Fresh-Fallen Snow on the Boulder Flatiron Mountains

[astrostu]

We got some snow this week in Colorado, and now that I actually live in Boulder I wanted to find a good place to get a panorama of the mountains with the fresh snow. Here are two of the three that I took.

However, they don't look nearly as breath-taking as I had intended - they just don't seem to "pop" or have pizzaz. I think part of it could simply be I wasn't able to find the most ideal location from which to photograph, but I'm also certain that some of it is my execution and post-processing.

The only cropping done to this was to make them rectilinear. If you actually download them and open them in Photoshop (and set it so you can see guides) you can see where I'm thinking of cropping them to make 36"x12" panoramas for printing purposes - basically cropping off the sides in the first one and cropping a tiny of the top and a chunk of the bottom in the second. Shot settings were f/5, 1/2000 sec, ISO 100 for both, and other than stitching, post-processing was curves and color saturation adjustment.

Basically ... any idea on how to improve these? And it's okay to edit these if you want. Let me know if I need to post larger versions (I limited them to 864 px or 12" at 72 ppi). Oh, and I think a good title for the second is "End of the Road."

P.S. Please read post #6 on this thread for an update.

 

[Coldow91]

The second one is GREAT! I could see it up on someones wall (maybe mine) It has a leading element that the first one doesn't have.

 

[Trenton Romulox]

I would take the first shot right off the thread (only supposed to have one) because the second one is SO much better. The second one is great, if only a little blown out on the right snowy area of the foreground, but still great. Nice capture, great composition.

 

[astrostu]

(only supposed to have one)

I re-read the rules before I posted and they said 3 photos are allowed as long as they're related by theme (or two other words I didn't know) which these are.

 

[Trenton Romulox]

I re-read the rules before I posted and they said 3 photos are allowed as long as they're related by theme (or two other words I didn't know) which these are.

Oh, wow, I did not know that. Last time I heard it was supposed to be limited to one image per thread, but hey, you re-read and I didn't, and I'm not gonna HAHA.

 

[astrostu]

Okay, I'm adding my third. I originally posted the first two because I thought the third one wouldn't turn out well. But with a fair amount of cropping ... how about these two? I still am not sure I like them. Something seems to be missing, despite the accolades (thanks, guys!) from the above two posters on the second image (first image in this post).

 

[Trenton Romulox]

The second one is still the best, by far. What makes the second one so good is the road leading towards the center of the photo, it's what gives the photo depth. The other two have little depth, the third one having the least. The second one is the best, because of the foreground. The other two just don't have the same level of foreground as number two.

 

[klissarov ik]

actually i think that the second picture in your first post is pretty good!

 

[astrostu]

*bump* Any tips/changes/critique on these?