Mount Moran from the Ground

The last picture of Mount Moran was taken from the air in a plane.  This picture was taken from a boat on the lake.  I tried to put my new skills to use again.  Practice, practice, practice!  Right?

The original:

The first pass: I cropped the picture and played with the color.

The second pass: I changed the picture to black and white. 

In a lot of the black and white pictures I like, I see that they have made their sky very dark if not black.  It adds contrast and drama to their pictures.  In my zeal to make my sky darker, I may have used a little too much gusto and not enough subtlety...  Areas of the sky seem blotchy and the trees have suffered as well, in terms of loss of detail.  The lesson I learned here is that patience really does matter when it comes to manipulating a picture.  Setting the burn exposure too high just to make the picture darker faster does not result in a good end.

So, starting over again from the second pass, here is my third and a half pass:  I tried to pay attention to the different shades of gray to bring out the detail of the mountain.  In the end, I think perhaps I became overly timid about using the burn tool from the previous attempt and I really do need to go back and take the time to effectively darken this picture more.  I shall share the results when it is ready... ^_^