Coming Home

Ron, this shot is lovely! Beautiful sunrise and a compelling composition with lots of depth. I do have a couple nits regarding the processing. The sky seems a bit heavy (particular with the cloud on the left) and I can see some pretty pronounced evidence of the blend along the tops of the mountains and the tree (although maybe that's a result of web compression?).

Wow! Pastel eye-candy throughout! The sky, cottonwoods, and light on the Watchman are fabulous. I'm seeing a slight magenta/pink color cast on my monitor at work. This is gorgeous!

Definitely a pretty shot Ron, but this has a very photo art look to it. Somewhere between a photomanipulation and painting. Was this intentional?

Regardless, it is unique in its own way, congrats on being there to witness this.

Spectacular colors, and sky. The mountain shadows look a little flat on my monitor, so maybe a little more contrast there. Otherwise a fantastic capture. See a little fringing on far right cottonwood where it meets the sky,

Harry

Joel, I do see what you're saying about the tree. It's much less pronounced in the large file, but I could go in and refine that edge a bit more.

Nicolaus, very little adjustments were made to the files. Perhaps the biggest adjustment I made was to use a warmer white balance on the sky. Also, usually I like darker images, but for this I intentionally kept it light.

Thanks for the comments.

Ron, the processing doesn't work for me personally here. The light levels are bright in a very unnatural way throughout the landscape and the blending is evident around the treetop at right. I'd drop everything below the sky down at least two full stops and then work to bring out color and luminosity, maybe keeping the river a bit brighter than the rest to retain a nice path. The shadows on the Watchman are nearly as bright as much of the sky when in fact there would naturally be probably four stops difference. The sky seems washed out a bit and also seems off. The dark shadowy blues I remember from that morning in the clouds here have nearly identical exposure levels as the brightest of red highlights in the ULC. I'd probably rework this completely by starting with a darker image and brightening it selectively and more naturally if possible. From a compositional perspective, I can't fault anything and I think once you get the processing down on this one the landscape will glow and really compliment that firey sky.

This looks way too green. Oh wait, that's a reflection on my monitor of me being green with envy. Your image is gorgeous. Certainly one of the best I've seen from here. I agree that the processing makes this looks a little painterly, but I like it.

What an incredible moment of light! I love the luminosity of the distant peak, but overall the processing looks too, well, processed. I can even see obvious haloing around the cottonwood on the right, and around some of the peaks. I'd try Marc's advice and see where that takes you. Definitely worth getting this one right!

I have to agree with the rest re: 'development'. This is an outstanding scene and the light is super. However, the post work has rendered this artificially sweet, IMO.

I am increasingly regretting that I missed being out and about on this particular morning in Zion. My hotel room had more of a sunset view than a sunrise view, and by the time that I realized what was taking place this morning and got my act together, it was too late. I applaud your effort to capture a morning composition of this scene. But I agree with the general consensus that you have over thought the post processing somewhat.

Lots of potential here I'd keep working on it. That is an incredible sky and you've got all the details to make it work. What a morning that was. Amazing how many folks were there to catch it.

The sky was exposed for 2 secs. at ISO 100, and the land was exposed for 2 secs. at ISO 1600. Only a little noise reduction added to the land.

Is that reversed The sky was give something like 4x the exposure that the land was?

I have to agree with others in that while there is a nice pastel painted feel to this, it reeks of overprocessing and has the obvious halo on the tree. Once you get the processing right, this will be an amazing image.

Ahh yes the Nov 8th morning was fantastic and you caught the Watchman sleeping!! Keep processing, good suggestions have been made. The image is in there.

I agree that this needs work, but is absolutely worth it. Beautiful colors and scene you captured!

Ron,

Without repeating too much, this is a beautiful scene and hopefully with some processing you can really make this one sing - and it's certainly worth the effort. As presented, I think the processing is a bit off. I hope you can repost, because it's a beautiful scene.

Lon

Beautiful colors and comp. It looks like a painting. Mmust have been a fantastic morning.

A beautiful shot of an iconic spot. The sky seems a bit "off" though, can't put my finger on it.