Fall in Southwest Utah

[Wheeler McDougal Jr.]

I took this image about four years ago and have always liked it but am not sure whether anyone else would. It was a very partly cloudy day and a front had blown through the evening before with wind and rain and a drop of temperature, making for crisp clean air. Let me know what you think. Exposure comp of +2/3 was a mastake on my part. I forgot to check and took all day at a plus 2/3rds. How dumb on my part.
Nikon D2X
2005:09:27 12:57:32
700mm
1050mm (in 35mm film)
1/125 sec, f/9
Mode: Manual
Metering: Multi-segment
Exp comp: +2/3
ISO: 100
White balance: Auto
Flash: Off
File size: 186MB
Image size: 4288 x 2848
Color space: AdobeRGB
Saturation: Normal
Sharpness: Normal
Contrast: Normal

[Paul Burgess]

I like the background, but for me there seems to be something missing.

[Wheeler McDougal Jr.]

Paul- I agree with you but I can't put my finger on what it is. Can you help?

Mac

[Paul Burgess]

I think it lacks definite subject. Some sort of anchor (i.e. an eagle flying over the trees or maybe a distinct foreground tree) would complete the composition. I'm no landscape expert, so hopefully others will chime in.

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

I think Paul nailed it. There is no point of interest. Be it a big rock, a tree, a something that really anchors your eyes when you first glance then the rest of the image makes you look around, returning to that anchor point. The idea is good though IMHO. Your super tele certainly nicely compressed the view, but the haziness that I believe is at times a visible result of this very compression is quite noticeable on that distant hillside. I would try and select the BG hill and push the contrast just a little more as it appears way too flat to me as is. Another thing I would do is crop from the top so you remove the third dimension in the distance. It may look OK converted to a digital painting, or a blurred abstract then apply some filters to it and make it OOTB. Yes, I am a shameless OOTB plugger. :D

Thanks for sharing Wheeler. :)

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hi Mac,
Finally able to get on! I agree that the main issue is the focal point.....but I think you may have been able to work something with the fall colors and shapes.....but seeing how you were at 700mm....that may be the biggest culprit. The narrow fiel of view at that magnification did what it was designed to do.....blur/soften the BG....as a straight landscape image.....not quite effective at that magnification.....throw a flock of birds in......maybe a different story! You could possibly tweak it with a LCE adjustment to eliminate some of the haze......but it still will lack the focal point everyone is commenting on. Now.....concentrating on some of the distant colors and patterns with that set-up.....well just maybe...you could have pulled it off.....but these are by no means easy at all! Finding pleasing comps of just fall colors isn't that easy....especially with the monster magnification!