Is There Hope for Me?

[Sepiana]

Hi everyone,

During my recent trip to the West, I shot this photo in Utah, around 7pm (Mountain Time); the light was already fading and I still had the polarizer filter on.

Before image: the only thing I did was to straighten the photo.

After image: I did a shadows/highlights and levels adjustment.

What do you think? Be honest with me. I'll never be a top-of-the-line-photographer; yet, I don't want to be at the bottom of the barrel.

Please give me your critique: composition, perspective, all the works.

Thanks in advance.

[sosdog]

First thing I noticed was the picture was a little soft so some sharping would have helped plus I cropped maybe to much foreground. Then bumped the greens an yellows a bit. Hope this helps but from the looks of your gallery you seem to be doing just great.

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1zLoZhUuO4pkTHlTG6mLuSJS2x1e1_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1zLoZhUuO4pkTHlTG6mLuSJS2x1e1)

[Sepiana]

First thing I noticed was the picture was a little soft so some sharping would have helped plus I cropped maybe to much foreground. Then bumped the greens an yellows a bit.


Thanks a lot, Larry. Quite an improvement! You know what you're doing.

In one of my versions, I did a bit of sharpening: 85%-1-4, but then I forgot to do it in this version. I get so nervous about sharpening; I'm always afraid of overdoing.

A dumb question, how did you bump the greens and yellows? Which technique?