HDR Photography #1.5

Hindsight is a powerful thing as it allows us to reflect on what has happened and use a new fond perspective to influence future actions. When looking back at the 'HDR' landscape I had completed, I felt as if it was still lacking some final touches. Although I had some ideas, I decided to ask for some critique from photographers that I know, as I have the tendency to over think creative situations. I really appreciated the impartial constructive criticism as it thankfully reaffirmed similar thoughts that I was having about the photograph.

Although I felt that I was close to the result I ultimately wanted, I still felt that the photograph did not properly represent a sunset scene.It was missing the required colour vibrancy, but also, the foreground was still underexposed. Although I was apprehensive, I used the 'Dodge' tool to further brighten the foreground. I was pleasantly surprised with the results, but perhaps this was due to the amount of time between the edits. To intensify the colour, I created separate layers of blue, green, yellow and red and set the layer mode to overlay. The 'Opacity' for each of these layers was set to 20%, 25%, 15% and 25% respectively.  I know I have said this previously, but the final version of the photograph is as follows:

Although I was happy with the previous version, I feel that the edits have really enhanced and improved the photograph. I suppose, if anything, the key thing that I have taken from this experience is to take the adequate time when it comes to the post production workflow. At the end of the day, any work that I produce needs to stand against my standards because I don't want to be in the position where I am revisiting old work and creating a multitude of edits.