Blooming Fire (+RP)

Impressive shot considering the lighting.  I guess I just imagine this with more late day or sunrise light hitting those panicles in the BG and clouds.  There seems to be a little something funky going on in the sky blues/cyans, possibly as a result of processing?  There looks to be sections of the sky that are more magenta, other parts more cyan.  Great to have this right next to your campsite.  Hope to visit this area some day soon, you've re-kindled my interest in the area.

Scott,

An excellent near-far composition and beautiful take away from this place.  Sorry, but can't help with the vegetation ID. ;-(

The color and processing of the sandstone and vegetation look spot on to me.

I can see what Harry is commenting on regarding the blue in the sky. I'm wondering if it's due more to the cpl than anything. My suggestion deals more with noticing the transition of the grad.  there's certainly no line of transition, but I do think the rock formations are darker than the foreground. Not by much, but I think some gentle dodging and burning of both areas might balance the light out a little.  I suppose I'm being a little picky... ;-)

Lon

I am a fool for red rock and blue skies, so I like this. 

As for the flowers, they look like they could be a variety of phlox (the mounding and flowers make that plausible) , but the foliage doesn't look right.  I'm not confident of wildflower  i.d. in that region either.  Does heather grow there?  That seems like a possibility.  Do you have a close up the the flowers?
ML

We visited this state park about a year and a half ago, and I loved it.  A beautiful and diverse place. This image really demonstrates the beauty of one part of the park. Color, light, sharpness, comp.; all are excellent.

Nice near/far comp and pop of the red rock. Yep, VofF is a sweet spot. It sure does live up to its name in warm weather, too!

This is excellent, Scott. Nice comp. and beautiful palette of colors. The clouds really add a lot and help make up for the flat lighting. 

Thanks for the comments and good suggestions. Not sure how I missed the one odd dark spot in the sky. Here's a repost which addresses it and some of the other suggestions. Thanks!

Scott,

At least for me, you've nailed it in your repost.  Thanks for taking the time for reworking.

Lon

Scott,

At least for me, you've nailed it in your repost.  Thanks for taking the time for reworking.

Lon

Hi Scott,

Repost is perfect.  I tried to look up the name of the flowering plant, but need a few additional details regarding flower morphology. Reminds me of popcorn flower, but the arrangement of the flowers suggest that it is not that species.  Basin phlox is also a remote possibility, but the plant looks way too large....................Jim.

Scott, This is a beautiful shot and the repost looks perfect to me. I like this comp a lot and the colors in this are wonderful. Really a fun image to explore and I see lots of faces in the rock and one being a monkey. Nick

 

Sky is much improved in the repost.  Great scene overall...hard to beat the combination of delicate wildflowers and imposing desert rock formations.  For some reason the oranges seem a little strong to me but nobody else has mentioned it, so perhaps I need to adjust my monitor calibration (or my eyes). 

Nice comp.  The flowers are just the right size and color (can't help you with the species) to grab your attention.  VOF is pretty neat.  Hope you got to see more of it.  Robert Hitchman's Photograph America Newsletter was a big help in finding all the arches and features. 

I think the repost is the ticket on this beauty as your couple of little tweeks look perfect, Scott. This has such a wonderful depth to it and the combination of warm and cool tones throughout the image work beautifully together IMO. You can not beat that view for being so close to the campground.

Ed

Scott: I lived in Las Vegas in the early 80's and visited Valley of Fire a couple of times but that was in my pre-photography life and now I rue the missed opportunity. Nice refinements in the repost but this is pretty darn good as is. Well done.>=))>