Huntington Beach Sunset Before and After

[doubleoh7]

Delete please

 

[~Stella~]

I prefer the original, honestly - the colors were more varied and I can see the details better. The second has more egg yolk yellow in the sky, but it overpowers the blues and pinks.

The second is just darker as far as the water and beach go and I'm not sure that is of any benefit - I prefer seeing the blue in the water of the first. Maybe go a little less dark on the bottom and try to bring out the varying colors in the sky rather than just the yellow?

 

[kacielynch]

The colors are prettier in the first, too much orange in the second one.

 

[Over Exposed]

What steps did you take? It appears as though there is just a heavy saturation boost and heavy increase in contrast.

 

[Bridget Greenwood]

I like the first, the colors are great

 

[LaFoto]

I go with the majority here: also I prefer the original to the edit. The edit loses a lot of detail.

I'd generally give this one a different crop, too, as to move the horizon line from the very middle (dividing the image up into two equal halves) to either the upper or lower third line. Decide what is more important to you, sky or beach with person and birds, and go from there - well, that's what I'd suggest.

 

[doubleoh7]

i am debating on going to a real program, so i used i photo's newest version which has real basic fixes and touch up. i did exactly what over exposed said, and boosted with some contrast and then finished with an over all "lighter" touch or two. now that i look at them as posted, i did over boost a bit. LaFoto.. thanks for reminding me of the rule of thirds. I did use a tripod for the photo.

 

[tyler_h]

I've found the easiest way to get these sorts of shots looking good is just with Brightness/Contrast adjustment layers in PS. I'd treat the sky and ground independently by masking one. Normally if you boost the contrast in the sky you are going to have to decrease the brightness, but it can really bring out any clouds.
As was mentioned, the waves are a lot darker in your processed version. I take it you were going for a silhouette of the man? You will need to treat him separately to the rest of the image if you want to do that without darkening the rest too much (not sure how it would look though).