This is a nice one! You really master PS very well. Lovely sunset. Nice silhouette of the tree and yet still see the light on the table beside it. Great shadow too. :)

Great how the sun sets behind the tree, it makes it an even better sunset, the shadow of the tree and the picknick set are a great addition.

Great long shadows - such a fab time of the day.

this is fantastic ryan! i love how the shadow leads you into the shot... beautifully composed.

Absoultly geourgeous! Perfect Lighting, and the colors of the sky and water are phenomial!

it's amazing how you captured this very difficult lighting. of course you admitted that this is a composite image, but still, you did an awesome job!

Your photoshop work came out well, I do the same thing often times. I still like to have it the way I want it (or nearly so) in the first picture however, so a 2 or 3 stop ND grad filter might be in my future ;)

I like this shot, Ryan. Great colors and shadows.

MAY PEACE BE UPON YOUR SOULS, HEARTS, MINDS, AND BODIES...AMEN.

Looks great Ryan, I love it!

Nice Ryan. Peceful and serene. Nice scene. Regards from Vienna, -T

Thanks 4 ur comments. Nice shot - good photoshop work and nice over all photo. I might be tempted to try and take out the sun reflection on the water to some extent (i.e. the very white part)...perhaps it would be too much work for little gain.

Also not sure about the overall composition. It actually works quite well but picnic tbl is in the centre yet is not the central focal point. The tree is neither on the centre of the third. I'd maybe try the shadow going off into the left hand corner with the tree in the centre. Its not criticism - this is a great shot - just wondering how it could be improved.....

Nice composition. I've been toying with trying this process to expand the dynamic range but haven't tried it yet. Did you overlay two exposures or did you process the same RAW file twice to get the f-stop differences for the light/dark versions?

My eye lands on the table, which isn't sharp- perhaps on purpose. Is this the result of the overlay process or because you're looking to place the tree outline as the subject.

Nice photograph and a big thanks for explaining the process involved. Gives me a bump to move on and try it.

Nicely done... I haven't tried combining two versions yet...

wonderful lighting! this is a fantastic shot - one that makes me want to stare at it for a while.

peaceful and tranquil, I wouldnt mind a stroll around that water right now.

Every time I come here I am reminded to shoot in RAW, I keep forgetting though!

Really nice work, Ryan. Beautiful photo, I really like how it has a solataire (sp) and calm feeling.

this is the kind of picture I like . . . natural is my favorite. there's nothing much I can say technically (since I know very little) other than it's beautiful and I love the lighting. very nice.

I am always reluctant to leave comments when so many others have done so but this is another classic! Great work!

Beautiful. I love how the specular on the water is lined up with the tree trunk, and I also love how the shadow is the focus of the lower half of the photo. I've definately done that before. Makes for excellent composition.

I love this one man. So warm and peaceful.

hey ryan, have you looked into bracketing using the camera's bracketing function to achieve similar effects? this is a really tough shot and i would have given it a go just for giggles. you did this well.

very nice. the summer is coming. (here in germany we are still waiting......)

nice work combining the two RAW images. i still need to learn how to do that. i really enjoy the subtle colors in your images.