Sky Pond Hike

A recent hike to Sky Pond in Rocky Mountain National Park. Tons of stuff to shoot on the way, which seemed to get better around each bend. A few treacherous spots hiking alongside the falls, but otherwise a fantastic hike. I'll be back to this spot again. We began the hike at noon and reached the top around 4:00. These shots are from the hike up and are mostly 7 shot HDR's @ +/- 1.3 with various original exposures blended back in.


1. The Loch

Beautiful images. Great processing and excellent composition.

Beauties these!...no people...nice weather/skies. Nice natural process for 7 shots.
I like the landscape orientation ones 1,4,5 the best......#1 straight out of a travel book.
The whites of the clouds are bit blown but I don't really care as the rest compensates.

Nice series Jon. The wildflowers in the forground of the first shot really make it stand out.

It looks like you got the pano sorted out well in shot #2 also.

Very nice, Jon, especially #1.
On my not so calibrated work monitor the skies look a little too cyan, maybe?

I really like #4 for the depth feeling, nice series

Number four, likewise.

Thanks everyone.

Bill, sadly I didn't capture enough range for the lightest part of the clouds. They were really moving that day and the HDR sky didn't come out well. Each of these sky's is a blend with the original exposures.

Great. Two and four especially.
Those "teeth" in the last are amazing.

Thanks tmcman. That peak is appropriately called Sharkstooth, and is a popular spot for mountain climbers. Here's another from a slightly different angle.

A nice series to be sure, but a bit over-sharpened to me. I'm seeing what appears to be the onset of haloing.

Jon: I really like #3, but would try deepening the blue in the sky by grabbing a darker version from the brackets and replacing the sky. Very nice. Love that last one too.

Thanks all.

Appreciate advice Gary, I pulled that one in and it is improved. Thanks!

Look at those reflections on #2. Magnificent!!!

I liked then all. #4 is my favorite.