[AggieDad]

I offer these two shots of the Teton Range in the evening (7:30 MDT) for your critique. All constructive criticism and comments are welcome.

They were shot with a K-5IIs and the standard DA 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 AL WR kit lens.

[mee]

There is not much detail and not much contrast.. especially in the first image. It seems like it needs less brightness and more contrast. Actually it could use a punch in the clouds and in the water to bring out some depth. (see your image I processed below)

The second one I think I like the purple more.. it looks more airy to me but is still lacking something. I think it needs some purpose.. what is the central point you are trying to display? Because the scene is zoomed into a dead space.

I do like the positioning of the water though.. but the scene itself is missing something.

I don't like the positioning of the trees.. especially the large, dead one. I think it would work better when the trees are near the sides. Otherwise there is this awkward dead space between the tree and the edge.. But that could be completely ME with that problem.

Actually, I think that scene might have worked better if you HAD used the dead tree as your main subject.

Ok so I didn't touch the trees but I did cook the image a little to bring out some depth.. Google Nik Suite (Viveza -- lowered brightness overall, increased structure in clouds and water; Color Efex Pro -- Added Contrast, Dynamic Contrast, and lightened the center/darkened edges using a very large horizontal center size and subtle values to brightness and darkness). It still isn't where I'd want it to be, but that is the extent of my skills on a JPG.

[AggieDad]

mee

Thanks for the input, and I appreciate the time and effort you put into your adjustments.

I really like what you did with the sky and the trees in the foreground. I actually want the mountains to have very little definition, as that is how they appeared at that time - almost a posterization effect. The little additional definition you found is good, but I don't know whether I would want much (or any) more.

As far as my dead tree... well, we part company here. I sort of like dead trees, and I actually worked to put that tree where it is.

I find that I often use tree as framing for landscapes - like most things, it works some times better than it does other times.

Again, thanks for your thoughts.