Looks like a beautiful place Tom!


It looks like you are doing a lot of things right. My first thought is that you might want to try a split neutral density filter or one of thebracketed exposure techniques such as HDR.


For example, bracket the shot to include exposures with a properly exposed foreground, properly exposed background and maybea few additional shots for working with later. HDR processing can make use of all of these shots.


Another method of combining the pics is to layer them in Photoshop. Delete what you do not want in the top layer to let the bottom layer show through. You can put the properly exposed mountain and sky picture on the top layer and the properly exposed foreground in the bottom layer. Delete the foreground from the top layer using a soft-edged brush to allow the bottom layer to show through. You can adjust opacities for fine tuning.


I used this method for the Bass Harbor Lighthouse picture I shared on the site recently. You must be careful to make sure the end result looks normal - it is easy to get a non-realistic appearing image.


BC