Too Blue? Help me out here!

I must admit i felt like i stepped into the twilight zone posting this shot on ESS. Its exactly the kind of shot i might have criticized a year or so ago for looking too 'over-the-top'. But my tastes have modified over the past couple years, working with RAW images and spending more time in the magic hours (pretty tough for a non-moprning person!). Im looking for any advice/suggestions from the processing whizzes here. Coul/Should i have gone about things differently? Here's the shot as presented. Workflow was: 1) convert to 'landscape' mode (which boosts sat slightly; i had shot it in 'standard' mode) 2)crop 3)burn blue channel using a 25% opacity on an adjustment layer. 4)minor dodging of horizon mts 5) clone out dust speck 6) sharpen.

Here's the original RAW, not processed at all. note dust speck (curse the 5D!)

I shot it in Auto WB, a color temp of around 6K, here it is with a color temp of 10K ! notice the snow is still blue, the sky getting pretty yellow.

Here it is with the brightest spot in the snow set to white. Pretty interesting but unrealistic. So, what do you think? Was the processing too much? If i left all my shots as they look in RAW, it would be pretty dull that's for sure. Im satisfied with the results. But im curious how others might have approached it.

First of all, if you only have 1 dust spot to deal with I HATE YOU! I've got a veritable minefield of dust on mine.

As for the image, I like the composition and the bold colors although I do find the blue snow a bit too intense for my tastes. I expect snow in shade to be blue, especially on a clear day. The snow in the top image is just electric and could be toned down without losing any of the impact. The snow in the original RAW looks about right but maybe a little too cyan. My suggestion: select the snow and add a touch of yellow, then reduce the blue saturation maybe 15% or so.

Thanks for the thoughts, Brett, thats the kind of input im looking for. I think it might lose impact, but im willing to be convinced otherwise!

Stan, I think I like the snow in the 3rd version with the sky in the second. Guess that's a lot of help, eh. I think maybe if you desaturated the snow blues in the second version that should get into the ballpark for my tastes. I'm just going to guess 5-10%? I'm a conservative when it comes to bold saturations and also my monitor seems to run a little contrasty, if it matters. It's a really neat shot if you can get to a point that you are happy with on the colors.

Hope you don't mind, but I messed with it some. I like bold colors, mainly because pictures don't usually convey the grandness of a scene as it's experienced in person. However, I agree that the snow is just a little much for my tastes, so I attempted to tone down the snow without losing the nice colors available in the sky.

Stan, I think the problem with the first image is that the blue and cyan are too dark and look unnatural. Try adding a "Hue/Saturation" layer and increasing the blue lightness by about 20 and the cyan lightness by 30 or so. Just my opinion.

Stan, my first reaction was to shield my eyes from the electric-blue snow!
However, after the initial shock, I actually like that version best , even though the saturation is over-the-top.

I just love the "glow" and texture of the snow . If you back off on the saturation, don't change the luminosity of the snow.

Hmmm...this is getting confusing
Chad, i dont mind. (although proper NPN etiquette is to ask first). I appreciate the response, results look a bit bizarre to me (i have the advantage of having been there )
I think i am leaning toward Roger's suggestion. hope to have a reworked version by tomorrow.

Yea, I wasn't sure what the protocol is, but not having a camera of my own now, what else have I got to do? I overdid the sky now that I look at it some more.

Ok, the blue in your original ESS post is a bit over the top (for my tastes anyway). On shots like this I like to create a layer with the sky selected and another layer with sky selection inverted. That way you can work on the sky and landscape separately. With the landscape layer, I'd desaturate the blues a bit and/or judiciously apply a little warming filter. How much depends on how much blue you want to remain. I'd then work on the sky layer and saturate similarly to what you did in your ESS post. Flatten and your good to go. Just another suggestion to add to the confusion!

Thanks for the suggestion, Guy, im ok with mass confusion, its my natural state

Hi Stan,

Personally I like the second. It feels like it has a nice balance to it. It makes me fell cold just looking at it.

Beautiful shot.

Payat

i rather prefer the first one. yeah, the blue is bright, but i think it makes a cool semi-abstract image. i like the blue sky in that one as well. the other images make the sky look too washed out.

Hi Stan, I couldn't resist having a go at it. Here's something close to how I would prefer it. It's too complicate to explain the steps I did but if you're interested I could email you the psd.

Btw, I like the gradations in the snow. Nice abstract image.

Stan, I like the shot very much. The original is just to saturated for my tastes. I very much like what Jack did to rework the image.

Stan, I didn't read everyone's replies, so hopefully I'm not just repeating. I think the disconnect in the shot is that the blue is such a neon blue, and that it's as light as it is in these predawn conditions. I think if you reduce the blue in the foreground snow, and then darken it to where it's still very visible, just not so in-your-face visible, it'll not look so manipulated, and actually look like it reflects conditions at the time in a very beautiful shot. Jack's pretty close, but I think if you took the snow from your #2 shot and combined it with the sky from your first shot, you'd be 90% there. Maybe tweak up the blue in the FG a little bit from what #2 has, but keep it relatively subdued.

Thanks for all the suggestions folks, i definitely appreciate it! Jack, i didnt even see your version until now, but my rework is fairly close (great minds think alike). I took the consensus advice and tried to keep the sky while toning down the electric snow. I used a color temp of 9500K which reduced the cyan, and used the 'Standard' Canon mode which doesnt add saturation. Im satisfied with the results, this is pretty close to the way i originally envisioned it. I'm done with this shot, so if you don't like it--tough!