Davey Woods

[Didereaux]

Palestine, TX on Thanksgiving Day.

 

[Tim Tucker]

I like the compositions in the first two, but the colour doesn't work.
By saturating the golden fall colours you're subtracting the blue and you're left with orange/gold against orange/gold (saturation brings the dominant hues forward by subtracting grey or the complementary). By removing the contrast between colours you're equalising the values and the effect is to make the colours appear duller, even though some of the leaves are 100% saturated colour.
If you put pure white against a light grey it dulls the effect of the white, put a very light grey against black and the grey will almost look white. So a less saturated golden orange will look more colourful against blue than a fully saturated golden orange does against less saturated orange. This doesn't mean you need a neutral colour balance, just how to use the principle of contrast to bring colour forward.

Original (some fully saturated fall colours):

Less saturated fall colours but contrasted against slightly more blue:

EDIT: Because this can be a difficult concept to grasp, and because I've had this conversation before where peopled have assume that I've just ramped up the contrast and saturation, here are the numbers:

Original file, pixel arrowed, Saturation 100%, Brightness 100%:

Edited file, same pixel, Saturation 91%, Brightness 95%:

The edited version is less saturated and less bright. It is the relative difference in values within an image and not the absolute values that are important. You can make things look brighter just by contrasting it with something darker, not by making it lighter. You make colour brighter by contrasting it with it's opposite. Adding more of the same (reducing the opposite) can equalise values and reduce the appearance of brightness and colour.

 

[Didereaux]

Thank you Tim. Actually the colors were very saturated it had been drizzling and heavy overcast (notice the wet pavement, and the soaked darkened leaves on the side of the pavement., so the blues were definitely lacking. I did reduce the magenta however. Your rendition definitely reflects accurately how it looked under medium overcast and dry.

 

[Tim Tucker]

Thank you Tim. Actually the colors were very saturated it had been drizzling and heavy overcast (notice the wet pavement, and the soaked darkened leaves on the side of the pavement., so the blues were definitely lacking. I did reduce the magenta however. Your rendition definitely reflects accurately how it looked under medium overcast and dry.

I'm still drawn to your second. There is an echo of dance that lends the composition a rhythm and movement.

When adding complementary colour to bring out the contrast you can be really subtle and target specific areas and tones with quite a light hand. You're definitely not looking for a neutral colour balance (or even reducing the saturation of your fall colours), only the presence of the complementary.

Many thanks for letting me play with your image.