FAO: DP... this is the post I'm talking about in the Landscape thread.
Something doesn't feel natural here. The greens feel off, and i don't think it is the saturation but the hue. It is also worth bearing in mind that if a scene naturally has a lower saturation you don't get natural results by pushing saturation in post too far. The best you can realistic do is add a little punch to get the result closer to what you saw in reality (for several reasons the default RAW colour output is not as vibrant as the real world). If the scene is muted when you take the photo then you won't get anything too vibrant in post without it looking weird and artificial (too many subtle lighting issues).
The other thing that looks odd is the separation of the clouds and mountain.You've tried to pull down the sky but it has kind of left some outlining and an unnatural transition. I often have difficulties getting this right. Th issue is the human eye has a much higher dynamic range than a digital sensor, and the way we achieve that DR is by localized exposures through different saccadic eye movements. Between the beyer sensor, demosaicing algorithms and the lightroom clarity odd things can occur in highs of high contrast transitions along defined edges. I find that an ND-grad filter can give more natural results despite the fact that LR/PS should be able to replicate some of the same behavior to a small extent.
Thinking about it again, are you a natural-photo lover, more than a overly processed one? I liked your comments in the other thread about taking photos properly and concisely with thought, instead of putting in countless processing, btw. Appreciate your input. I guess I was going for a less natural look - less like it actually looked - and perhaps more interesting.
Anyway - I've had a play with the hues, let me know what you think.
The shot you didn't like:
The shot I've changed the greens in, and the sky isn't quite so drastically in contrast with the hill's edge.
I do actually quite like them, probably because they already exceed my expectations of what I could achieve with a decent camera, but understand not everything is tasty to everyone. I think I like the 'Lord of the Rings' trees, if you know what I mean.
The look, the shape, the colour.
Everyone else's feedback also welcome, please..!