Repost, Repost, etc...

Joe, I would start over with the processing here, leaving out the sharpening/clarity effects. The upper sky looks especially off. I might clone out that spot in the lower right corner too. Colors and exposure look about right and I do like the compoosition.

Joe,

Can't add much to what Marc already suggested. The color/sat may be a little strong, but not too far beyond believable considering the timing. But I can't help but agree that at least the upper clouds seem a little "crispy" - either too much sharpening or over-compensated with the contrast.

You're not very far off though. And yeah, clone out the lights.

Lon

Marc, Lon thanks for your feedback. There was a lot of texture and a lot of red in the clouds that evening, you had to see it... To my best recollection, in the central part, the photo I posted first is closer to reality in both colour and texture, although having now taken a second look at the upper part, I realise my mistake. I tried to reproduce that effect: I sharpened at radius 0.5 and 100% with PS3's Smart Sharpen, after resizing from an unsharpened raw original, I guess I went too far in the upper part as you mentioned. I also tried to reduce the highlights from the upper part, which didn't help. I guess what needs sharpening mostly are my PS skills.

Here's an edited version, with sharpening at 0.3 and 50%, less processing overall, and the spots removed (these were reflections off bodies of water).

p.s. This one is a slightly different crop; both are crops from the original which had more black and some unneeded space on the left.

Cheers.

Joe,

Thanks for taking the time to re-work this. Understand now about the reflection on the water vs. "lights." But was a little eye magnet anyway. ;-)

Now this is just one person's opinion, so take that for what it's worth, but I'd be inclined to find a happy place between these two versions. I like the tighter crop of your original and the more empty sky above in the repost weakens the comp a little. I also appreciate what you're saying in terms of what you remember experiencing, so I think something backed off from the original, but a little more intense than the repost should work well. Heck, maybe even the original crop for the repost will do the trick.

Thanks again for the repost. Hopefully some others will chime in.

Lon

Alright Lon, I appreciate you taking the time for more feedback. Here's a third attempt; maybe I'll get it someday; not even sure this shot is worth it... By the way, to give you an idea about the intensity of the reds in the original scene, that second post had 0 saturation; I only played slightly with the level slider, and some minor contrast, again starting from the unprocessed raw original.

Cheers.