These are from November 2014 and even though it was between seasons, it was one of the best trips my husband and I have ever taken. The main G.T. park was closed and Yellowstone would only be open one day, but we had plenty of other places to explore.
At the time I took these I had no idea it was so popular with photographers. I only came to realize that later, so when I was there I didn’t feel the additional pressure to perform; to do a place justice and take great pictures or find a new way to shoot it. I just shot and chased a bunch of ducks up the river. It was probably 10 am or so and we had gently filtered sunlight.
Tripod for both. Probably a polarizer, too.
Shot #1 -
Shot #2
All processing done in Lightroom starting with an Adobe Neutral Profile since these were shot with my GH3 and I don’t have a Linear Profile for it. Cropped both and did some brush work on the mountains to manage contrast. Some lens correction and a bit of transform work to make the geometry work better. Some color management for separation and luminance & hue changes, but subtle ones. Clarity, contrast & dehaze, sharpening & nr.
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I love the sharpness and fine detai in these images. The first one is my favorite of the two primarily because the mountains are more prominent and there is more of the shoreline. The image is actually fairly high toned but very naturally so because the subject is so. You had some good light as well. The scene feels as though it has that snappy cold sense of a late fall morning when you just feel great to be alive. A morning that puts color into your cheeks and you can see your breath. But aside from the mountain and it’s reflection it’s the rich fine texture that you see from front to back that makes this image for me. I can also see great composition opportunities of just the reflections among those grasses and trees. Love it. I can’t see any way to improve this really.
Kris,
Both are wonderful images, with the first being my favorite due to the combination of warm and cool tones. I played around trying to find a vertical in the scene, but I think you nailed it with the horizontal format. The wispy clouds work well as does the diagonal placement of the river. Nicely done; no suggestions from me.
I prefer the first one as well. Even though I’m a nut for symmetry, the first one has more of a dynamic feel with the treeline “reflected” in the near shoreline. The more subtle light is inviting as well. Love this filtered light!
Thanks @Diane_Miller, @Igor_Doncov, @Ed_Lowe & @Jim_McGovern - I got really lucky with the circumstances - the solitude and the light. It was chilly, but in a crisp gorgeous way, like you mentioned Igor - it puts color in your cheeks. We hiked at over 9000 feet that week and it was about 30 degrees. Not bad for a couple of New Englanders.
