Some Help Please

I posted these in the critique section and got a pretty cold response. The first is an HDR of roughly 10 exposures from -2 to +2. The HDR was done in PS6. My intent was to keep the photo realistic but to tweak exposure and clarity throughout the shot. I am also posting a SOCC from the mid range of my exposures.

How does the image look to you? What should I have done differently? What advice can you offer? Please!

First the HDR:

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HTTP response: NOT FOUND | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Redirected to error image by FLICKR

A couple of things. First, given the lighting of the scene the image as you have posted it as the "HDR" final version probably could be achieved from a single raw exposure, namely the raw from which the second image was made. Using the single raw would preserve the global contrast between the foreground and the brightly lit mountain. The HDR version has lost this contrast and flattened the depth inherent in the scene. You can try to restore it a little bit by using HighRadiusLowAmount (HiRaLoAm) unsharp masking to boost the large scale contrast - like a radius of 60 and an amount of 35 or so on the posted sized image. Paint in the effect only on the foreground. Conversely, you want to let the background remain low contrast - haze and atmospheric effects will naturally cause this, you can edit some of it out, but if the way brightly lit background is as clear as the foreground, depth disappears.

The final version appears to be oversharpened as well. Back off a tad, and try to paint in the final sharpening on the foreground elements.

Give it a shot - here's my example. Beautiful scene.

kirk

Kirk,
Thanks for taking the time to reply. Unfortunately it will be tomorrow or Thursday evening before I have an opportunity to get back to editing this image. I wil post an updated image once I have worked on it.

I really like the idea of just sharpening the foreground without changing the bg.

I like what the hdr process has done to the foreground.
Less so on the mountain, the sky and the border between the mountain and sky.
I agree about oversharpening on the mountain. It looks a little crunchy.
In my experience 1 exposure per stop will do.

Here is my new version. Non HDR

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com …thwoods_photo/8​095458176/

I like the new one. You also may want to look into Luminosity masks, which put back some pop and get rid of that flat look.
The first one wasn't really that bad, as was said maybe a tad oversharpened, but I make that mistake quite a bit myself.
Nice scene though

Thanks. I will look into luminosity masks. Still just scrathing the surface in PS. Any good tutorial you might recommend on luminosity masks?

I'm still trying to get my head around these, but this is a great site:
http://goodlight.us/wr​iting/tutorials.html, with lots of great tutorials.

Cool, thanks!