Dusk in the foothills

[Wheeler McDougal Jr.]

Taken a few weeks ago in the foothills of the Big Horn Mountains. The sun had set behind the mountains and this was taken in the afterglow although there was plenty of light. I have not hadf much experience shooting into the sun and am wondering what people would think of it.
Nikon D3
2009:06:23 21:09:51
85mm
85mm (in 35mm film)
1/80 sec, f/16
Mode: Manual
Metering: Multi-segment
ISO: 200
White balance: Auto
Flash: Off
File size: 87.4MB
Image size: 3607 x 1697
Color space: AdobeRGB
Saturation: Normal
Sharpness: Normal
Contrast: Normal
Color profile: Adobe RGB (1998)

[Gerald_Gilligan]

Wheeler,
This image makes me wish for clouds...I do like the leading lines here and the shadows.
I'm not sure if a split Neutral Density filter would have made a difference....or if an image taken a little later would have helped the overall mood of your image.

Jerry

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hi Mac,
Not sure if this is truly dusk....as the front FG fields appear sunlit as does the side of the mountain in front of us. It does appear to need a few degrees of CCW rotation also. The split ND wouldn't of worked here although an HDR may have to bring up the shadow side of the mountain. Jerry is also correct that if the sun was totally down.....the tonal range would have been more uniform and you may have gotten that glow on the field....and then the split ND may have helped. You may be able to bring up the shadow are a bit because you used the low ISO without much noise....so I would try that first. I'm OK with the amount of sky presented because it shows the different tones. Just tweak it some more and see what you can pull out of the shadows.

[Wheeler McDougal Jr.]

Roman and Jerry
Thanks for your toughts on the image. I guess my first question, if I understand your suggestions, is: Do we want the dark side of the mountain to be lighter? I have uploaded the original image as taken excpt I straightened it a bit and cloaned out the tip of a fence post in the middle of the image. I sort of like the dark side of the mountain, but maybe it would be better if I darkened that side. I was hoping for a great deal of contrast between the very light and the very dark. Is this all wrong? Let me know what you think. I will try the dark side of the changes and see what it looks like.
Mac