IMG_7458-Coast Dairies State Park

After a few days of rain, the light always has a special quality. This

afternoon up north was surreal. Comments appreciated. Thx -Clayton

A great image with potential to go even further. Just one thought (and you may be fundamentally opposed to the very idea of what I'm about to propose): since we in the western world read left to right have you considered the possibility of flipping the image horizontally so that the eye can more naturally follow the line of the cliff across the image?

Also the magpie in me wants to make this into a commercial picture postcard type image by popping the colour, saturation and textures everso slightly. All IMHO of course!

I like original picture better :)

Clayton,  I prefer the image as it is too.  Larry

Graham: I appreciate your inputs. As for the horizontal flip, I'm familiar with the technique and have used it on occasion before, usually on an abstract image though. In this case, I think the dominant curve in the image draws they viewer through the scene whether it's flipped or not. Also, since I was there myself photographing this scene, it leaves me with a stronger personal bias of what's right or appropriate for this image. Now, if numerous folks commented with a preference for the flipped version, I might consider it for some purposes, but not for something tied to the specific location, like a California State Park brochure, for example.

About enhancing the image with more saturation and contrast, I typically try to err on the safe side and not over-do it. I feel that if an image appears to have been digitally altered or enhanced, that it may lose some authenticity and regard. Folks may think, "Oh, it's all done with Photoshop so it didn't really look that way." I prefer viewers to think, "Wow, that's a spectacular scene, and it's a real place that I want to go explore myself some day." That said, sometimes I lose perspective after working on an image for a while, and later decide to go back and pump it up or down a bit as needed.

Also, I notice you applied a vignette to the image. It's funny, because the first thing I did during raw file conversion, was to use a lens correction, which also removed the slight, but real, vignetting that was originally present on this image. I tend to like vignetting for some purposes, like portraits, but typically not for landscapes. Before I owned better quality lenses and filters, I would sometimes get an undesired vignetting effect from very wide angle shots. So, right or wrong, I personally associate vignetting in landscape scenes with cheap lenses and lack of refined post-processing technique. But that may be just a personal bias.

Anyway, thanks again for your detailed and thought provoking inputs. Best regards, -Clayton