Kawah Ijen, Indonesia - lay it on me!

I think I already posted some of these, but not the complete series (especially since I went back to the RAWs and developed a few that I missed a year ago).

This being the Critique section, and bearing in mind that I am already aware of a few imperfections in that series that I need to get around to correcting, I am explicitly asking for the hardest (but fairest) feedback you have. Subject, composition, post-processing, homogeneity as a series, anything really. I am sort-of, maybe considering pitching the series to a few local galleries when I'm done with it, and I would very much like you guys to tell me if you think these pictures aren't good enough to cut it - it'll beat getting laughed at by the artsy-fartsy hipsters of Parisian galleries.

Unfortunately, I can't post more than 8 photos, so I'll just show these. I actually have 3 more in the series, but they're not the strongest ones.

Mt Bromo?

the third is the only one that really works for me, and with that it works really, really well. fantastic shot.

the others dont have a distinct subject or the distortion is two prevalent on the subject, which detracts from the image. with UWA you subject needs to be in the foreground and away from the edges.

the only other one htat i would keep would be the first, but the cloud needs a bit more detail and punch and i'd bump the yellow and blues a bit since they compliment each other well.

Ijen - Mt Bromo doesn't have any sulphur miners, I think.

@Mike: Third one's my favourite too. Man, I already worked on the first one so much to give it some punch and it's still not enough? :P
On the others: I hear your point on the distorsion. Do you think that it can be corrected with some perspective correction (the adaptive wide-angle think in CS6 is pure magic) or is it too severe to be salvaged? In general then, what do you recommend: placing the subject dead centre, or just go with a regular wide-angle? (and if so, how would you include enough background to make it useful to the shot?)

edit: thanks for your opinion, by the way!

#3 is amazing!

thats what makes UWA so difficult. IMO UWA is best done when you want to introduce distortion. other pull the zoom back and just shoot wide.

i use cs5 not 6 so i cant speak to how well teh distortion correction works.

here is what i'd do...

1. good just pop the color colors and detail more
2. clone out the guy behind the subject and apply a distortion correction, should be salvageable
3.perfect
4. throw it away
5.too much going on and none of it very interesting, maybe try a new crop.
6. throw it away
7. seems to severe to correct, but give it a go.
8. has potential but the background doesn't work well for me with a silhouette foreground.

I'm on board with most of your suggestions, but #2: clone out which guy?

5 is essentially a close crop of 4. Mostly they were supposed to showcase the mine itself but I guess that didn't work. What new crop would you suggest, if any?

Two more shots; throw them away, I think, no? (2, not 3 - don't know what I was smoking earlier)

on #2, lol. i thought there was a guy behind him. its just the perspective.

#3 is

Sorry about that.... I didn't realize Kawah meant "crater" and that Ijen was the site. I've never been there but I have been to Bromo and the last time we were there, the sulfur workers were active.

I lived in Indonesia for a couple years in the 70s and was back for a month in 2002.... and I still know very little about the country. It's a tad embarrassing

No worries . Didn't see any sulfur miners in Bromo, but maybe I wasn't in the right area.

@Mike: how do you like this version? Too much? (I also did a pass of noise reduction but you won't see it on this small one)

that looks really good now.

Aight, thanks. So all in all, I guess my takeaway should be: some decent shots but not good enough as a series, right?

depends on how many pics you want in the series.