Sunset over the Peaks of Otter/Blue Ridge Mountains: C&C asked for!

[bigbadmike]

Hey TPF croneys, looking for some advice/critiques on the following pic that I took a few days ago...

Shooting into the sun about 40 mins before it dropped below the Blue Ridge Mountains in central Virginia. Taken at 18mm, f/11, 1/80th of a sec and minimal PP. Any way to do better than this exposure without HDR? Any photoshop advice? Composition?

Thanks, Mike

 

[WesternGuy]

NIce image...I really like the "silhouette" look to these types of images. If you are trying to get a better exposure without HDR, the only thing that I would suggest is Neutral Density soft-graduated filter with the filter holder tilted slightly to follow the line of the mountain tops. I am not sure exactly which ND soft grad you should use, but I would start with a 0.6 or 2 stop filter. If that is not enough, then I would try a 0.9 or 3 stop filter. My 0.02¢ for what its worth.

Cheers,

WesternGuy

 

[Hokie1985]

I love anything shot in Blacksburg...I'm a Hokie. This shot has a nice dreamy quality.

 

[Compaq]

I think you could have gotten more out of the sky. The sky is very hazy, I think. Try a curves adjustment where you darken the midtones (just drag the curve slightly downward in the middle region). I think that should make the sky more dramatic. And I feel your valley is too dark and too bright. That means, it's not a silhouette, and the amount of detail is abit annoying... Like when the TV is one, and you can just make out what's being said, but you're not listening to it... sort of

Lovely subjects, there!