Cook Inlet to Alaska Range

[Rachel Hollander]

So after my experience with the sunsets and sunrises of the west coast of Florida I decided to go back and look at some of the landscapes I took in Alaska this past summer. I was in Anchorage for a bore tide and drove out along Cook Inlet and Turnagain Arm to see it. While waiting for the tide to reach me, I played around taking some shots of the mudflats of Cook Inlet and the Alaska Range, which are just under a 100 miles away. The sun was peeking through and hitting the mountains way off.

Canon 50D
70-200 f4 @ 73mm
1/640
f10
ISO 200
Cropped to pano, levels adjustment, decreased contrast, USM applied and NR in CS5.

C&C welcome and appreciated. Thanks,

Rachel

[David Stephens]

Great pano. I love the light on the peaks.

[Dave Mills]

Hi Rachel, very interesting subject matter. This type of comp lends itself to many ideas. Your framing appears fine to me but I can also see it as a tighter pano with the dark sky just framing the top. If this were mine I would see what it looked like with the mountains having a bit more contrast so they would stand out a bit more. Another idea is to crop a bit off the rt.
I like the remote feel of the image!!

[Andrew McLachlan]

Hi Rachel, this is a very nice image, love the comp and the distant light. I agree with Dave that a little more contrast in the mountains would make them stand out a little better. Nice one!:S3:

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Dave, Dave and Andrew for the kind comments. Interestingly, I had purposely decreased the contrast in the OP because I thought the light on the mountains looked better and more like I remembered it with the reduced contrast. I'll revisit the issue.

Thanks again,
Rachel

[Rachel Hollander]

Here's a repost with the suggested boost in contrast applied selectively to the mountains and another round of USM applied to the mountains and clouds.

Thanks,
Rachel

[Brendan Dozier]

Very nice wide open scene & composition, Rachel. Like how the mudflats contrast with the mountains. The repost makes it an even stronger image. Well done!

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Brendan

[Dave Mills]

Hi Rachel, IMO an improvement!!

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Dave for the suggestion. I like it too.

Rachel

[Robert Amoruso]

Rachel,

I really love this image. I took so long to comment as I wanted to see it on my home computer and have only been working from an iPad this past week.

Hey, I am Mr. Contrast when it comes to monochrome images but I feel the original post better conveys to me how I feel when I am in AK on an overcast day viewing such scenes. I do like the additional sharpening of the mountains.

I you do settle for more contrast in the clouds, i would suggest something in between the two posts.

Well done compositionally. It all flows well horizontally with a good selection of textures creating a nice layered appearance.

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Robert, much appreciated. Btw the monochrome image is as it was at that particular time in that particular place. This is the "color" version, no conversion made. Although I actually did do a b&w conversion of another shot from the same time frame and it isn't much of a difference, maybe a little less green. Just wanted to clarify. It was really one of those gray days that Alaska is known for.

Thanks again,
Rachel