Brian, thats excellent, love everything about it! The silver river ribbon, dramatic sky, backdrop of the mountains, and the way the flowers is worked in - all makes an impressive but balanced composition.
Edit:
I was impressed by this image while looking at it on a tablet. But upon examining it on a large screen, I agree with Scott that the image was "blended". Some of the author's other pictures seem to be "blended" as well. I think tinkering with the image in post-processing, like adding elements that did not exist in the original raw file - clouds, foreground - need to be disclosed by the poster, or better yet, posted in a different forum, where all "alternative reality" belongs to.
Beautiful image Brian. I do have question regarding the FG flowers and leaves. Were they added in from a separate exposure? I see what looks like transparent leaves where they meet the grass a little further into the image. It could be just jpeg artifacts but I see a few others things slightly "blending" through. There is also an abnormally straight light on top of one of the yellow flowers. Again, could be the lower res jpeg not showing it properly. Either way it is worth printing.
Scott Kroeker wrote:
Beautiful image Brian. I do have question regarding the FG flowers and leaves. Were they added in from a separate exposure? I see what looks like transparent leaves where they meet the grass a little further into the image. It could be just jpeg artifacts but I see a few others things slightly "blending" through. There is also an abnormally straight light on top of one of the yellow flowers. Again, could be the lower res jpeg not showing it properly. Either way it is worth printing.
Thanks everybody for your thoughts and impressions. Always appreciated and helpful. Didn't add anything except some more clouds for overall composition and to add some " flow ". Did some cloning and cleanup work to the foreground to get rid of unwanted clutter like other flowers and twigs. Did blend a little bit for the composition. I hate it when nature messes with the composition . I prefer to do that.
This scene just screams "Colorado" Love it. The misty vignette adds a really nice touch in my opinion, and the yellow dandelions contrasting the relatively neutral colors in the background helps suck your eye into the frame. Not to mention the amazing curvy stream. Masterfully crafted composition, and a really successful image in my opinion.
Edit: Hadn't noticed it before at this small size, but I do see what Scott and others are pointing out. Kind of a bummer there if this is a blend and wasn't presented that way.
Blended or not, I think this is a great image. It has a very warm and inviting feel to it. This is the kind of photo that makes you want to just stare and let it bring you right into it.
