Convert from Raw
Levels to set black and white points
Curves to darken foreground
Levels to adjust sky color and brightness
Burn highlights on sign
Dodge shadows in foreground
Resize
Border
Lettering
USM twice
Save for Web
Statistics
Place: 226 out of 266 Avg (all users): 5.1005 Avg (commenters): 5.0000 Avg (participants): 4.9048 Avg (non-participants): 5.2981 Views since voting: 1040 Views during voting: 296 Votes: 209 Comments: 10 Favorites: 0
This image definitely meets the challenge and you received a lot of feedback on this image (some if it contradictory). With over 40% of your votes being 5's, that to me indicates that people looked for literally 2-3 seconds and concluded, "this picture isn't bad (so I can't give 4 or less), but it doesn't do too much for me (so I can't give 6 or more). The compositional centering of the sign gives a snapshot kind of feel to the image and lacks the wow factor required for a 6+ score at DPC. Compounding that is that the yellow border and letters make the colors in the foliage look a little washed out. I'm betting that this area of California looks a lot more attractive in the spring and summer when the plants are a dark green and the sky is blue. The timing of this challenge worked against you.
Feel free to PM me if you have any questions regarding this critique.
I think the yellow is going to hurt you a bit here. Possibly the same setup with border and text would work better with white. Also it appears that the image, at least the sign with all its small signs in the vicinity, is over sharpened. I think the shot meets the challenge quite well, but might get an even better reaction if it were not so centered. This would give it a more dynamic feeling. This is all just my opinion - lord knows, I'm no expert. Hope you don't mind all this input on your image. I think Paradise, Ca looks like a lovely place to visit.
everything about this "postcard" fits together. The yellow board really holds everything together. It has a kind of 1950s look to it. The highlights on the signs slipped away from you a little bit.