Jim:

I just got back from a trip and saw this post, along with many others, as I got myself caught up with the goings on at NWP. I notice that it has been two weeks since you posted asking for feedback and you haven't really gotten any. I'm not very good, but in the interest of trying to be helpful, I'll be glad to offer some of my opinions.

I am fortunate enough to do a fair amount of travelling to some pretty great locations. While travelling, I take a ton of snapshots of things that capture my interest for whatever reason. In these cases, the photography ends up incidental to the travel as opposed to the reason for it. As a result, what thought I do put into my photography is primarily centered on making sure I have an acceptable exposure. Generally speaking, I have paid little interest to composition except in the most basic terms. e.g., Rule of Thirds, Don't center the horizon, etc. The end result is I end up with pictures that are technically acceptable but of little interest to anyone but my wife and me. They serve as a record of our visit and stimulate our many fond memories, which is what they are intended to do.

I would put the pictures you posted in the "record" category as well. They record the scene, but fail to adequately communicate what was special about it that prompted you to take the shot. Since you posted several shots, I'll limit my specific suggestions to the first one.

I know you indicated that it was intended to show the contrast between the warmth of the spring sun on the meadows and the snow falling on the mountains in the background. To my eyes, the meadow in the foreground looks as gray and overcast as the mountains in the background. It looks like the air is hazy, the yellow and green of the grassland looks dull, as do the trees on the near mountain on the left. In addition, the clouds have swallowed up the mountain peaks in the background and the mountains in the mid-ground kind of blend in with the clouds a bit. There is also a lack of detail in the clouds themselves.

You can improve some of this with a little judicious post processing. Darkening the highlights in the clouds will help make it look more like a snowstorm in the mountains rather than just an overcast. A careful bumping up of the contrast and mid-tones in the foreground will brighten up the colors so they don't look so muddled and will improve the juxtaposition of the mountains in the background with the gathering storm. In addition, I think this photograph would benefit from something in the foreground for interest and to help demonstrate scale.

Hope this is helpful.

Jim