The Narrows - Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge

[Chris Ober]

Another from the trip last month. A naturally carved canyon and transected by West Cache Creek, The Narrows are a favorite spot in the refuge and fairly popular with the rock climbers with it being the densest tall climbing area on the refuge. Not this half though :)

This was from 4 shots merged with Photomatix. I'm having trouble getting the sky from it's muddy presentation after the merge and it still needs some work I think.

30D, 18mm-55mm @ 25mm, f/22.

[Marc Mol]

Magic light here Chris with very nice detail in the shadows, good use of Photomatix here.
TFS

[Nick Palmieri]

This is nice as presented. I may have cropped a little tighter to remove the trees on the right and left edges. I think a local contrast enhancement on the sky may make it pop a bit more or using a polarizing and/or neutral density filter may improve it, but the sky looks pretty good to me.

[Dave Mills]

Chris, Nice job on this!! A natural looking HDR with a well thought out composition. I find the log works well as foreground interest with the orange reflection adding another dimension. The sky doesn't really bother me either and only mention it because you did.
Agree with Nick regarding the small cut trees on both far left and rt but they are a very minor issue and do not effect the strong impact this image puts forth. Well seen!!

[Robert Amoruso]

Chris,

Very well done. You know I like this refuge and it is great to see such a well thought-out and executed image from there. Thanks for posting it Chris.

[Mike Landwehr]

Chris,

I love this image! Particularly the strong foreground with the great rock and old log, the beautiful reflection of the golden light, the detail throughout. The composition looks super, and the sky doesn't bother me at all. I wish I could get my clouds to come out of Photomatix looking as good! All in all, I think you used Photomatix extremely well.

[Hazel Grant]

sky doesn't bother me either. If it were too bright, sharp or whatever, it might detract from the golden hills and reflection--my focal point. good work.

[Chris Ober]

Thank you all

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Chris,
Traveling all day yesterdday so late to the party!......As mentioned above .....great job with Photomatix making a natural looking HDR. Part of me want to see the top of the reflection.....but not at the expnse of the log. If moving it was an option (looks pretty big!).....then that could be an alternative. Sky looks good here too but Nicks suggestion of the LCE may work.....so worth exploring. I may also try to lighten the RH side.....just above the log a touch. May not work, but just a slight lightening may add just nother dimension of depth so just giving you another option to try out. Overall....these are small tweaks to a very nice image!