out for a ride -- 2 treatments c&c wanted

[MatthewWilliams]

Got out on the 'bikes' today, first time for me this year, with my son and his friend. Took a ride up to the falls and around town. Mines the one in the teeshirt... the one that needs a haircut...


2
this one used a preset from Aviary on Flickr

[deetheturk]

Hi Matt, its #1 for me bud, your horizon needs a slight anti-clockwise turn, nice bikes were you pillion? or is your bike out of shot?

[IzzieK]

Same question as David up there...I like #1 too because it looks more natural...

[MatthewWilliams]

no my bike was behind me , my son was on one of his old beaters a Kawasaki 750 from mid 80's. On the first i just tweaked the hue and saturation a little and a little sharpness with an unsharp mask.. oh i just use the software that came with the canon ...

[Geoff F]

The first one looks OK to me. The shadows are a bit heavy and hide some detail; but with this sort of scene I don't really have any problems with that.

There are a couple of very small but rather bright objects in the far distance which I would selectively tone down because they cause a tiny bit of distraction; nothing to really worry about though. More noticeable when viewed at full screen size, which makes the whole image appear clearer.

I suppose there is a demand for effects like the second version but it seems a bit excessive to me.

You could try the first one with a little bit of Local Contrast Enhancement or maybe an adjustment layer (or duplicate image) with the Blend Mode set to Soft Light at somewhere around 50% opacity. But subject to having suitable software.