Thanks for the feedback.
On first photograph (Elbow Falls) I had my kids sit out on the rock to add a bit of human interest to the shot (I have a version without the kids as well but ...). And yes I see the point about more to the right. Photo was a 5 stitch shot using a Tilt-Shift Lens (shift only) and I liked the rock formation and wanted to get more of that in (being a geological engineer by training I have some interest for rock formations). Next time out there (my folks live maybe 45 minutes away and I do get out that way every now and then) I will try to repeat with more to the right.
Second photo was just one of those awesome situations with light, clouds and a usable back-drop (i.e., the following week back in Toronto I saw one the best sunsets I can ever recall but at the end of a test drive and seen from an auto dealer's lot, so total crap back-drop). There was actually a spot maybe 2-3 km further west up the road where it "appeared" (while traveling 90 km/h) to be a similar scene, but with the Highwood River making an S-curve with that same purplish pink light reflecting in the river. It looked awesome in the 1/2 second or so I had to evaluate it but there was no really good spot to pull over plus I was traveling with others who don't understand photographic patience if you know what I mean so I didn't pull over. But I did at this spot, and took about 300 shots (HDR - +2. 0, -2 EV) panned, etc., just grabbing the light and hoping for the best once I got back to a PC.
Thing with sunsets, as you all know, light changes rapidly and this was a 2 row by 8 or 9 shot stitch. So, while I actually have ND grads I was for one thing racing against time, and more importantly, cognizant that I was going to do a two row stitch and doing 2+ row panos with an ND Grad filter in my past attempts was not all too successful and just adds more fumbling around time to the whole process. It was more important to me to get the shot so I purposely did not use the grad (placing my trust in the gods of HDR) and set my ISO to 400 (over my preferred ISO 100) to have my shutter speeds set to 1/15, 1/4 and 1 sec (1 sec not used in this HDR) rather than 1/4, 1 and 4 secs as would have been needed at ISO 100 (because 5 seconds time per sequence over 16-18 captures = 80-90 seconds per sequence, not exactly what I wanted with rapidly changing light and moving clouds).
I have posted below a version of pretty much the total available capture (no cropping other than what is necessary to remove blanks areas you get when stitching). I also brightened foreground (used gradient mask to do this) as someone(s) noted and 17x22 print with this brightening is indeed superior to version without it.
Finally with regard to the question "Is the second one Mordor?" Those peaks on the horizon define the border between the Provinces of Alberta (foreground) and British Columbia (everything behind those mountains). Being a resident of the Toronto area, I will refrain from making any comment regarding Mordor = BC, for fear of sparking any sort of national unity crisis (
- Canadians will understand).
