Wow! One of the best shots of Rushmore I've seen. You might consider cropping the top part of the sky out right above the brightest blue in the middle. Very nice indeed! Ron
matthewh133 wrote:
... You don't often see sunrise/sunsets shots from here...
Probably because the sun sets right behind the rock, leaving the faces in deep shadow. Sunrise must be nice, with well-lit faces, but then you do not get a dramatic sky behind. This shot was taken years ago, on a Canon 20D, and only recent advances in RAW processing (e.g. Lightroom 4) enabled a successful combination of pulling shadows out of total darkness and allowing the highlights without clipping.
I tend to believe that, say in the last ten years, we made less progress in sensor quality than in RAW software. Just try to re-process your old files and you will be surprised how much quality was hidden there in those "old, lowly" 8 Mp sensors, for instance.
Ron-H wrote:
... You might consider cropping the top part of the sky out right above the brightest blue in the middle...
You might be right. I checked, and the image lends itself to a number of different crops. I like to print big, say 20x30 canvas, and then the available canvas sizes tend to determine the crop ratio.
In this case, a 2x1 or even 3x1 panorama crop works well. Just as an 8x10 or even a square ratio. However, in each of these crops, the emphasis tends to shift from a landscape with a dramatic sky to a monument with a sunset sky. Also, as you crop tighter, the shift then goes from the monument as a whole to the presidents.
