Snohomish Balloon Pano needs CC

[flechtight]

I like this photo but...seems to be lacking something in the processing, any ideas on breathing some life into it

5 Shot vertical pano using a Canon 5DM2 70-200mm 2.8L IS USM

[Stagecoach]

Hi Jon

I had a quick go using auto levels, brightness/contrast, saturation and a bit of unsharp mask. Not sure if this is going to look overworked and will not be as good as working with the 'original' file but here it is.

[flechtight]

Thanks Grahame, I see where it's going, much more life to it. I am processed challenged, maybe some what visually challenged, I know what I want , just have a hard time getting there in the digital world sometimes

[Ken Curtis]

Hi Jon.

I think you need a bit of contrast and a bit of saturation. What would be great is if the balloon were to draw your eye to it, but I think that is going to be difficult because it is so small. I tried super saturating it and lightening the balloon, but it hardly shows because the balloon is so small.

You may not like this, but the image might be better without the balloon. Try cloning it out and see what you think.

[Geoff F]

I agree with Ken, the balloon is a nice idea but it isn't big enough to be the centre of attention; so it just looks distracting to me.

Then after slightly increasing the highlights and fractionally darkening the shadows this is what I came up with as a suggestion.

[Ken MT]

What about a bigger balloon?