Maligne Lake

After a snowstorm in mid-July, I climbed up Bald Hill for the view back

across Maligne Lake, just as the sun began to break through the clouds.

All comments much appreciated.

Thanks.

Well composed image, and quite a spectacular view.

Robert, Holger,

Many Thanks for your comments.

Mark

Hi Mark,

Toning is always a personal taste and an artist's expression. Having said that, I feel the mid tones are too dark. The image looks better if you allow more light, specially in sky. 

I reduced the contrast in sky with levels tool in layer and applied gradient mask so that only sky is affected. I also increased mid tones in foreground using curves. It looks more natural in my eyes. Take a look.

Best... Sandeep

Hi Sandeep,

Thank you for taking the time to comment, and produce the alternative version.  As you say, different individuals will always prefer different toning options: personally, I prefer the darker mid-tones in this image (and in particular in the sky) as that better represents the scene that I saw when I took the shot.  But as a photograph, your version is better than mine.

Thanks again for taking the time to comment - I really appreciate it.

Best Regards

Mark

You have the makings of a masterpiece here and different from most of the images that I have seen of maligne lake. I like the drama in the image, the clarity , color and depth. There are four things that I find distracting and only three which you could modify now if you chose to do so.

1. I have the perception that the image is leaning and needs to be tilted colockwise.  (Technical)

2. I would prefer to lighten the dark conifers on the middle right side even if they are under a shadow.  (Personal preference)

3. We have a touch of blue, a majority of greens, white snow and white /grey clouds. Good stuff. Then I get a large muddy brown path right down the middle of the image. H-m-m-m! (Personal preference).

4 Your highlights in the clouds look close to border line as been lost. If you are shooting in RAW you can recover about two stops and blend the sky from a 2 stop underexposure RAW processed image with layers. (Technical)

I may sound a bit harsh but it is not intended to be so. You do indicate in your bio that you prefer the trial and error with feedback so I have tried to provide feedback that you can chuck or not. 

I don't have any images posted here - perhaps in the future just to give them extra exposure but I am a semi profesional photographer with some of my images in publications. And I am usually not this verbose as it is time consuming. 

Good luck in your photo journey,