"Trout Paradise"

Marsh Lake is the first lake that you will encounter hiking the Little Lakes Valley trail along Rock Creek. I highly recommend this area if you are visiting the Eastern Sierra near Bishop, California. For the most part, the trail is docile, save for the first ascent into the valley. At around 11,000 feet, the air is clear, but also thin, so acclimatizing is a good idea if time permits. I was lucky to have a good cloud pattern. The summer air was warm and humid, good conditions for a popup thunderstorm. I encountered rain several times and camping was not much of a pleasure, dealing with a leaky tent and wet conditions overall. Still, my choice is for these conditions despite the inconvenience. The stormy atmosphere allows for great skies to photograph. The second day brought drier and clearer skies, good for camping but uninspiring for photography. This is a three vertical stitch. Each vertical was a blend of two exposures to harness the wide tonal range. Thanks for your time!!

The clouds are really pretty, and wonderfully detailed.  Which do you do first, the blending or the stitching?   E.g., did you stitch 3three blends, or blend two stitches here?

Mark, You have work of art here.  I hope you made a huge print for your wall.  The only suggestion I would make would be to remove a little at the bottom of the image; the green line between reflection and background is rather close to the middle of the image and, IMHO, would be better if lower in the frame.  That would get you further from the near square format that you have.

Jerry Matchett

Thanks John! I've tried both ways and I have found that blending each frame and then stitching works best because it seems each time the photomerge uses a slightly different stitch that leads to unequal horizons, making it difficult to register the sky with the foreground. I recently made a discovery with blending that makes quick work of the process, so I am excited about that. Another thing that presented a problem here was that when I was making my verticals, my camera must have been slightly off level and the stitch was giving me a crooked shoreline. I simply rotated the canvases until they had the same perspective, then stitched the un-cropped frames, giving me a linear shoreline. (The break in the shore at middle left is the mouth of the creek). I could have used a single exposure for each frame and used the sky as my meter point, but that would have required opening the shadows considerably, revealing noise and other creepy crawlies. That's why I prefer to blend exposures, even with scenes that have tonal ranges within the sensors range of capability. 

very interesting image from you,  perhaps bears eaten all trouts from here?

Thanks Jerry and Muhammad! Yes, Jerry, I agree about your cropping suggestion. I may upload a cropped version as you indicated to bring the shoreline/horizon down closer to the bottom third. Makes perfect sense!!

Wow, I love the crystal clear quality of this picture. This place is wonderful, and you did a great job with blending and stitching.  Awesome!

Paolo

Stunning and crystal clear.  The crop idea is a good one, I think.  Maybe darkening the shadows, ie blacks a tad to give  a little moer contrast?  Awonderful scene.  Is this area accessible in the winter?

Harry

Beautiful image of this tranquil scene Mark! Love the clarity that altitude brings. Definitely a good place to be a trout ;-) Naturally I think it could use a bit more contrast, but I love it just the same.

All the best,
Neil

Not sure why this one is sitting at a 4.69 rating but you have a six from me.

By the way - Beautiful.

A really sweet scene masterfully processed and presented.

Thanks Kah Kit! My apologies for not responding to Paolo, Harry, Neil and Tony in a timely fashion. You guys know I appreciate your input, always. Just get sidetracked from time to time!