Wildfire in the Valley

[Matt Tilghman]

Not the bad, life-threatening kind of wildfire, but rather the good, metaphorical kind of wildfire.  I always find the blending in these types of images tough, when mountains which are essentially part of the foreground are jutting into the brighter sky.  But after years of cursing and giving up and restarting the edit months later, I've finally gotten quite proficient at it.  Check out my method on my blog if you care to... my blending workflow.  Hope you like it!

[Chairman Bill]

Nicely done

[shaunw]

Excellent aerial perspective/ layering to provide depth...for me just slightly over cooked saturation in the sky, other wide very good.

[Kathy]

Lovely composition, the layers provide depth. Please tell me where the shot was taken.

[wolfnowl]

Nicely done

What Bill said!

Mike.

[langier]

+1. Nicely crafted!

[Matt Tilghman]

Thanks guys!

Shaun, thanks for the critique, I might even agree with you.  I'll see what I can do.

Kathy, this shot was taking in Russian Ridge, in the Santa Cruz Mountains of California

[Isaac]

Do you think the image is plausible?

Specifically do those bright grasses seem plausible given that

• the sun seems to have more or less set
• the sun seems to be hidden behind a cloud bank
• the sun doesn't seem high enough in the sky to light across this side of the ridge

[Tony Jay]

Lovely image Matt.

Also, interesting explanation of how the image was constructed.

Regards

Tony Jay

[Justan]

Dang if it’s not one hot – as in beautifully done – capture.

Keep up the good work!