting group of images as a themed project.
This is beautiful Tony. To my eye it looks believably natural. I find the color palette to be very pleasing with the warm / cool contrast in the tones. The mountains anchor the scene nicely while the cloud layers and textures keep my eye engaged throughout the frame.
Thanks everyone for the feedback. Yes, @Ed_McGuirk , this is a favorite place for me to take photos. Very close to where I live. I can watch the clouds and run out for a quick picture when they look nice. I do find the Arizona skies endlessly fascinating. Because clouds rarely cover the entire sky, sun breaks are common, and this light adds both texture and color to the clouds. However, clouds alone generally don’t work well compositionally. There needs to be some land element to anchor the image, as @Brian_Schrayer mentions, and these mountains work nicely. I particularly like these mountains as I need to face north to photograph them. That means at sunrise and sunset they’re not just silhouettes. They still have plenty of texture even thought they’re darker than the sky, and I like having that as part of the image.
