Mountain Lake

[wtlwdwgn]

There are a lot of lakes in the Beartooth-Absaroka National Forest and a few are visible from the Beartooth Highway in MT and WY. I haven't a detailed enough map to confirm the name of the lake but I've been told it's Gardner Lake. A 3 shot vertical pano with a Pentax K-5 and DA 35mm f/2.8 Macro Limited.

[NorthernFocus]

Looks like a beautiful spot, Steve. You had a nice sky to work with. Excellent detail from top to bottom.

[BrianA61]

Nice composition. Looks a bit over saturated and contrasty, IMHO.

[dje]

Very nice Steve. i like the composition too.

Dave

[ShaneS]

Very nice Steve but I agree with Brian that a little bit more subtlety in contrast and saturation might improve the presentation of the image. It is a beautiful scene and a very nice composition.

[FootLoose]

Good work on the pano, Steve. I thought the colours looked natural - but I wasn't there.

[John 2]

Very nice Steve but I agree with Brian that a little bit more subtlety in contrast and saturation might improve the presentation of the image. It is a beautiful scene and a very nice composition.

+1 but an excellent comp.

[Shadowman]

Nicely done.

[Stagecoach]

It's a well composed interesting scene Steve but for me it's looks over processed which removes some of the natural feel of it.

[Saorsa]

Part of this problem is the inverse of Christina's haze discussed a few days ago. The Beartooth Highway is really a HIGHway. Some parts of the road are close to 11000 feet and the mountains are above that. That is above the treeline and the organic haze of the pines is less of a problem. The deep blue you see as oversaturation is the real colour of the sky there.

I'm having similar problems with some of the higher altitude shots from my Yellowstone trip and similarly with pine haze in the lower altitude shots.

[Mike Buckley]

Such a gorgeous scene! Consider trying a square crop that includes everything in the photo except part of the bottom. Doing so makes better use for me of the large rock formation to anchor the image.

The deep blue you see as oversaturation is the real colour of the sky there.

While that might be true, the issue for me is still the overall presentation of the blue and white tones in the sky. If they were toned down a bit, they would seem more natural in the context of the flat light. The colors in the rest of the image work really well for me.

[Saorsa]

The processing to remove the 'over saturation' is actually making the image less natural.

To a nature photographer, the essence of processing is to do as little as possible which alters the scene as captured. To me, this image taken at altitude is very much the way it looked. To my wife who wasn't there the blue is too intense.

[wtlwdwgn]

Thank you all for your C&C. I didn't do a lot of PP on this image but I'll go back and take another look at it.

[Nicks Pics]

Very nice. Included lots of space from foreground to sky which gives helps the viewer see it like they were there.

[Rebel]

Lovely composition but it is a bit sharp and there does seem to be too much saturation for me too.

[wtlwdwgn]

Thanks Nick and Matt!

[bnnrcn]

Hi Steve. I'm a bit late for this thread and everybody has commented on the saturation of colors already. So , all I want to say is that it is a lovely composition

[wtlwdwgn]

Thanks Binnur! I'm working on the image and I'll repost.

[wtlwdwgn]

Here's my redo of the PP of the lake image. All C&C welcome.

[Mike Buckley]

Magnificent revision! It works really well for me.