One more from Grand Canyon

[Lyle Gruby]

This is the same scene I have posted a couple other shots from, but this shot is from higher up a little slope. This was the afternoon we spent there right before the sky just exploded with color. My wife was sitting up higher as she's not a big fan of getting close to the edge of mountains or canyons . We were actually drinking a glass of wine and waiting on the light show to start--and this is the beginning of it. I took a couple shots from up here then moved down and tried some different compositions. Blended the same way the previous 2 shots were--with Mark Metternich's method, curves for contrast, dust spots removed, and I believe that's it. All C&C welcome.

Techs:
D3S
16-35 at 29mm
f/14
ISO 200

[dankearl]

The best photo you have posted from your southwest trip.....
superb detail and sharpness in the foreground, the light and layering in the mid ground is really nice and though one could have
a better sky, it is fine, although I think some off the top and a more pano crop would look better for me.
Nice work.

[Don Railton]

I do like this Lyle, especially the way the sun streaks in over the top of the canyon through the dust I presume. I also like how the image is anchored nicely with a foreground that's sharp and interesting without being dominant... On the down side, I find the sun very distracting and I think another exposure much shorter to blend in would help fix this, and I too would suggest a bit less sky in a pano style of crop.. I could think of nothing nicer than to sit in a spot like this with my wife and a nice vino watching the sun go down..

thanks for showing

DON

[Diane Miller]

I love the incredible light here!!

The horizon feels crooked -- I used the ruler tool to draw a line between the tops of the bluffs on the two edges of the composition and it showed a CCW rotation of 1.3 degrees. That made it look better to me.

I wonder if lowering the contrast in the FG would be an idea, maybe with some cropping? While not the main subject, the rocks and bushes do compete a little for me with the incredible soft detail in the canyon.

[Morkel Erasmus]

Lovely light and comp! Processing feels less than ideal for me. There's some blue and magenta in the FG and midground that needs toning out, and the blotch around the sun feels forced - I don't mind a blown out part around the sun (it's natural that way) but the transition/gradation needs to be natural and not "recovered" too much as it looks like here.
The play of light on the ridges rocks!

[Lyle Gruby]

Sorry for the slow response. Work really gets in the way of my post processing Thanks all for the responses. Here is a re-post with some changes mentioned. I haven't re-cropped yet. Any more comments are welcome.

Thanks

[Andrew McLachlan]

Hi Lyle, repost works much better, especially the area around the sun. I think it could benefit from a slight rotation still. I do love the shadows and light in the canyon. When I am faced with similar scenes whereby the sun is at the horizon I will use my Singh Ray 3-stop reverse grad filter to hold back the brightness of the sun. Very nicely composed!

[Diane Miller]

Yes, the sky is much better now, and I still feel some tilt on the horizon (whether its truly the lay of the land or not, it's the viewer's perception).

However, the FG now is even more contrasty, which gives a dissonance with the lovely light in the canyon. (It could be dark without the high contrast.)

[Lyle Gruby]

Yes, the sky is much better now, and I still feel some tilt on the horizon (whether its truly the lay of the land or not, it's the viewer's perception).

However, the FG now is even more contrasty, which gives a dissonance with the lovely light in the canyon. (It could be dark without the high contrast.)

You're definitely right. I burned down and reduced some contrast in that right side of the FG and it really directs my eye back to the light which is after all the subject of the photograph.

[Morkel Erasmus]

Repost looks better holistically Lyle, but there's a nasty halo along the ridges midground now?