Autumn above the Notches

A magical morning above Pinkam(L) and Carter Notch® as the first

winter storm of the year clears. Comments welcome.

Small detail: I think the grad line across the distant mountains actually enhances this scene, and makes me glad that HDR isn't completely dominant just yet. The darkening, while maybe not what the eye would see, gives just the right amount of tonal variation to bring out the horizon strongly. It makes me think of what the Luminists would have done with this scene.

Mainly though, I like the color here, as befits a New England autumn. The colors are downright lurid, and I love 'em! They're still within the range of being natural-looking, and really serve to capture much of what I remember about my own aesthetic response to scenes like this. That's one thing about living in the Pacific northwest: I do miss the eastern autumns.

Thanks Peter and John - John, I think what you are seeing as a grad transition is the transition of evergreens that are shaded. Another recent upload "Changing of the Guard" shows amore patchy pattern of these dark area which are the evergreens. I think without any directional light, they look like dark splotches. There are areas that lead up to the ridges that contain trees that have lost their leaves, and they appear as light grey areas. I would have expected to see some darker areas in the sky if it were a grad line. I'll take another look at the original file and possibly see if some detail can be extracted. Thanks for the view.

Harry