Sierra Classic II +crop

You have probably started a trend here with the aspen, Lon. The poor dogwood will probably be relegated to an afterthought. Seriously though this is beautifully done as the blend looks pretty seamless to me and your SS choice has created some wonderful details in the water. No suggestions from me.

Ed

Lon, the blend looks good to my eye.  The composition also looks good and frames the rocks and the cascades nicely.  Beautifully done!

You did a fine job on this, Lon. The blend looks really well done. The color looks great, and the water flow has plenty of nice texture. My only suggestion would be to clone out the rock in the very upper left corner. Other than that, this is really fine work!
--P

This turned out really well. Blend looks great to my eye. It must have been tedious to manually blend it. I would agree with Preston's suggestion on the clone. You are a trend setter, both in photography AND fashion!

 

Very nice image. I prefer the lower part a lot more than the upper. The water, boulders, and that single branch hanging over the water is really special. However, I can't come up with a crop that wouldn't require significant cloning at the upper border of the frame.

I really can't come up with good suggestions on the current image. The large rock, top left center, looks a bit awkward peeking through the foliage but that's being picky and it may not be true at all.

Lon, I can only imagine the challenges of focus stacking such a scene, so I'm not likely to attempt it. I like your choice of SS to get the water texture. composition is excellent, and the glow of the warm light on the bedrock against the yellow is superb. A fine capture.

This works for me on many levels Lon.  The focus is spot on for the leaves and rocks.  The shutter speed you have chosen for the water motion works well.

Thanks for the comments and suggestions!  Seems a consensus on rocks up top - not just the one in the ULC, but also the bigger one up top.  I think Igor's concern about a messy crop was a valid one, but I think i found one that is decently clean.  Here is a cropped version.  I also made a few subtle edge adjustments where some of the white water merged with the edge.

I also wanted to mention the blend. Nothing tedious about the blend, it was actually very basic.  If you look close, you'll notice the rock and the water below the level of the big rock is more focused/sharp.  The water above that  line is soft and not in focus.  I combined two frames, but it was as simple as one half being the sharper leaves up top, and the sharp rock at the bottom.  I'll include a simulated mask to follow.

Thanks for your thoughts and suggestions!  I too really like the rocks and water at the bottom of the frame - the aspens leaves, nice color accent... ;-)

Lon

Here's a screenshot of the layer mask similar to the one I used on the original master file (I had flattened all that, so I had to repeat from original RAW)

The cropped version works, but I prefer the original composition, even with the rocks in it. For me, it is the space between the upper leaves and the edge that does it in the original. For my money, I would clone the upper rock and call it very nicely done. YMMV (money, not mileage). 

Lon, This is very nice! I have always enjoyed your shot with branches and leaves over the water and I especially like the aspen leaves. I like the comp of the original with a bit more room around the leaves. The one rock doesn't really bother me much but it would be nicer without it. Very nice!

Nick Bristol
Lone Rock, WI.

This is strikingly wonderful!  The blend of images is first rate and the colors really pop.  Well done.

I like both versions, Lon. But I do prefer the second which is more direct and more effective. I like the colors and especially the light on the rocks at the bottom, really gorgeous in the large version.

This is really nice and I like the cropped version that removals part of the diagonal branch in the upper right hand corner.  The blend looks good, but I wonder why you needed to blend images, unless to maintain the SS for the water.