@falcon11 suggested that I add a PS HDR adjustment to yesterday's shot to make it pop more. I guess it's a personal taste but I prefer the softer shapes of the original even though this does pop more. I'm curious what others think.
Thanks for your visits, comments, suggestions, favs
Interesting looking at both images. It is a little flat and my feelings would be to ditch this HDR version and just lighten the image a tad, all the time looking at your histogram. You are restricted by there being minimal interesting light on the sand dunes. If you process in Lightroom you might be able to use the adjustment brushes in some areas to create a more sculptured version. The subject matter is interesting with subtle dunes beneath an interesting sky. I would reduce the sky a bit and see if you can bring that out independently from the foreground. Good subject matter!
@marshwader thanks so much for taking the time to give me such a thoughtful and helpful response. I will play with it more. Ironically I did quite a bit of dodging and burning on the first one
I'm not sure that HDR is needed on this shot, I think perhaps just an adjustment on the tone curve would do the trick. Maybe in conjunction with Madeleines suggestion to add a few highlights with the bruch tool. I would try the tone curve first though. Adjust the mids.
I don't like HDR processing because it feels unnatural. Here, I'd stick with LR and make it a dark scene. I'd definitely darken all the shot and use a soft brush to brighting some of the brightest cloud fragments and the edges of the dunes.
