This area is not far from my home. It is a road that goes up to the Foothills Parkway of the Smoky Mountains. We had a snow on Christmas a couple years ago and the next day I really wanted to get up on top of the Foothills Parkway. It was closed, as it usually is. However, this community, called “Top of the World” has some beautiful views.
Specific Feedback and Self-Critique
The snow on the mountain tops is really what I wanted to capture. I did not have a lot of choice where to take the image as it is all private property and I simply took this from the road. I selected a place where I could include some foreground trees. I wonder if the way I processed it with a little blue to communicate the cold was appropriate or if it is overdone?
What a special time for you. A white Christmas probably doesn’t come around much. Up my way we’re going to have a white Easter and if we get much more snow, a white Memorial Day, too.
The blue looks ok to me - just a little goes a long way with snow, but I wonder if a longer lens would have worked better here. The hills and sky are pretty uniform and there’s so much of it that I don’t know where to look. Carving out a slice of those hills, eliminating the trees on the side, will bring more focus to the hills that should be the stars of the show. While I understand the desire to include a framing element, the trees are not helping IMO. They get lost because they’re so similar in texture and color. If you didn’t use a long lens, possibly some crops will work as well depending on whether the RAW file can stand up to it.
Lisa, welcome to the Weekly Chalenge. I’m enjoying this view, especially all of the “lumpiness” in both the distand ridges that’s mirrored in the clouds. I think your framing works well. It might be too blue, but that’s something that’s easy to adjust and compare with multiple versions. This one might also look good in black and white, as that tends to emphasize textures and for me this is all about textures.
I live on the NC side of these mountains and I’ve been there many times (mostly along the parkway).
They do close parts of the parkway quite often during the winter as you say, however, there are areas that are meant for locals that live on the parkway and those can be accessed at times.
Personally, I like the blue/gray or lividus color as it’s sometimes called, I also like that you showed the valley and the closeup trees with the snow.
I don’t have any suggestions for color adjustment, I just like it as presented.
“Looking down on creation”. I really like how the hills are framed by both the dark clouds and the two large trees. I also like the blue tinge and wouldn’t change anything. A belated welcome! We have family living in NC and hope to see and explore these mountains a bit one day.
A nice winter scene, Lisa! I kinda like the inclusion of the foreground trees as it adds some location context and makes it somewhat like looking through a window. Good job with the exposure also! As for the blue tint, I would rather see the real white as I have lived my whole life in snow country (Valdez, Alaska) and the only time snow is blue is when the sky is also blue
