(If this is a composite, etc. please be honest with your techniques to help others learn)
Hey @mikekimpton
Gorgeous mountains, the image is also very interesting. The triangle made by the mountains and the S curve front the river grants a great path for the eyes to travel thru the image. I would crop of the sky (blue patch) and that LLC grass, so the river stars the image on the LLC and end on those contrasting clouds.
That shadow on the mountains is a bit distracting but as it is parallel to the mountain line itâs not a huge deal for me.
Maybe, I would warm the image a bit, but that is my personal taste.
Itâs a great image, and thank you so much for sharing,
Cheers
Hi Mike, this is a pretty neat image, thanks for sharing it with us. The S-curve of the river is wonderful of course. But I also like how the zig-zag of the mountains and shoreline creates some repetition of the S-shape as well. Pretty cool composition in that regard.
My only suggested tweak would be to add some stronger vignetting along the bottom and sides, which would place more emphasis on the river. but that is a nit, overall this is very nicely done.
Mike,
First of all, welcome to NPN! Great to have you hear and a fine first post here in Landscape.
The composition and layout of the scene are quite excellent. Youâve got the s-curve and lead-in of the river and then the opposing slopes with the diagonals, topped off with a complimentary puffy blue sky. Also, I like the diagonal line of the shadow on the far ridge too.
I often add this point that I donât often like the long verticals that the digital format offers (love the landscape format though). And of course itâs no fault of the photographer, but for my tasted I would also crop some of the sky. A lot of the extra clear blue up top kinda pulls the eye. I like the bottom as captured as it doesnât seem thereâs any good place to crop the bottom; I never considered it.
Thanks for posting and welcome aboard.
Lon
Welcome to the forum Mike. This is a fabulous first post as is! My own subjective nits are that the shadow is indeed distracting, and that the light grass/shrub in the lower right is also distracting, so I made some edits: made the shadow less dark, darkened the very bottom on the right, except lightened slightly the corner where it is black, and added a slight darkening vignete to the lower left corner.
Welcome to NPN. This image has much going for it. The composition is strong, with the S curve and the overlapping layers. Itâs fairly representational and therefore would be good for a travel magazine that shows off important features of an area. However, I feel the image âlacks a soulâ and doesnât have much emotional pull. On a technical level I would desaturate the blues in the sky as that color is a bit over dominant compared to the rest.
Thank you to everyone for your comments and efforts. I appreciate and value all your input. 
