Before and After #465

The game will last 7 Days and whoever can produce the best edited image (as judged by me) will be picked and it'll be their turn to post their unedited picture for all of us to take a crack at.

The participants must have their "Image Editing OK" turned on and they must provide at least a simple breakdown of how they edited the image, some entrants are a little vague on this point, please give us all details so we can learn and share tips. For instance if you use the unsharp mask tool or Smart Sharpen, provide us with the adjustments you used so others can try them out.

You can post multiple images, but the first image you post will be the one that is judged - all other images will be considered for knowledge and tip use only.
Feel free to comment and/or ask questions at any time. This is a good competition for learning new methods, so let's make it a bit more dynamic. I will be judging edits, not comments. Feel free to comment on the original image as well.

If you happen to be the winner of the game please start the next one with the title of the game and the following number. For example…the next game should read "Before & After #466"!!!

Submissions end , Sunday, March 31st 2013 at 7:00 ish(Pacific) and a winner will be announced.

Here's a RAW File for those who would like one to work with :-
https://www.dropbox.co​m …2vrpmk/3-20-13_%20183.CR2

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/algregoire/8587​164781/

Duplicated the RAW files. Developed one for sky, the other for foreground and merged in PS. The I dropped in a more interesting sky and masked out the original sky.

Opened in ACR then got rid of the dust bunnies (note to self - must clean sensor).
Changed white balance and adjusted exposure to -2.5EV then opened as smart object. Duplicated BG and adjusted exposure to 0.0EV and a third time to
+1EV. Masked out unwanted bits to darken sky and lighten foreground. Light painting to taste and then smart sharpen.

Drop in warm sky and channel adjustment of darks, mids and highs. Structure increase, duplicate layer, warm entire image, paint away everything that is not brightened by the sun.

Look what I found...

I think you cropped out the rest of your entry....

Whew... You just made it before the deadline, heycoop.

Oh thats a relief, I know I'm in with a shot of winning this competition

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alright...thanks everyone for participating...sorry about the dust i never shoot that far stopped down, so i didn't realize just how dusty my sensor was...but hey you need it to be a little tougher..

M_six- I like it, i think you did a good job of balancing the light, and dark, and the more interesting sky is a nice touch(something i should probably research doing)

NigelD-also a good job of balancing the image overall...i do think the foreground could've been a touch lighter but that's about it...this is the kind of edit I am trying to strive for though.

Dawicka2- i have to say i really love what you did to the foreground in this shot, makes it look way more interesting to me...the red sky might be a little much for me though.

yb98- this is sort of in line with my attempt to edit it...nice solid job i think

Heycoop- Ha, i like you're take on it...but I feel like there were way better composed dust bunnies you could've picked

so after all that, I'm going to pick the winner as being M_six

Congrats, m-six. That sky was a great choice. Good work everyone!
Fun image to play with.

Thanks guys. I'll get a new one up shortly.

New B&A is up.

Well done M_Six (unlucky Heycoop....)