I entered my morning shot under time pressure, and all week I was cringing at the heaviness of the sky and the hyper-saturation in some areas. I have reprocessed it for a much more pleasing (to me) result. Frankly I'm amazed the original made top-10...
I like the updated clouds and shoreline grass, but I also like the more subtle water/boats/trees in the original... seems more natural to me (at this size at least). Congrats on the top 10 and Happy Birthday BTW.
Hmmmmm... Not sure if it is because you and I like the same type of photography, but your challenge entry was my highest placing image that I scored 10. At the time of voting the image looked a little overprocessed but that added drama that seemed to work.
For me the entry's strength is its composition, subdued lighting and detail. I would have cropped a bit more off the top since the harbor is, by far, the most visually interesting part of the image.
On my monitor the reprocessed image is brighter and though a lot of the sky looks better the brightest areas appear overexposed. The brighter lighting also made the harbor detail a bit too sharp for me. If voting on it I'd probably given it an 8.
First off Robert, Happy Birthday from your old stomping grounds!
I think the original entry had better and more pleasing foreground levels but the sky in both seem a bit over the top in regards to the processing. Both versions to me, seem a tad over-processed in general, no longer looking like a photograph, and venturing over to an artist-type of postcard. I'd love to see the original processed in a more conventional manner as it truly is a great scene and wonderful composition.
I agree with most of Brad's comments, it is just the sky,I've had a quick twiddle with a few crops and to be honest if it is cropped just above the lowest cloud it changes the whole picture.
Depends if you can live with the aspect ratio, cos it will look great as a print.
I prefer the entry version too even the sky. It gives the shot that heavy, ominous, impending storm feeling (even though the storm had passed)while still having the sunlight on the harbour, Great shot. The redo is too over the top ad looks like the contrast has been pumped up too much.
I like the original....yeah, it's a bit dark--but it just comes across as moody. It has a different feel than some of your other landscapes, but it's a feel that I like. The re-edit is lovely too, but I agree that it looks more "artsy" than a typical photograph. For me, the grass in the foreground is just a little too bright or oversaturated in the re-edit. I liked the darker, more subdued tones of the original. Very powerful shot all in all.
I like your entry also a lot better then your reprocessed,
that one just looks unreal to me with those beautiful colors you have.
I think you made the right choose entering this one, great capture!
The clouds do look better in the re-edit but if it were me I'd probably just crop them out and go with a square crop of the bottom where all the juicy details and lighting are. The clouds aren't bad but to me they just don't work well with the rest of the elements. That strong dividing line is what I like least.
ETA: Oh wait, you had a high score with that pic so just ignore me.
