Upper/Lower Yosemite Reflection

[Nagesh Mula]

Hi Everyone,
I have recently been to Yosemite. There was a lot of photographic opportunity as it was an overcast day. So, i tried to make this picture with EOS 50D and 17-55 mm @ 17.
Since it was an overcast day, i tried to keep the sky as less as possible. I wanted to keep the dirt as it is in the reflection (Is it good?). Not sure on the color of trees (is it too Gaudy?).
I would like to know your opinion on the composition, noise level and other features which you can think of.
Please be open, as I want to learn.
Av - f/13.0
Tv - 1/30
ISO - 400
white balance - Auto
EC - -1
Tripod and dont remember whether I used ND/GND for this :(
Thanks for looking at my pic,
Nagesh Mula

[Mark Fuge]

I see there are more people then when we were there, though there always are people.

While you may want to keep it pure, I would clone out the SUVs and tents. Definately distract from the beauty of this awesome place. Most parks you can have them share the area, but Yosemite is special in that there is no room for them in the valley. Wish they would eliminate them and have the bus system cover it, as the tram was one of the best I've seen when we were there, the waits were short and comfortable. That said,

I would suggest you crop the sky area somewhat. I had this same probable with my image of Akaka Falls on the Big Island. When nature doesn't cooperate with beautiful skies, I go for minimizing them as much as possible.

I would also use the unsharp mask.

I think you could also slightly desaturate the image colors.

As for the dirt, not as offensive as the SUVs in my mind. No need to try to remove them. That is nature, the SUVs aren't.

Nothing wrong with the image that minor adjustments can't fix.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hi Nagesh
I actually like the composition as presented because the sky.....even white, was minimized enough for me as to not be a distraction. If so inclined I would definitely remove the cars.....having been there a few times myself..probably next to impossible to have the scene without them. I am not a huge fan of the color cast in the treeline and Mark's re-post helped there. Do realize that that puddle isn't always there so you were fortunate to get there when it was wet enough.
All in all well composed a a nice angle on the falls.

[Paul Marcellini]

A beauitful scene, I agree the cars are a shame. One thing I noticed is the reflection is brighter and warmer than the actual face, suggestion the use of a grad. I would tone that down and try to match the colors more. Colors look a tad saturated but the overcast conditions do that so it seems pretty believable to me. A bw would be nice also.