Phoenix Rising

Wicked cool clouds and great composition. I love this shot. My only minor nit is that the sky goes from rather dark at the top to quite light at the bottom above the mountains. I'm wondering if lightening the top part a bit and darkening the bottom to even it out more might help.

Diffused/orton glow on the snow is pretty sick. Awesome processing Ted.

Gorgeous, Ted. One of my favorites of your recent work. I concur with earlier comment about the sky transition, and add that the clouds are slightly too "crisp" for my taste. But, man, this is just fantastic work.

Hi Ted

Overall this is a beauty! Wonderful light on the flowers and the mountain cloud combo really bring it to life. The middle ground falls a little flat for me though. Consider brightening it a little and it might not appear so muddy. But really the FG and BG are so dynamic they pull my eye through.

It was great to meet you and shoot together at Assiniboine. Did you get any images from our morning shoot?

Take care and feel free to connect if you ever want to go shooting in the SW.

Shane

Nice work putting this one together, Ted. My favorite shoot from our trip. My only critique is the overly dark and muddy (from over-ortonization, it would appear) middle-ground, which I'd expect to flow better if brightened up a but. Could also see bringing up the highlights in the flowers to get a little more 'pop'. Glad you got to meet Shane at Assiniboine. He's an amazing fellow.

Great composition. The flowers look a bit dark on my screen. The snow nicely connects the flowers and the mountains. The shape of the clouds is amazing.

Thanks for the comments guys. This one's been through the ringer several times already... it's been a difficult image to dial in. The sky had an odd fall off that was intersected with that main diagonal cloud, so it created a really harsh transition from left to right in the gradation of the sky. I evened that out and then felt like doing a little bit of highlighting towards the bottom of the sky because after fixing the original gradation, it felt TOO even. I can try stretching it out a bit more.

Considering that two of my most well respected photographers suggest that the middle ground is too flat(it's funny you guys almost exactly the same comment), I guess that means I need to do something about it! Thanks for the suggestion. The only orton I applied was over the lake and the glacier. A little bit of it spilled over the right side of the lake. Maybe that's part of the problem. I'm not totally seeing how it is flat and muddy, and I kind of feel that brightening would make it feel more muddy? I'll give it a shot, but my other fear is losing the sense of it being in shadow. What are your guys thoughts?

Marc, this was a great area. Thanks for letting me take your raft for a spin!

And yes, Shane, it was a pleasure! That morning was excellent. I haven't looked into my files for that yet, but I'm positive it's going to be a great shot. Probably the best from my trip there, despite the cookie cutter comp. You'll definitely hear from me when I get the urge to visit the SW!

Maybe just a tad more light on the Indian Paintbrush, but not bad at all! Ron

I like this a lot more now that it seems to be coming along. I still have a few suggestion/observations. I am still seeing an overly saturated red in the mountain. It seems to make it feel uneven to my eye, but having never been here, is it two different types of rock that reflect the light differently? It isn't as noticeable as before, but I can still see it. The other thing is the flowers. I really like the light on them now, but like most just a little more and it will be perfect. I might suggest maybe adding some pink/magenta/blue into the flowers so perhaps it might match the sky a bit more? Just a thought. Killer work though and I doubt I could do better here.

Just awesome! The FG flowers and the band of snow leading up to the grand finale makes this an outstanding composition

Open the mid section slight, my only change.
Sure is a beauty.

Dark to light transition. Just transitions, Ted....like I always say. If the mid-ground stays dark, it interrupts that. Shouldn't be too much work to experiment with that. And yes, I think any 'muddy' look is just Orton spill-over next to the lake.

It could use some 'tweaks' (especially the dull dark sky section) as mentioned. Some real nice light here, and i love the clouds. The flowers-in-your-face-sunlit-peak-in-the-bg comp has always been a popular one here; beaten to death at times. I think it can work if used sparingly. Sometimes it comes off as forced. When you have two strong subjects they can compete and seperate, and that's the danger of this approach. In this case I think it might have worked better with a broader view of the flowers--I actually like this better with the close up stuff cropped out; it enables me to enjoy the scene as a whole more rather than think "why is my head pushed up against these paintbrushes?" Just a thought--your mileage may vary

If you screen stroll, it looks better with about half of the bottom flowers cropped off.
Broken Top and the sky look great.

Great light on the peaks and beautiful colors. The cloud formations really play with my imagination.

Some good tweaks above, but I have to add that I love this one!!

Ok, updates! Tried to address the things most were pointing out, namely getting the brightness levels in the sky more even. I still left some gradation because no sky is completely flat. Also gave it a slight shift to blue.

Also brightened up and cleaned up the mid ground. How's that feeling to you Marc and Shane?

Also, more pop on the flowers.

I would think this was an Adamus if I did not see it was from you! Killer dude.

Stunning image Ted. Great processing on this and wonderful sky and fore ground. The repost is just perfect. Really well done.

Mark, whatcha talking about? I had enough of these type scenes years ago I was there, but the camera stayed in my bag this morning. Sometimes I just like to watch it all.

The repost does feel better to my eye. Can't wait to see these Assiniboine pics! From what I've been seeing around it looks like the color was 2 weeks late this year and they got less snow than Glacier, which I bet must have made for an awesome combo.

Go with Marc's suggestions and it's a grand finished image. Great light and scene. The clouds are the icing, too.

Thanks Mark, I'll take that compliment! Marc has been a huge help and inspiration for me.

Marc, the conditions at assiniboine were perfect. Larches were at peak, and there was a fresh layer of snow on the ground when I got there. The three days prior to my arrival, the area had been mostly socked in, but opened up for the entire three days I was there. I want to get through my oregon pics before I get to those, so it might be a bit before I get around to them.

Morris, I made the changes Marc suggested, see my repost a few comments up.

very nice Ted, i like the light & the mood in this shot

well done

Mark, whatcha talking about? I had enough of these type scenes years ago

Hahahahaa! And thank God for that!