Perfectly composed with a wonderful reversed S curve through the textures and terrain.
I think this would also work well in BW. I wonder about a tad of darkening the lower left corner.
I wonder. I dont know.
Nice job Kent!
Zig-zag diagonals work quite well - I think there is more tonality and detail to be mined from the lighter rock areas; gradient in sky, on this monitor is a tad dark at right (maybe polarizer tho?). Slight vignette might help frame/enclose bottom edge.
+1 @ could benefit from some selective tonal work. This was a "lazy" effort of global adjustments only in LR4.
Interesting @ the zig-zag / reversed S ... I never noticed at all. My eye goes mostly foreground>tree>formation>ridge>foreground ... in loop fashion ... diving off to explore color/details at various point along the way.
What I see. The lines in the rock point to the large rock structure in the background. I like that you did not miniaturize Zion. The whole thing about Zion is the immensity of the rocks. You could do miniatures anywhere, at Zion you need to do big slabs of rock.
I agree the sky has some polarizer effect going on and some more color could be had from the rocks.
I am heading there the first part of November because that's the earliest you can drive into the main section. It is supposed to be best fall color time, but this year is really early.
"Diamonds (rocks) are a girl's best friend." A guy can be rather fond of rocks as well.
A couple have mentioned "polarizing" effect. What do you suggest is the cause for this effect? I have some theories, but I'd like to hear from others first.
I also note that when I shoot aspen with the lens pointed at a substantial up angle, even with no polarizer, the sky gets awfully dark at the top. Solid color gradients are very hard to fix. I found using hue saturation on the blue channel effective. Lighten and saturation both reduced then apply a gradient mask.
There is something different about the light out there ... and trying to get separation between yellows & reds without getting "garrish" is a bit of a trick ... one I haven't quite figured out just yet.
I truly loved my all too brief visit and was quite smitten (go figure) by the majesty that one is immersed in with another OMG (which for me is literal reverence) waiting for you around every bend in the road. There is nothing quite like coming around a bend a being swallowed up by the grandeur of God's Handiwork.
The thing that was most impressive @ Zion was the proximity with which one experiences it.
There is something different about the light out there ... and trying to get separation between yellows & reds without getting "garrish" is a bit of a trick ... one I haven't quite figured out just yet.
I truly loved my all too brief visit and was quite smitten (go figure) by the majesty that one is immersed in with another OMG (which for me is literal reverence) waiting for you around every bend in the road. There is nothing quite like coming around a bend a being swallowed up by the grandeur of God's Handiwork.
The thing that was most impressive @ Zion was the proximity with which one experiences it....Show more →
Zion is one of my favorite parks, along with Canyonlands. Not such a big fan of looking down into a shadowy hole, or at arches or slots. But I do love being down in a canyon looking up at huge slabs of colorful rock.
The hard part of doing Zion is getting light to the bottom and having enough focal width to capture it.
sbeme wrote:
Both nicely rendered. I lean toward the BW but probably just because I like BW and there is something more classic about it in my mind.
Scott
Thanks Scott,
Classic is good ... something I could stand to aspire to do more of.
Your last versions look the best. I like the B+W better as well, but do recognize that the colors of the rock do provide interest as well. I want to get back to Zion. I spent just part of a day there several years ago and that just was not nearly enough. - Paul
I like the composition, although a little less foreground might not hurt. To my eye, the area of sand at lower left gets just a little too much 'air time.'
IMO, the basic problem us the horrible light. I know we can't always choose when and where we shoot, but this shot really needs the sun to be somewhere else. Fiddling with blackpoint (up a few clicks) and stretching the middle-upper section of the tonal curve to separate some of the contrast helps a little, but...
Your point @ lighting ... that's the reason why a day, a week, or even a month isn't nearly enough time. You can visit / see many places and envision a zillion shots in a compressed time frame ... but executing at the "right" time of day is very limiting as a person can only be in one place at the "right" time.
As to the sand @ LLC, I think you are correct that it could benefit from a trim off the bottom to rebalance things.
... so little time 
