Thanks for the great comments!
Hannes: The trees are Jeffrey Pines, a close cousin to the Ponderosa Pine. These trees grow to immense size and can be very 'thick' at their tops. While my goal was not 'botanical' accuracy, nontheless these are fairly honest representations. I must admit that the nature of the composition probably adds to some of the 'unease' with the trees proportions. While the trees would be better served with a portrait aspect ratio, I was determined to present a panoramic vista as a backdrop. So there is a bit of 'license' taken to fit the verticality of the trees to the wide set of the background. I'll probably use these trees in a more common portrait aspect later. I have attached a few pictures of the Jeffrey Pine as many here might not know the tree. It is one of my favorite high mountain trees, and incredibly the bark up close smells strongly of vanilla and cinnamon.
Fleetwood: the Bierstadt is a classic western landscape, and compositionally to my eye suffers from the same kind vertical vs horizontal dilemma. As an easel painter my 'heroes' were the western artists from the 1800's such as Hill. Keith, Moran, Deakins, et al. So this time around it's with TG and ST.
Oshyan: We share some favorite places! This is essentially my riff on the Eastern Slope of the Sierra Nevada. So picture (to those of you who have traveled this territory) looking west from above HWY 395 roughly parallel with the southern boundary of Yosemite. While the peaks and domes in my image are not specific to any area, it is meant to convey the "Eastern Slope" kind of feeling. I could bore all us for hours about the unique geological and climatological information of this area, but no. The image contains elements of glacially carved 'domes' and the 'up-thrust' of the Sierra peaks in the distance. The elevations are roughly 8,000 to 14,000 feet and the foliage is kinda/sorta represenative, I have yet to build the sage and other native plants to complete the scene.
Chris: Yeah the colors are deliberately a bit under-saturated. Nature to my eye in full light seems that way.
TU: Thank you!
Kadri: Some minor post; I adjusted the contrast slightly, grayed the image minutely, and did some very small 'touch-ups' to clean a couple of spots. No HDR, just TG.
Archonforest: (Love that name!) Thanks!
TheBadger: I'll definitely render out a few close ups.
