Dream Lake August Snow

[Jared Gricoskie]

This was one of the rare shots I get to take while leading an instructional photo safari in Rocky Mountain National Park. 30 minutes before this shot my client and I stood looking down Dream Lake cloud covered to the tree tops, grey skies, and 50 mph winds. After arriving just after sunrise we waited 15 minutes and conditions didn't get better so we headed back. A quarter mile back down the trail the clouds broke, we ran back to Dream Lake for 5 minutes of great light then the clouds came back.

D100, f11 24mm (36mm film equiv), tripod

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hi Jared,
I'm a sucker for these shots as my first love was backpacking. I really like the shot overall......but it feels like it is leaning right??? Might be an optical delusion/illusion. Snow is a hair bright............but could probably be toned down overall. Very nice mtn. scene. Reminds me of why I always loved Colorado!
Roman

[Leroy Laverman]

Really nice scene. Glad you found some light. I agree with Roman about the tilt. I rotated 0.83 CCW and tried to bring down the contrast some to darken the snow.

[Robert Amoruso]

Overall it works well. I agree with the comments on rotation and bringing the contrast down. A polarizer might have added a nice touch here letting you see through the water to the rocky bed.

[Bob Ettinger]

Great job and like Roman, I thought it was leaning right.

[Jared Gricoskie]

Thanks for the replies. Oddly this one was leveled with a bubble level but it does have that slight lean in the image. They aren't 100% accurate but it always comes down to the eye in the end. I tried the shot with the polarizor and it turned the sky black regardless how I rotated it, and with the choppy water I took what I could get.