Fire Hydrant

[xsport652]

I upped the saturation a lot in yellow and some in orange and a B&W background. I'm just getting used to photoshop coming from paintshop pro so it took a while.
Tell me what ya think?

[jar_e]

Xsport,

It's a little underexposed for me...I'd boost the brightness a bit. From what I can tell, it definately looks like an interesting mix of snow, color, and texture.

Interesting shot,

Jared

[noahyay]

shadow/highlight it under image>adjustments

bring out the snow a little-its too dark

i really like this comp. The only thing i have to say about it is i wouldnt center it. (rule of thirds)

[gahspidy]

Great looking subject. I've shot a few of these myself. The image does not look appealing to me as it is and it is for a few different reasons. first, as mentioned already, the framing here has the subject too centered. We just had a discussion in a thread I started about the rules of thirds and the various guide lines and how it is good to break them when it works. But in this case the centered image does not feel right, and rather awkward actually. Placing the subject off to one side of the frame would be more effective. Unless you zoomed in very close, then it may work centered.
The image appears to be underexposed, and I'm guessing that what happened here is that the bright white snow "tricked" your cameras exposure meter into thinking things were to bright and thus it lowered the exposure time. This happens to cameras built in meters with snow, bright sky, and white sand at the beach. Or anything that will be very bright. Adjusting with levels may be able to bring back a little exposure, but not sure if you could recover enough here to make it work. As for the color against the b&w background, I like the effect and have actually used this style myself in a series of photographs about Cans, called Canscapes. The only thing i don't like in the edit here is the increase in the saturation of the subject. Especially when desaturating the bg, you do not need to increase the sat in the subject. Also, increasing the sat in the subject as you have loses alot of the little details and subtle tonalities that are very pleasing, especially in textured , old weathered subjects like this one.
You have chosen a great subject, and i would like to see you get at this one again.
Paint shop pro is very user friendly, but you will soon get the hang of PS and discover it is more powerful and precise.