The Wasatch Mountains

This is an image of the Wasatch Mountains from the top of Hidden Peak and was a very rushed shoot. We had been on the top of Hidden Peak for a while and were waiting for the Gondola to take as back down. As we were waiting, I saw this view and had exactly a minute and a half to pull out my camera and 400mm lens from my pack and shoot a few frames. Then it was a mad rush to get inside the gondola before it left.

I’m curious what you guys think about the crop. This is pretty much the full frame and I’m not sure about merging ridge lines on the left side. Do they bother you? Should I crop the image?

You may only download this image to demonstrate post-processing techniques.
4 Likes

This has great layering and a beautiful mood, I wouldn’t have guessed you had to rush so much, it doesn’t fit the scene, haha. I played a bit with your own suggestion and I think I do like a crop where some of the left (up to where the ridge line re-appears) and some of the sky is removed. I would take down the vignette just slightly, but that’s personal taste too of course.

1 Like

The image is lovely, the layers are just gorgeous.
I would recrop and try to create a “perfect” diagonal with the first layer.
Maybe also try to dodge the lower right layer to create a bit (almost nothing) of contrast, out of personal taste of course.

Thanks for sharing,
Cheers

1 Like

This looks real good to me. The merging ridge line does not bother me at all. Great color and depth and gradients of color.

1 Like

Great shapes and layers. I think a crop could work but it works as is. The colour contrast and depth make this image work for me

1 Like

Truly beautiful color palette! I agree perhaps a little less vignette.

1 Like

Great colors and layers here, Tom. I might “soften” the look of the first two ridges. Crop or no crop I don’t think it would make that much of an impact on the feel of the photo. I like it as presented.

1 Like

Tom,

This is a wonderfully layered image. The large view is especially captivating. The layers are fantastic and I especially appreciate the sharp detail of the trees and ridge line.

I was a little unsure of the darkest ridge in the LL, but again the large view reveals it’s importance. The only suggestion I have would be to pull back on the vignette as Ron suggested. Otherwise, I think this is a wonderful layered image.

Lon

1 Like

Tom, great job with the layers, this image has a wonderful mood to it. I’m okay with the “dip” in the mountain on the left. I would not crop it from the left because I think the last layer of mountains on the left is important to the composition. @Stephen_Stanton mentioned “softening” the look of the first two ridges. I think one way to do that would be a slight reduction in the blue saturation of those ridges, perhaps with a slight touch of negative clarity to the second, but not the first one. But these are subtle tweaks, overall this is a great image.

1 Like

Thank you for the feedback everybody! It’s much appreciated. I played around with the crop last night and no matter what I tried, the result felt too tight (compared to the original) so in the end I left it as it was. I did however lessen the vignette somewhat because after looking at the image for longer amount of time it too started to bother me a bit.

What an incredible scene this must have been. You’re so fortunate. I prefer the vignette to it’s absence. Perhaps make just a bit less pronounced. With all these horizontal layers you could crop a bit off the bottom, thus stretching and emphasizing the peacefulness.

1 Like

Tom, this is a great “layers” view. I like the repost with what looks like a bit more contrast and the reduced vignette.

1 Like

Beautiful layering and tonality. The merge does not bother me and your repost looks excellent, except the vignette is still fairly obvious and IMO, should be reduced further.

1 Like

Thanks Igor, it was an amazing view. It’s too bad that it was so brief but I still consider myself lucky!

Tom, I love the layering here and the shades of blue carried all across the layers is lovely. Having said that, I would consider changing the shades of blue in the front most layer. With those details on it, it seems a little unnatural to have that kind of blue shade. It could just be me though. I agree with Dave about the vignette, it could be reduced even further.

1 Like

Fantastic Tom. Not much more I can say that others have not already said. Congratulations on a great image.

1 Like

Adhika, thanks for your input! I agree with you and I reduced the vignette a little bit more in latest version. Unfortunately, I don’t have it with me so I can’t post it.