Fire and Ice

[Rachel Hollander]

Sunset at Lake Louise in the Canadian Rockies.

Canon 7D
16-35 @ 21mm
1/125
f3.5
ISO 400
EC -1
HH, levels adjustment, contrast boost in CS5.

C&C welcome and appreciated. Thanks,

Rachel

[dankearl]

The sky and clouds are really nice as is the snow covered mountain.
I think the dark peaks in the FG would work better if you lightened the water a bit.
Dramatic scene though, the comp is really good.

[Don Railton]

Hi Rachel

I like the clouds and mountain tops in the distance but the two big black triangles formed by the two near mountains steal too much from this scene for me. They just don't have enough detail. Longer glass or maybe a HDR might have helped here..

Thanks for showing

DON

[Jay Gould]

Hi Rachael, too much darkness and i can't find a crop I like. I just love the center with the reflection.

[Dave Mills]

Hi Rachel, kept getting pulled away from the computer and somehow missed commenting. The composition is good and the clouds,reflection and rear mountain are nicely handled.(quite nice)
I agree with the consensus that there is too much area void of detail especially on the rt. I can see some detail there but not sure if you could bring it out without it looking noisy or unrealistic. I would play with it and try for a bit more...

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks all for the comments. I played around a bit with dodging the mountains and here's a repost. Please let me know what you think.

Thanks again,
Rachel

[Robert Amoruso]

Rachel,

I would agree that an exposure blending technique was needed here. Exposure for the sky was perfect which is why the peaks are lacking detail.

The FG water draws the eye more then helps the composition, I would crop 2/3rds or more of the water out.

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Robert. Hindsight is 20/20 and I wish I had brought my tripod to dinner that night and tried some bracketing for HDRs. Next time.

[Don Railton]

Hi Rachel

I think the repost is much better... When you find the shop that sells hindsight so you have some when you need it let me know... I could use some myself.

Don

[Morkel Erasmus]

Love the light here Rachel! First thing I thought was what Robert suggested...a large crop from the bottom to have less water...but I can understand you wanting to leave the crimson reflection in :)

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Don and Morkel. Yes Morkel, I really like the sunset reflection and prefer not to crop it out.

Rachel