Yes, another False Kiva

I believe I may be the last hold out in posting my version of False Kiva during the Spring Fling. Have to say we were fortunate to have a decent few minutes of late afternoon light. And maybe more importantly, some great company.
As always, critiques are welcome.

Hi Ken, Comp is perfect, meaning you had the perfect spot to set up your tripod...with friends! Great clouds and nice lighting to be had. The following comment comes to personal taste. I prefer making these moments more dramatic/contrasty. Personally, I would use a selective Curves adjustment to darken and highlight mid tones of the upper 2/3rds and darken the darks of the lower third. I might even crop the thin strip of highlighted ground below the short, shadowed wall of the rock rim. After the Curves, I would experiment with selective color to bring out the blues a tad in that nice sky with a addition of yellow. And I would certainly try to abstract some blacks in the clouds to make more more "mood." Lastly, have a look at the transition between the roof edge and the sky. Appears to be a fairly noticable white line that seperates the sky from the ceiling. Maybe a rough blend? Maybe a PS "Refine Edge/Feather" tool might smooth out that tranisition better?

Overall a nice shot!

Man this looks vaguely familiar, Ken. You certainly made the most of that sweet light we were given. I like it as is but I also think Kane's suggested edits could make for a slightly more dramatic version. Really great to meet, hike and photograph with you. Hope it isn't the last time!

You came away with a real nice image with great conditions from the kiva location. My suggestions would be that overall, I think the image appears a little flat though and could use more contrast. The bit of bright rock above 10 o'clock of the kiva wall might be darkened. I like Kane's suggestion to bring out more blue in the sky. I sure do like the character in the sky and light on the far rimwall that y'all caught.

Thanks guys for the suggestions and taking a critical look. I did try a blending of two images, but really struggled with it. I did use the refine selection tool, but it simply wasn't working well with this image. I will have to try a luminosity blend to see if I can get better results. I will also play around with some luminosity painting to bring to bring out the dramatic light as well.

I love the comp and while I like the post I agree about the need for more contrast. After reading the more in depth critique from Kane, he certainly seems to have some great ideas.

You couldn't ask for better conditions here, and you were there for it. That's 90% right there.
I think this is a great 'base' image from which to work. Kane gave some good ideas and I especially agree with his use of increasing the blue skies in Selective Color (choose Blues, then tweak the Blacks slider to taste). I'll just assume that the haloing and lack of sharpness are only present on the Web version of this image. Nice work, Ken!