Light Grove +Update

Awesome image Alex! You did an excellent job with the DOF and dynamic range blend. I really like the sunstar and the close up flowers in the foreground. The only nit I have is with the 2 dead balsamroot sticks (probably from last year) that are sticking up in the middle/right area. I'm sure it would be a pain to clone/heal it them out, but it might be worth it, if you are going to print this big. Outstanding work here!

Agreed on the sticks, Scott! When I saw the RAWs, I couldn't believe I hadn't noticed the sticks while in the field. Too lazy to clone them out now since they don't show up terribly bad at web sizes, but I certainly would before printing

Incredible image Alex. The DOF and blend are extremely well done and the sunstar tops it all off. very nicely done.

Magnificent, as always, Alex. Amazing light and DoF - well worth the "arduous" blending effort!

This turned out fantastic Alex. I really like the rich dark tone in the foreground, and how you handled the bright highlights in the background. The tree next to the sun adds extra dimension to this shot. Very well done.

Fantastic image in all respects Alex! Wow!

Nice Alex...

Pretty and great processing as always. Comp feels out of balance for me with the flowers centered and the star to the left.

Nice job racking up the ES lately btw...

aF

Thanks everyone!

Aaron, I wanted the "main trio" of flowers to be in the LR, to act as a counter-balance to the tree in the UL. However, when warping/cropping so that they were way over there, further right, the left side of the FG looked too empty to me. The reason I didn't compose them further right in the first place is that I didn't want the rightmost FG flowers cut off or too close to the edge, creating tension there. I thought it was better to have that going on the left side of the FG than the right, since the attention should be more on the right anyway.

I still tried to have the trio off-center to the right, but perhaps they're too close to the center to convey that that was the intention.. maybe a little crop-'n-warp is in order. I wasn't in love with the comp anyway (I later refined it, and almost deleted this set), but the sky and light turned out to be the best in these exposures.

Sounds like that was a lot of work. Nice results.

Paul

Very nice balance in this composition. I love the brighter FG flowers and the starburst. Nice job blending.

Sweet capture, Alex! I'm not sure if I would clone out the flower that leaves the LL area or not (that's a lot to clone), but for sure I wouldn't change anything else. Beautiful work.

My initial inclination was to clone it, Cory, but then I decided it was too much work. Maybe sometime before print..

Fantastic as always Alex. The minor nits others mentioned don't even bother me here, it's just such a pleasant scene to take in.

How'd you make the sunstar, Alex.

Very nice work, Alex. I like the composition and the sunset light really brings out the wonderful color and adds drama.

Barry, shoot at f/22 when the sun is just cresting the edge of something (in this case, the cloud and the tree). The cleanliness/sharpness of the sunstar varies from lens to lens (the Canon 16-35L II is the best 35mm sunstar hands-down). It also varies depending on how much the sun is obscured, and how much you expose.

Update: cloned out the midground sticks, see updated version at the Purchase Print link.

Fantastic mix of so many elements. The twigs are not a problem for me. They are not very bright, and heck, they were there! I might just slightly darken that are instead of removing, but that may be more my style on this. My only suggestion on improving such a cool shot might be to selectively and subtly brighten the tops of the near flower petals to give them more luminosity since I'm sure they glowed with the sun shining through them. Plenty of dynamic range available to do this with any fears of blowing them out. Digit!

Beautifully done. Compelling composition and tones. Appreciate what you went through to deal with the wind effect in processing.

Beautiful shot, I think sunflowers are one of the best plants for conveying emotion, perhaps because their heads are heavy enough to bend their stalks and hang like that of a weary person. I'm impressed with the manual blending, though I don't know much about it, but a long exposure with blurred flowers could have been interesting too.

This is one of the nicest compositions and displays of light I've seen from the Rowena area. Most people seem to shoot the view into the Columbia, but I much prefer this with the oak trees.

The cut off flower on the left doesn't really bother me. It's impossible not to cut off some flowers and still have a full composition.

Just splendid Alex. Star light takes it to another level.