Polychrome Badlands

I've spent most of my adult life working at clinic's on the western side of the Navajo Reservation in northern Arizona. I've always enjoyed the area and after nearly 29 years am still finding new things.

This particular place is a bit distant from where I live, and even though I first photographed here several years ago, it's only recently that I've figured out how to work the images. I've found that it's a place that actually Photoshops better than it photographs. There are subtle colors here, but it's the heavy-handed Photoshopping that helps bring them out (+80 Vibrance in the RAW converter to start).

At least I think it seems to help. The colors do exist, though they don't look like this. I've gone here with friends who were more impressed with the small plants growing in the cracks than with the coloration in the formations. So it's necessary to push, I think, to get people's attention. Not sure if that's a good rationale or not (probably not), but I like going in this direction anyway, so it doesn't bother me if it departs from what is true.

Would be interested in your thoughts on this image. If it bothers you, please feel free to say so. I like the different opinions here.

5D2, 28-300 @ 109mm, f/16, 1/2 sec. A bit of the Photoshopping is here.

Appreciate hearing below that the image looks a little dark. This always seems to happen to images that I prep for posting here, and I usually pull back my normal post-sharpening adjustment layer, which darkens the image slightly, to 50% opacity. However, I purposely left it at 100% opacity here as I liked the richer colors. Good to know, however, that the 50% mark is probably a better bet. Thanks.