This is another shot from my Colorado workshop last month. The interesting thing about this shot for me was the fact that this was the first time I was this high in elevation. I was told this was about 12,000+ feet elevation and for someone from Miami, who has never been this high and had arrived the day before, I was experiencing what was described to me as “elevation sickness”.
So we are with our group walking around and I quickly become dizzy, pounding headache and overall lethargic. So I sit on this big rock to rest and I decide to take pictures sitting down with my camera on my tripod at its lowest level. Viola. I get this shot while resting. One of my favorites from the trip.
Specific Feedback Requested
I am always appreciating of any feedback that I can learn from. As I still consider myself a newbie, anything constructive I view as a learning opportunity. Thanks in advance.
Thanks everyone for the comments/suggestions. I cropped a tiny bit off the top and worked on lowering the saturation a bit like everyone suggested. This site is really helping me see images differently. Thank you all!
This is a gorgeous alpine landscape image. And I think the elevation sickness in this case, was a blessing in disguise. I say that because I’m loving the texture and details of the foreground and it’s just making for a wonderful and classic near/far composition. Beautifully seen and captured.
And of course the light striking the mountains is gorgeous and striking, including the dappled light throughout the landscape and reflection.
Now this is in the realm of personal choice, but for me the image is a little over saturated - especially the blue sky and it’s reflection. Not terribly off, but enough to mention. Now I’m one who will push color/saturation enough to make an image pop, but always with the goal of depicting what I -think- I saw and reality - with a little punch, For me, this image borders on that line.
I also think the saturation may be contributing to some faint jpg banding I’m seeing in the blue sky. Fairly faint, but visible in the large view (if you’re looking for it.)
I’m a little torn with the longer exposure on the clouds and the motion. I also may be inclined to crop a tad off the sky; it’s not all needed.
Despite those few things, this is a wonderful image and if it were mine I’d be making this the best it could be so I could hang on my wall!
A lovely mountain scene. The reflection makes it work and the contrast of the yellow/blue complimentary colors adds more interest for me. Like Lon, it feels a bit oversaturated. For this image, I wish the clouds were sharp.
You are very lucky that your level of altitude sickness (Acute) didn’t progress to the next level (High Altitude Pulmonary Edema). That is the most common cause of death from altitude sickness. Going from sea level to 12000+ in a day is dangerous.
That’s beautiful light in a beautiful place. Nice work with the composition, though I’d be inclined to trim the foreground a bit since it is shadowed. As far as the processing is concerned, I understand the desire to saturate those intense colors, but this seems too oversaturated to me.
I like the composition you’ve come up with quite a bit. It’s a series of arcs rising from the bottom to the mountains that make the comp. For that reason the foreground is pretty important. I also like the light on those mountains especially that one patch going left to right. The processing does give this image a pretty high ‘scream factor’. It’s interesting in that the lower third doesn’t scream at all. I think I would start with desaturating the blues a bit. My feeling is that the image has enough contrast that it doesn’t need a boost of color to additionally make the point.
