Two photographs from Mount Nebo

[TaylorM]

Hello Everyone,

Here are two photographs from a mountain in the Wasatch I like to climb every summer, Mount Nebo. Any feedback is appreciated.

Note: I tried to resize these images to be a little smaller before I uploaded them, let me know if there are any problems!

Mount Nebo Sunrise:


Final Approach to the Summit:

[IzzieK]

I prefer #1 with the sunshine hitting the top of the mountain and the clouds are just as beautiful. In the second one, I have no problem with it but I think it is cropped too close to the top. I like the textures of the rocks though...

[Chrisclick]

I also like #1 better. Awesome sky, and the foreground flowers add interest, nice light on the side of the mountain. The second shot certainly shows the task you have/had ahead of you!

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Taylor,

These definitely need to be seen in the LyteBox at full size to give the best effect and I like both compositions.
That said, I did wonder if it was possible to get a shot where the peak isn't quite so central (left-right wise) in #2? However; cropping this shot to achieve that would not be the right thing to do - there are elements on both sides we cannot afford to lose that give the shot its full dramatic effect.


You are braver than I - I'm not sure I'd get that high, but (in #2) I certainly can't see me getting further than the apparent end of the path where the greenery stops, I'd be too wary of losing my footing and sliding/falling some great distance and needing to be rescued. Besides, coming down is often more risky than going up I suspect you may be a few years younger than me and are certainly more practised, if this is an annual trip (well done).

Note: I tried to resize these images to be a little smaller before I uploaded them, let me know if there are any problems!

Sharpness on these is much better, especially when viewed in LyteBox at 100% (one image pixel = one LCD pixel).
For which viewers may need to use keyboard "F11" to set browser full screen and "F" in LyteBox to expand them.

The only outstanding issue is that the second, being vertical/portrait orientation, is 1368 px tall - my screen is only 1080 px tall and many others are only 1050 tall. What this means is I can view the whole composition downsized by my browser, which also results in less sharpness, or I make it 1:1 and have to scroll up and down to see it all. That's why I recommended only producing images 1000 px tall (regardless of their orientation), before suggesting the 1600 px maximum width limit. There's method in my pedantry

Hope that helps, Dave

[Shadowman]

Nice captures.

[rachel]

#1 really looks like a sunrise feels - like being in the cold sunless zone and seeing the light and warmth of the day slowly creeping forwards. Strangely, it looked darker and colder when I viewed it earlier from a work laptop. The foreground looks brighter now but I still like it.

[John 2]

That looks like hard work. Two nice shots though. I prefer the second. It's much more in your face however, I'm with Dave. A different crop making more of the path and the lichen as lead-ins might be worth exploring.

[Ziggy]

Very nice clouds in the first one.

[flashback]

Taylor,
Regarding #1, I think it's a great shot and works well. My one suggestion would be to consider cropping some off the bottom, to where the foreground hillside, sloping from upper right to lower left...I would crop the bottom to where that sloping hillside ends directly in the lower left hand corner.
As for #2, my first thought is...are there any fossils in that shale?
You could consider a crop, removing about half the sky on the top, and about one quarter from the bottom. I did it in lightbox and it changes the image considerably.

[TaylorM]

Thanks for your feedback everyone! This was a beautiful day for a hike, the clouds were very dynamic the whole day.

I do agree with a lot of the suggestions for the second picture. I feel like the framing of the picture is a bit off. When I was shooting this scene I kept thinking "I wish I could move more left in order to get the lines and the trail pointing toward the summit". It was a long way down on both sides of the trail so I was doing my best to be careful . I agree with Dave 100%, going up is the easy part, coming back down is very scary!

Flashback, there are fossils in the stone. Until about 15,000 years ago the Great Salt Lake was much bigger (it was called Lake Bonneville). All of the mountains along the Wasatch have little sea creature fossils. Its really fun to look for the fossils while you are resting on the summit .