PhotoShoped--When is Enough Too Much

I have here 3 different versions of the same jpg.
The first is Pure-out-of-the-camera. The others are my personal intertrepations. I need help and advice from you Post Processors to show me how much processing is enough or too much. I have a real problem with not knowing when to stop with the processing.

Could you also give me some feedback on how to improve #2 and #3?

#1 Original. Pure out of camera.

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I like #2. Maybe some additional dodging on the clouds to give them depth. Could be desaturated a point or two but that's a preference thing.

Good job giving some pop.

As it came out of the camera: very dull and no contrast. Rendered too dark, and the colors almost not there.

#2 Great contrast, saturated colors (overdone, in my opinion). Still slightly darker than I would like.

#3 More dramatic sky. Rendered nicely to a good level for a bright day. The colors are still a bit overdone for a day that is completely overcast. Artist's liberty - paint it the way you like it!

Very nice!

You'll never know how far you can go until you go too far.

As for the saturation of #2 & #3 for my taste they go just a little too far, but I know that you enjoy the saturated colours just a tad more than me (but not much)

I think 3 is great with the exception of a little haloing along the ridge top.

Just a quick one here...

I'm also a fan of heavy saturation, almost to the point of being surreal. That said, I'd take #3 and tweak the yellows a hair into the red (in Photoshop under "Saturation" go to the yellows and move the slider to around -6) then take them down just a notch (-12 or so) and take the greens down a notch as well.

Just my suggestion. I think you did really good considering the original!

Peace,
Jim

But how the heck did you do it? Your PP is remarkable considering the original. Actions? Custom? Can you elucidate? It would be a very helpful tutorial on PP.

It appears that I was mistaken when I said I thought it was too saturated.

I did my own edit to see where I would end up, and I ended up at about the same levels of saturation that you did.

Guess there's no accounting for bad taste hahaha.

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LeuceDeuce wrote in post #5545398
I did my own edit to see where I would end up, and I ended up at about the same levels of saturation that you did.

Guess there's no accounting for bad taste hahaha.

LeuceDeuce, you flatter me greatly.
Could you share with me the steps you used?

Jim, your edits sound like a really great improvement. Would you post an example of your rendition?

Shutter_Blitz, I will indeed list the steps in my edit. Check back a little later.

Everyone, I am pleased with the wealth of information you've contributed-- ThanX

I think no 3 looks the best. It's kind of like speeding.
If you photoshop more than me, it's too much. If you photoshop less than me, it's not enough.

shutter_blitz wrote in post #5545089
But how the heck did you do it? Your PP is remarkable considering the original. Actions? Custom? Can you elucidate? It would be a very helpful tutorial on PP.

This is essentually a polarization effect...

• Dupe the background layer
  
• Select Channels Palette
  
• Select green channel
  
• CTRL+A (Selects the channel)
  
• CTRL+C (Coppies the channel to the clip board)
  
• Select Layers Palette
  
• Make new layer
  
• Change blending mode to Overlay
  
• CTRL+V (Pastes green channel to new layer)
  
• CTRL+I (Inverts the layer)
  
• Gausean Blur =60
  
• Levels
  
• Move left slilder to the right to achieve desired saturation
  
• Move right slider to the left to achieve desired luminosity
  
• Make new layer
  
• Change Blending Mode to Overlay
  
• Select white paint brush and paint the foreground tree to further separate it from the background
  
• Also paint the highlights on the forground grass.
  
• Flatten the image