Does it work?

First, turn on "Image Editing Ok" on your POTN profile. Then share the original RAW file. You'll get several takers and different interpretations.

Looks very alien, I like it. The original processing isn't bad, maybe a tad overdone but not bad.

I am changing the profile now, and will get on my desktop and and upload one of the original photos.

Niccas9 wrote in post #13618124
I like the edit. That is a bit more over the top as far as processing goes, but it looks very nice and brings out the detail in the rock.

Thanks in advance

Yah, I applied my adjustments globally just for a quick show which means some effects of the HDR treatment were accentuated even further. I would have probably left the sky closer to how you had it and toned down the saturation on the rocks a bit, but the contrast/brightness is about where Id want it on the rocks.

I just applied a levels adjustment layer and moved the little sliders until I thought it looked good. Then, I increased contrast in the shadows and highlights by adjusting the sliders in Image > Adjustments > Shadow/Highlights.

Thanks MNU! I have discovered the need for some pp tutorials or even a class. Any suggestions?

This thread has been a great wealth of knowledge and has alerted me to some of my shortcomings in terms of saving files properly. It turns out that I no longer have an original version of the image because I saved what I had after I changed it. I am looking in to an external hardrive to store my images to separately before I load them on to my pp program and start playing. I guess this is all part of the learning curve.

If anyone else wants to take a crack at editing it from where it is now, feel free.

Niccas9 wrote in post #13621694
Thanks MNU! I have discovered the need for some pp tutorials or even a class. Any suggestions?

This thread has been a great wealth of knowledge and has alerted me to some of my shortcomings in terms of saving files properly. It turns out that I no longer have an original version of the image because I saved what I had after I changed it. I am looking in to an external hardrive to store my images to separately before I load them on to my pp program and start playing. I guess this is all part of the learning curve.

If anyone else wants to take a crack at editing it from where it is now, feel free.

External hard drives are good things to be sure.

As for classes, I dont see much need for them for the average person. You can learn so much just by reading free stuff on the net here and other places and even more comes from just jumping in and getting your hands dirty.

Might not be the way for a future graphic designer to go about it, but for us hobbyists our money would be better spent on another trip or a new piece of gear rather than computer classes.

Niccas9 wrote in post #13621694
Thanks MNU! I have discovered the need for some pp tutorials or even a class. Any suggestions?...

Have you been through all of Adobe's free video tutorials?

There are thousands of hours of tutorials on YouTube. Just search for something like CS5 landscape editing and you'll find leads to lots of videos.

I'm really glad you asked this question, because I was going to recommend Creative Live's free live classes and I just noticed that they have a Wordpress class coming up. Edit: Shoot! It was December 1st, not January 1st. My life is starting to get in the way of my hobby!

I know what you mean about life getting in the way of the hobby. I was all consumed during the summer months, then headed back to work and have been swamped. I am on winter break at the moment and will head back to work here shortly. Whenever I have time to spare I am trying to get as much information as possible. PP tutorials are a good starting point for me. I just need to keep shooting in the meantime and continue to save for the 10-22 I have been wanting.

Here is my interpretation. I started with Curves to lighten the sky and the foreground rocks. Then used Viveza to open up and enhance the foreground rocks. Then added just a little sharpening.

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Nice. Thanks for the addition and the info on how you got there.