Sheepy Ridge

This is my kind of image, Ed.  Wonderful empty country with sweet evening light.  For some reason, I think there is too much foreground here.  I blew this up and scrolled to just above the dead snag with the juniper blending with the right edge and I loved it even more.  I would also fill in the trail on the bottom left if you leave it uncropped.  Nice as presented for sure.

I think the view is great, but the partial trail in the left portion is something I might try to avoid in the future.  I realize you wanted those nice flowers.  Maybe another spot could have yielded a similar view.

I like this, Ed. Has a painterly look to it. Regarding the path, I wish it either was not there, or else that it was used as a leading line and not so close to the edge. Very nice image overall, however. 

Ed, I like the foreground shrubs and grasses with the grand view in back, but the composition isn't working for me. As other have said, I wish that the trail wasn't there and also that tree on the right wasn't so close to the edge. I'd love to see more from this place, because it is beautiful, and you had some lovely light and shadow here.

Really nice image with two small nits as others have suggested. Wish the tree wasn't cropped off and you could probably use the content aware tool in PS to cover the trail.

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Thanks everyone for your feedback. I will work with this and with others I took at the same time to see if I can incorporate your suggestions into a better end result.

The large version is a must-see. The small version looks a little soft, but the large one is perfect. I like the subtle contrast and the various textures. Works for me.
--P

Ed,

I'm really enjoying this grand view and landscape.  I've mentioned before, but seeing this brings back great memories for me when I visited here for about 5 or 6 consecutive years back in early 90's.  Spent many hours traveling that loop around the refuge.  Ahhh, Sheepy Ridge... ;-)

The large view is great and other than the already mentioned path, I really like the composition and portrayal of this little corner of California.

Lon

As Lon has stated this is a gem of a place to visit. Great horned owls love to nest on those distant bluffs. You can spot their nests by hiking along the base where you will periodically come across mounds of rodent bones. The raptors eat them and poop right off the cliff below. This is a nice image but the comp isn't the strongest: tree too close to frame, yellow rabbit brush cut off by frame, dead branch in awkward location. I think Gar's crop suggestion helps.

I like this.  How the colors trail off into lighter tones, and those nice clouds.  So easy to look at this.  The golden foliage in the FG, and that dead branch, too, really add to this.  It almost looks painterly.
Nice!