flowers/mountains/clouds (2)

[tumb]

Hello - here's a couple shots from CO, the first is the original raw with only resize, the second is after considerable processing to bring out the cloud details. I have been processing so much the last few days that I'm starting to get cross-eyed, so could use your advice. Is the processed image overly so? Your thoughts appreciated.

Original:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v505/mdwsr/Yellow_Flowers_orig_2281.jpg

Processed:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v505/mdwsr/Yellow_Flowers_MG_2281.jpg

[jopfin]

Not sure how this got missed, these are great shots, very ominus feeling with that cloud rolling down like that. Great pics................Joe
And no I don't think its overprocessed....J

[sparker1]

Mike, I see very little difference in the two shots, just a slight lighting improvement. Nice photo.

[ryno4youth]

Great job! I love the low clouds. Did you get any shots down in the flowers?

[tumb]

I had almost forgotten I had posted this too hehe. Thanks for the replies. Most of the processing went into the clouds, especially the top right 1/3. I did the usual levels, saturation, shadow/highlight, but then I masked out all but the clouds and did some pretty extreme work on the clouds to bring them out. I got more detail I think but after looking at an image for an hour or so sometimes I tend to wonder if I am still seeing clearly.

We missed the peak of the flowers, there were still some around but most were fading. This field was one of the best but even these were starting to wilt, hence the 17mm lense.

[Sathi]

wow great shot. I really like what you did with the clouds on the right side. Bringing them out was def a good idea. I might have left them a little whiter than you made them on the right/center part. The contrast between the lighter on darker in the original adds some drama. Also on the top of the image towards the right where the cloud breaks it seems like I can see pixelation or something. Maybe your full size copy doesn't look like that. You also lightened the landscape a bit which is nice, but that seemed to have washed the colours out slightly. I would maybe saturate the landscape a bit more. The snow in the second pic also looks dirty and less white than the original, I would maybe put it back to the more pristine looking white.

[tumb]

Wow thanks, Sathi, sometimes it just needs to be seen with fresh eyes. I see what you are talking about now.

In processing a large amount of files, I have not decided if it's better to work longer on one image, or to work on several at a time and use each for comparison. Any ideas?

[Sathi]

I wish I knew myself...i'm drowning in my own pictures. It seems allot easier to snap off hundreds of pics than it does to actually process them doesn't it? heh. It seems to take me at least 2 hours to do a good raw conversion. But I think if I was to work on more than 1 picture at a time I would get confused. I also force myself to process them in order. If I do the ones I like best first, I end up loosing interest before I finish all the ones that should be done.