The bleached ground surrounding Pearl Geyser in the Norris Basin of Yellowstone National Park contrasts with the intense colors of the spring on this cloudy and windless day. The rendering of the surrounding ground is really key to how this image reads, a hint of cool, and some work to preserve highlight contrast are essential here to getting the feel of that day accurate to my memory.
This is going to take some delicacy in printing, which I always find a challenge and a delight. Even very subtle differences in the warmth of the paper used (if the borders are exposed) or the mat paper used will throw the feel of this image.
It was fortunate for two reasons that there was little breeze, not only was the water still, but my QR plate had come loose, and while the camera wasn't about to fall off, it wasn't firmly held, either, mirror lockup and a long timer delay got me a crisp result despite suboptimal stabilization. And of course, while I'd normally keep a hex wrench in my backpack, I'd travelled by air, and had to pack the tiny hex wrench separately to avoid TSA confiscation. (Yes, they do this.)