I think a normal shot could easily score well, I don't think it needs to be HDR for DPC necessarily. I really enjoy most of your shots and this one included. I really like the shadows and details. The exposure is spot on too. I think this one might have been better with a different focal length. Curious what you shot this at, 35mm?
What I might suggest for the same scene is get close and use a very wide angle to really give a sense of scale to that tree of the right and distance overall. Or go longer (200mm) and back up to a distance where the same scene is laid out above, but now you will a more compress feeling. Right now I feel the image is too clumped together as far as eye movement. But your mileage may vary.
Just my two cents. I enjoyed the picture and I gave you a 6 during the challenge.
Karen, well I have to say that I wish all my shots could tank at 5.75 ;)
OK I think this is a very good shot although perhaps not with any wow factor that stops you dead in your tracks. I guess that the main problem is that we have seen a lot of winter landscapes recently and perhaps this means that they lose some of their impact...I scored this a six, but looking at it now I think at another time I may have scored it a seven...Maybe the other issue with free studies is that because there are so many pictures to score people (myself) included dont give images as much attention as they might do in a smaller challenge
My only possible minor photo wise is that some of the shadows falling on the trees in the background centre of the shot maybe darken the image a tad too much
It is a gorgeous landscape and I don't think tonemapping would benefit it at all. Exposure is very good, composition is solid. You'll note the average score from your commenters is awesome, by the way.
Golly Karen. This one is awesome. I didn't get to vote on it but I would have given this an 8 or 9. Stunning control of exposure on the snow, wonderful rich blue sky and excellent framing by the pines. I think my only nitpick is that I would have liked the path to be illuminated just a bit more - it is all completely in shadows and that path would really draw the viewer in more with a bit more light.
i want to be there! Awesome light, and kudos to you for controlling the highlights so well. Despite all this, im finding the composition to be slightly lacking... specifically, i want to see more ground (with those cool footsteps), and less sky, b/c the top left especially doesn't hold my interest. But it does conform to the rule of thirds... i can't make up my mind... Anyway, 7, gl!