Another look at last Sunday's sunset. These 3 were all taken from Inspiration Point along Angeles Crest Highway near Wrightwood, CA:

This one plus:

www.vazaar.com/user:Beamer/photos/id:31642/
www.vazaar.com/user:Beamer/photos/id:31640/

love the dramatic clouds & colors along with the rays shooting through the treescape.

Wow...this is really good. Love the sun rays shining through trees. Good work.

that place is aptly named

Excellent colour.

Great subject, very nicely done!! The B&W is great here, love the hint of tint in the midtones, unless that is just my monitor. The detail is great, very sharp, very straight.

Crisp and very nicely done. I don't think that I would change a thing. Great work.

The B&W works great with this.

This is wonderful. I am curious of what the color version does look like though!

Absolutely amazing photo! This is a personal favorite. Just outstanding!!!

Nice image. The butterfly/moth and the leaf it is standing on are tack sharp. I like the DoF being blurred. I think it might have benefitted even more with additional blur or perhaps a little bit of selective desaturation in the background to tone down the color of the DoF (not so much as to turn the background gray, but enough to further set off the butterfly/moth. All in all, I like the photo.

Beautiful job of getting the leaf and butterfly in focus. I agree with Jeff though that opening up even more to really throw the background out of focus would might add to the separation between the main subject and the background as well as simplifying the photo by smoothing out some of the extra elements that are competing for attention in the background. I also like the leaf coming in from the bottom right corner and moving along the bottom third. I have been just roughly playing with different crops on this photo (covering parts with my hand on the screen) and I really do like the butterfly dead center. Its harder to say but cropping up from the bottom to really put the leaf in the corner might be effective. Overall a nice shot, simplifying and separating the background would really bring it together.

A tighter DoF would help this a lot. It would push the background back in importance. Dodging the background a bit would help too. Looks like you may have used a diffused flash?? A wider aperture and faster shutter speed might have allowed you to use exiting light too.

I generally agree with the above comments about dof etc, but I really like the framing you have used to position the subject dead centre with plenty of space around. Great work.

dommage la feuille coupée, sinon superbe les gouttes d'eaux

Very common subject, very nicely done. I love the refraction in the 2 biggest drops, great capture to get so much detail. The stalk running counter to the leaf is a strong element, not sure if it adds or takes away, but it sure does add drama and interest. So, I guess that makes it a positive.

Very nice. Rich color and crisp image.

Good use of colour and dof here. I agree with Beamer that the refraction in the two big drops is a positive. Well done.

Bonita toma. Me gusta el colorido y la composición. Felicidades.

Another from the Top of the World. Six exposures showing a small mountain range at 82N 62W. The land beyond the land of the people.

Very clean stitching, congratulations!

un magnifique panorama, juste coupé un peu trop bas, ce qui fait que l'arbre devant gêne un peu la lecture. j'aime beaucoup le nuage sur la montagne, on dirait des signaux de fumées.

Great exposure and detail in the foreground - I particularly like the light through the clouds on the right. Beautiful shot of a beautiful spot (and appropriately named).

Beamer, you did a wonderfull job, again! However, I know it's panoramic, but still I feel something is missing on the foreground. imo the image needs some more bottom, increase the hight of the image with 10 or 20% would help. Just in general: by making a panorama, is it simply cropping a normal image or is it an adjustment in your camera or lenses, before you shoot?

Anyway... I can't wait to see this on my own becouse in four weeks I'll be there in the neighbourhood :)

Tamara, you make a good point @ the lack of foreground. I am standing on the very edge of a sharp drop off and there really is not foreground to include except those few trees you see on the left. I probably could have moved over there and shot it with those tress more in the middle??? This is a pano created in PS from 12 vertical format shots.

When you are in the area you should let me know and I can suggest some photo opp's. Joshua Tree NP is one of my very fav's. It's about a 2 1/2 hour drive east of LA.

I just discovered the actual purpose of 'stitch-option'. :)

I was looking for your e-mail addres on your photoblog, but I can't find it. So, I just do it this way. Our first stop is in Palm Springs, according to my travelling guide that's in Joshua Tree NP, isn't it? It would be great if you can let me know some nice suggestions (see my website for my e-mail).

Enhorabuena por esta fotografía, la mirada de este hombre expresa una emoción muy fuerte, que usted ha sabido captar y tramistir con su cámara.
Felicidades. Saludos

Wonderful portrait. Very gripping!

Thank you both for the complimentary comments.

Excellent portrait!!!!

Thanks much David.

Brilliant!!

Did you use a ND-filter to allow your camera using a long exposure time whit bright day light? I'm considering buying one of those becouse I want to make shots like this one. If you used a filter, what kind of filter did you use?

The colors are absolutely amazing! Beautiful shot!

Thank you for your comment.
I didn’t use ND filter, for this shot I used a circular polarizer HOYA HMC.

I'm currently spend some time in the high arctic at 82.3N 62.5W in a place called Alert. Up there the wolves wonder around the camp. They are not aggressive unless you do something stupid. This little cub was have a great time playing. A bit of a zoom here in photoshop that has offset the sharpness a bit.