Dwarf Fireweed on a Glacial Stream (C&C welcome)

[Low_Sky]

a6500-6502554 by Low_Sky, on Flickr

I still have a long way to go, but I am starting to see progress toward the quality of landscape photo I'd like to be able to take. Due to bonehead operator error with a new camera, I accidentally shot this one in jpeg, so I was limited on how much I could do with it in LR.

This was shot on a Sony a6500 and Samyang 12mm at f/11 or 16 (can't remember which), 1/4 sec, ISO 100.
Lots of minor tweaks in LR, but I did two adjustments in particular that I would like feedback on. First is that I added some vignette to draw attention to the stream and wildflowers. Second was I used a grad filter (modified with the brush tool) on the foggy/cloudy sky between the mountains to bring the exposure down, so this area isn't so bright and competing for attention. Did I go too far with either of these?

Thanks for looking!

 

[Designer]

I think the editing adjustments are unobtrusive and helpful.

 

[smoke665]

No complaints here, very nice image!!!

 

[Ysarex]

I think the editing adjustments are unobtrusive and helpful.

I'll second that.

Joe

 

[Gary A.]

I think you over vignetted. The eye follows the stream to the edge of the frame and there the water and rocky hillside are obviously much darker than the rest of the frame. Personally, I would darken/lighten by hand. I would slightly darken the stream in the middle of the frame and that yellow rock ... lighten slightly the stream where it falls out of the frame and then add more detail (lighten), the rocks on the hills ... I was about to add to lighten up the Fireweed a touch in the lower left ... when it hit me this is all your vignetting. To my eye, the lighting just seems unnatural. In a landscape, I think natural is paramount. You have a nice composition, I think you slightly over-processed the image.

 

[Low_Sky]

Thanks for the feedback, everybody. The vignette does what I was trying to do, draw the eye to the center, but I think in the end I agree with Gary, it looks too cooked.

Here's my edit before I added the local corrections. My eye wanders around this one a lot more, but it does look more natural (because it is more natural).
a6500-6502554 (less processed) by Low_Sky, on Flickr

 

[Designer]

.. it does look more natural (because it is more natural).

Sometimes we want it to look a little better than natural. (That's not "more natural", just better.)