RVDigitalBoy Loc: Clermont, Florida

7 exposures (+3EV to -3EV)
Nikon D3100
Nikkor AF-S DX 10-24mm zoom (Shot at 24mm)
Lightroom 4.2
Photomatix Pro 4
Photoshop Elements 10
Topaz DeNoise, InFocus, ReMask 3, Adjust 5

Digital_Dave Loc: NH "Live Free Or Die"

Great Photo...Super job Post Processing.

RVDigitalBoy Loc: Clermont, Florida

Digital Dave, Thanks! I'm working hard to learn the ins and outs of digital processing.

pianist38 Loc: Nebraska

That's really pretty; I like that. Looks like a soft light bathing house and distant trees.

RVDigitalBoy Loc: Clermont, Florida

Thanks, pianist38! THis image was made just before the setting sun hit the western horizon.

SoHillGuy Loc: Washington

Over done on the post processing. DeNoise could not handle all the post processing the photo received.

bkyser Loc: Fly over country in Indiana

Absolutely love it.
bk

Dixiegirl Loc: Alabama gulf coast

Very pretty.

RVDigitalBoy Loc: Clermont, Florida

SoHillGuy, I will recheck for noise. Were you referring to ground elements or the sky?

I have to admit that I tweak the saturation levels. But, that's how I like them.

RVDigitalBoy Loc: Clermont, Florida

Thanks, Dixiegirl!

RVDigitalBoy Loc: Clermont, Florida

Thanks, bkyser! I love your avatar!

lorenww Loc: St. Petersburg

Great shot and great framing. Very peaceful mood.

RVDigitalBoy Loc: Clermont, Florida

Thanks, lorenww!

SoHillGuy Loc: Washington

It is most noticible in the light colors.

conkerwood

I like the composition on this, the overarching tree with the light building really works but if I was going to be really picky, I think if you had taken a position which would have placed the bright building a little further left, on the thirds line, then it would have been a better balance, its a minor issue and probably down to taste, others may not be phased by it and be happy as it is. As for the processing I tend to go with SoHillGuy, I think it hasn't quite worked and has in fact been overworked. I see that you wanted to go for strong contrast and that creates an interesting effect but the blacks I think are a little too strong so that you have lost a lot of detail from the shadows that could have been brought out. Clearly the focus and DOF was pretty good as you have clear definition on the walls of the building and on the bark of the left tree. But the details of the leaves are quite lost, even though they fall within the area of focus which seems to indicate that they have been lost in post processing. If you look at the area on the upper far left, there are two blue sky sections between the branches. Notice how some of the leaf areas seem to have a see through effect with the shadow of tree limbs ghosting through, it almost seems as if there is an opaque layer over sections of the tree trunks. This is largely a consequence of the HDR merging process and then PP which I don't think had quite the right settings. There is also a decidedly magenta colouring which is also evident on the leaves on the upper right. The magenta fringing is chromatic aberration which has been made worse by PP. Which brings me back to SoHillGuy's point, there has been so much processing that you have created a lot of artefacts which denoise is not able to deal with. This is particularly noticeable in the sky. Ok having said all of that I think this is a pic worth reworking (or keep it like it is if its the way you want it, I can only offer my opinion) I have no problem with high saturation, in fact I tend to tweek pics up as well. My suggestion is that you put it back into Photomatix and reprocess. Certainly keep the strength, saturation, luminance etc high but drop the blacks back so that you have a histogram which gives you a full range of tones, adjust the gamma to get the balance of light. Then in PP the first step I think should be to remove the chromatic fringing. Just select saturation, magenta and desaturate. This will reduce the fringing considerably without having too much effect on the rest of the pic. I would stick to the light the way you have it as I think its really effective to have the light of the house shining out through the darker foreground and I really like the area of bright green on the right and the bright yellow streak in the sky. Topaz denoise is great but I would make sure you use it before any sharpening or use of effects from Topaz Adjust (my second favourite piece of software) I hope this all makes sense and is useful. If you do decide to rework please post as I would be very interested in the result.

Peter