usa Yosemite NP

I would appreciate some constructive critique regarding this scape, thx

I like it. I think that it's an original picture from a much photographed national park. While I like the effects of red filters (I'm assuming that's what was used here), something a bit less dramatic would be more effective--orange or yellow, maby.

The quality of light, shading, and contrast on the trees are the strongest aspect of this shot. Another strong compositional element is the effect that the pinecone(?) in the foreground has in establishing an implicit line with the trees that leads the eye into the picture.

 

Conversely, the overly contrasty, light tonality of the foreground attracts too much attention and detracts from the trees; and would have effectively hid the pinecone if it weren't for the latter's shadow. The thin diagonal streak (cloud or contrail?) on the right center margin is also distracting, and tends to lead the eye out of the pictorial space. If this were a silver print, I would burn in the foreground and spot out that streak; chances are, I would also print using a lower contrast paper.

 

The cliffs in the background lack a degree of separation from the foreground elements, and thus fail somewhat as middle ground. At first I thought they were rocks, much like the one to the left that separates the two trees. The lack of detail in the shadow of that rock, and the high-key detail in the face of the cliffs, together not only effectively flattens the image but also makes the pictorial space ambiguous. In short, the depth clues in the picture are working against each other.

 

As I mentioned before, this shot is compositionally strong. If it were possible to reshoot, I would move inward slightly towards the left and at a slightly higher angle while keeping the camera level. It should be possible to do this without altering the compositional placement of the trees. The purpose of this slight change in angle of view is to offset the foreground, rock, and cliff faces and thus visually separate them, and to establish an implied line that sweeps the eye logically into the depth of the scene. This would complement the depth set-up by the trees, and also serve to anchor the viewer in the composition.