Klouds over Kauai (with Repost)

iso 100, f9, 1/25th sec, 28mm, D700, .9GND

I need a reality check after seeing so many HDR and Adamusized images...I want my images to "pop" but I am afraid I am overdoing it with the saturation/vibrance adjustments although I do like vibrant color. Thanks in advance for C & C...

larger image at: http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=8895833&size=lg

I like vibrant colors too, but this is waaaaaay over saturated IMO. Especially the cyans in the surf and blues in the sky. I do think you have a good scene here with a moody sky. I'd just add contrast to the clouds to enhance the dark, brooding feeling and dial the saturation back a lot. Just my two bits....

The treatment of the clouds really doesn't bother me too much. There's a bit of fringing going on on the brightest areas of the clouds/sky in the center where the sun is which could be fixed. However I agree with Aaron that the blues on the surf are way too saturated and look a little strange.
I thin the composition of this, and the movement of the dark cloud overhead would carry the image well if the blues in the surf were toned down. It could be a very nice, dramatic shot for such a simple scene.

here is a toned down version

Still too much blue in the surf, IMHO. If I were you, I'd consider using a (de)saturation layer with a mask to selectively dial down the blue in the whitecaps. BTW, has anyone else noticed that the main effect of LR's vibrance slider (despite the explanation of how it boosts weak colors while leaving strong ones alone) all-too-often seems to be to goose the blues in an image?

It's definitely an improvement although I still the blue on the surf is still distracting. One thing that has happened is that the luminous detail in the calmer FG water was lost from the first. If you can selectively keep the contrast of that area from the first I think it will help. I keep coming back to look at this one for that sky. Really dramatic IMO.

thanks for your feedback. i see the differences and will keep working on it.

Great photo David, it just has the issues noted. I agree with Chris about the sky, pretty cool.