Tough time with this one...

[DownByFive]

I'm not so much concerned with the artistic value of this shot, but rather with the adjustments that I had to make to it. I had to try like the dickens to get this thing looking somewhat decent...curves, hue/saturation, shadow/highlight, in addition to the RAW adjustments. Adjust one thing, and the sky gets washed out...Adjust another, the ground is too dark...ugh. I realize that the original was a pretty bad shot, but I didn't have my Grad ND with me at the time, and the light was really crappy...But what do you all find is the best process for these stubborn photos?

[CarbonTerry]

I divided the photo into 4 different sections and curve corrected for each area.

[Trevor Ash]

Both of the photos you posted in the first post are good. Of those two, I prefer the second but would like to see less saturation in the sky area. It's far too blue and competes with the main land subject.

The last one you posted is far too strong for my tastes and is not an improvement over the first two.

Good photo btw.

[jar_e]

Interesting shot. Great view first off, did you have to do any climbing or anything?! I'm with Trevor on this one, the second photo in your post is the best one so far. And really, the only thing that seems off is the mountain and the 1/3 of the sky. The colors in the pic look great and natural, where as the first one seems to soft and 'earthy'. Great shot though, and it would be interesting to see what else you can do with this shot.

Jared

[CarbonTerry]

Not especially to my taste either but DownBy Five was asking for alternatives to his results.

[Trevor Ash]

Oops, sorry. I didn't realize someone other than the original photographer posted that third photo.

[DownByFive]

I was reading some forums on another site about people complaining about dull results from their D70...I think the first pic in my post would definitely encourage them, since that's just a shrunk down version of the basic JPG that came straight from the camera with the RAW file. Ah the glory of post-processing...

[LeeIs]

I'm not so much concerned with the artistic value of this shot, but rather with the adjustments that I had to make to it. I had to try like the dickens to get this thing looking somewhat decent...curves, hue/saturation, shadow/highlight, in addition to the RAW adjustments. Adjust one thing, and the sky gets washed out...Adjust another, the ground is too dark...ugh. I realize that the original was a pretty bad shot, but I didn't have my Grad ND with me at the time, and the light was really crappy...But what do you all find is the best process for these stubborn photos?

DownByFive,
I really like these photos that you're posting of the town that began with the letter P. Sorry I forgot what the town was but they're all magical. I really love 'em. I love how the ground is countoured and defined, it almost looks like a topographical map.

As for adjusting one area and affecting one that you don't want to you have to use the right software as in Photoshop. If you have that teach your self on selections and how to select an area that you would like to adjust without affecting the rest of the image.

[DownByFive]

Thanks Leels...Actually, the place I refer to as the Palouse isn't actually a town (well, there is a town called Palouse, but I don't have any pictures of it), it's an area covering parts of eastern Washington and northern Idaho that is basically sitting on top of a volcanic plain, so it's got some of the most fertile soil in the world. It's also a lot different than the rest of north Idaho, which is mainly mountains and lakes...

[CarbonTerry]

Trevor
No problem at all.
Hey, that's what makes the world go 'round. lively feedback from many differing points of view.
i think the most powerful aspect of PS is the ability to use masks on any type of a layer.
once I learned how to mask my skills on PS improved dramatically.
Do a search for "PhotoShop Tutorials Masks" and practice..practice..practice...