Boulder Field

Went for a little hike at a boulder field site in PA and brought along my 1Ds2. This is probably my favorite shot of the day. Anything you guys woulda done differently?

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com …s/nickrusso09/9​609689335/

Processing looks a bit unnatural to me, not sure if it's the sky hue or maybe the trees, or may have just been what looks to be mid-day sun with the harsh shadows that is throwing my eye off.

I'm personally not a fan of the "HDR" look here... I do really like the potential in the clouds, but overall I would like to see it with a more natural look...

Maybe just a bit too contrasty; but I like the scene - a river of rock. It looks pretty good in B&W too, you might give that a try.

Looks like you have a lot of dust on your sensor too.

There is some dust to the left. I scrolled the photo down just under that one very white cloud, and seemed to like the look better?

I kind of find myself searching for a subject to concentrate on.

Flo is right on cropping it some to help.

PixelPusher wrote in post #16251078
I kind of find myself searching for a subject to concentrate on.

Same here...my eyes almost involuntarily jump up and down the image looking for a focal point.

Thanks for the comments guys!

Didn't even realize the dust over in the left corner. I cleaned up some other spots but didn't catch those. While it wasn't an HDR, it does look like one. I guess I was just so impressed at the detail in the dark trees that was able to be brought out I just rolled with it. I'll take a look at cropping too

I think that the sky and trees need to be just a touch more darker. This will bring out a bit more cloud definition and not make the upper half of the photo to be so light.

I think you've over-processed the shot far too much. The colours have become really unnatural, the extreme contrast doesn't really suit the subject matter (extreme contrast can work for some portraiture work and other situations where a "gritty" look can be appropriate), but mostly the subject matter is just, honestly, a bit boring. It's not a POV that would have piqued by own interest - there's nothing interesting, eye-catching or compelling about the subject or the composition. Perhaps a different time of the day would have improved things, along with a higher POV to enhance the inverted V shape of the boulders, but the harsh midday sun and shadows really just create pools of competing dark tones that end up pulling your eye all over the place.

I guess my reply sounds pretty harsh compared to the others, but for me, this photo just doesn't do anything, I'm afraid. I think this may be a case of you having seen something you liked, but it hasn't really managed to come through in your shot.

I like the composition, but like others here, I do not like the processing.

What would I have done differently?

Probably got there before dawn (but then the clouds may not have been the same and the texture does go well with the boulders).
Got much, much closer to one of the boulders and tried to get some texture/pattern going there without trying to create it in PP.