Did you add the exposure gradient afterwards, or is that dark line from a GND filter? Either way it's pretty noticeable. I think a soft filter would have been better suited here.
I really like the colour transitions however. They're very "Smokey Mountain."
I agree with MrGreen... this looks like 2 entirely different photos to me. Or like you just selected the bottom, feathered 50 pixels, and boosted the levels waaaaay up. There is no physical reason for the tops of the mountains to be so much brighter than the tops of the clouds, so it really looks fake to my eye.
But with some more careful blending, I do think the image has potential.
This was shot at Clingman's Dome . When I shoot landscapes sunrise/sunsets I almost always use a polarizer and hand maneuver a 1 to 3 stop GND filter, I may have added some saturation but it's only one image, been to long and thousands of photos later, just one of those pastel mornings that only seem to happen for moments.
Thanks Randall
