Higgar Tor - keeper or ....

[bambleweeney]

There are bits in this shot I like, the light on the rocks and their texture, the colour of the heather and its texture but ... somehow the image for me doesn't work as a whole. Looking at it objectively I get the feeling that it's one of those 'you had to be there' shots. Bummer really as I dragged myself out of a comfortable bed at a riciculous hour to 'be there' (there being Higgar Tor, Derbyshire Peak District)
Any opinions ?

[FrankMi]

Hi Paul, it may be difficult to put into words but usually 'you had to be there' means that there was something that you saw (or perhaps sensed, felt, or heard, etc.) that is missing in the image you captured. Can you describe what it was that is missing and perhaps we can help you find it?

This image has a lot of potential but comes across a bit flat. On the other hand, it may be that for you it was more of a misty atmosphere than what is displayed.

Not knowing what you saw, I'd probably try a little Local Contrast Enhancement on the rocks in the foreground, play with foliage contrast and colour tone, perk up the sky a bit, then try different crops to see what works best. But that would be my vision of what you saw and not necessarily yours.

[Radu Dinu Cordeanu]

There are bits in this shot I like, the light on the rocks and their texture, the colour of the heather and its texture but ... somehow the image for me doesn't work as a whole. Looking at it objectively I get the feeling that it's one of those 'you had to be there' shots. Bummer really as I dragged myself out of a comfortable bed at a riciculous hour to 'be there' (there being Higgar Tor, Derbyshire Peak District)
Any opinions ?

I like it!The shot has potential...Below you could see a mixture example between Create new layer-colored,Overlay blending mode,and Filter-stylize-find edges,all at different opacities.(10 min.only)

[bambleweeney]

Frank, by 'had to be there' I guess I mean that to me it's interesting because of the experience (getting up stupid early, crunching over early morning frost etc) I'm not sure that for everyone else it's not just a group of rocks. It is flat - I had something much more vivid and then desaturated it because it just didn't look natural to me. Now I can see I went a little too far (in fact looking at it now - what was I thinking).

Radu the first one is a little too vivid I think. My original was somewhere between the one I posted and the first one of yours. Havn't had the opportunity to look at your other examples as my internet has decided to go frustratingly slow (happens often in my little corner of France). I'll check back in an hour or so unless the threatening storm arrives

[Geoff F]

Maybe, Paul, try a little bit of LCE.

Alternatively, I often use a duplicate layer, like Radu suggested but use Soft Light instead of Overlay which gives a slightly more 'relaxed' effect. And of course, vary the strength of the enhancement by selectively using a mask.

[bambleweeney]

Geoff what I normally do is duplicate the layer, apply image in screen mode and then use soft light. Didn't do it on this one because the colours looked really too vivid and so I backed off the saturation by way too much :-( A little undoing of the desaturation and it's looking way better and I might yet put a soft light layer in with a low opacity. I'll try a repost tomorrow after I've applied some of the suggestions.
Cheers