Over processed?

[Scuzi]

I was fiddling about with some pics I took when I was in France a few weeks ago. The one below looked a bit boring as it was straight out of the camera as you can see but I thought it was salvageable. I played with a bit of blur, levels, curves and colours. I like the result but I'm not sure whether or not it appears a bit fake due to too much processing? What could I do to improve it or is the image so crap it's beyond hope?

Original from camera:

New version:

Thanks

 

[A.N.Other]

I wouldn't say it was massively overprocessed, although imo, you've gone a bit ott with the sky (which is shown especially in the halos around the trees). I like the contrasty feel of the wall in the foreground, though and the colour boost to the sandstone.

 

[Scuzi]

I wouldn't say it was massively overprocessed, although imo, you've gone a bit ott with the sky (which is shown especially in the halos around the trees). I like the contrasty feel of the wall in the foreground, though and the colour boost to the sandstone.

I've just spotted those halos. I think that's down to my poor work on the layer mask down to using a touchpad on a laptop. I'll touch that up now, should only take a few seconds.

I reckon the sky is a bit boring and flat otherwise. Do you reckon I should tone it down a bit?

 

[robmiller]

It looks slightly too contrast-y to me, it feels like you've lost some detail (to the right on the hill and the wall in the lower left, for example).

How about this? Brightened up the levels a bit, boost contrast and saturation. Then duplicate layer, guassian blur and set layer mode to "overlay".

Edit: It's a lovely shot, BTW. Whereabouts in France is it?

 

[benneh]

I wouldn't say it was massively overprocessed, although imo, you've gone a bit ott with the sky (which is shown especially in the halos around the trees). I like the contrasty feel of the wall in the foreground, though and the colour boost to the sandstone.

Agree with this. Also all though the contrast is nice I think you've lost quite a bit of detail in the building on the lower left (through it being so dark really). Overall I like it but there seems too much of a difference between the sky and the houses, as though the houses are set in a lazy late afternoon and the sky is a little too bright/blue for this (imo of course).

 

[Scuzi]

It looks slightly too contrast-y to me, it feels like you've lost some detail (to the right on the hill and the wall in the lower left, for example).

How about this? Brightened up the levels a bit, boost contrast and saturation. Then duplicate layer, guassian blur and set layer mode to "overlay".

http://pwnt.co.uk/uploads/files/1/france.jpg[IMG]

Edit: It's a lovely shot, BTW. Whereabouts in France is it?[/QUOTE]

I like that, not as bland as the original and not OTT. Thanks :)

It's in a small village which I forget the name of, beside Sarlat in the Dordogne Valley. The village is built on a cliff face and I managed some interesting shots although the kit lens started to show its limitations.



[QUOTE=benneh]Agree with this. Also all though the contrast is nice I think you've lost quite a bit of detail in the building on the lower left (through it being so dark really). Overall I like it but there seems too much of a difference between the sky and the houses, as though the houses are set in a lazy late afternoon and the sky is a little too bright/blue for this (imo of course).[/QUOTE]
I think the detail in the lower left around that building was lost after I added some lighting effects focused on the trees. I'll try removing that to see what sort of effect it gives.

I'm working on a laptop LCD BTW so some elements of the images might be a bit askew.

 

[benneh]

There's a quick go from me. Basically lightened it, played a little with the curves and hue/sat, then a light un-sharpen mask. Not great, but I find that the top section of the trees is too far gone (they look a little blurred or out of focus) for me to do much with.

 

[Scam]

Then duplicate layer, guassian blur and set layer mode to "overlay".

What kind of effect does that give?

 

[robmiller]

What kind of effect does that give?

Try it I like it, it's sort of a softening, contrast-increasing type thingemebobbins.

This is a bit too blurred, but just to demonstrate (normal on the left, overlayed on the right obviously):

 

[Scam]

Curiosity did get the better of me and i gave it a go. Makes things contrasty and i can see where that could be useful, but i'm not sure why you'd want to soften a photo really. Each to their own, i'm sure it has it's uses.