"Stacked": Original, 1st & 2nd edit

[jasonkt]

Looking for new ideas, good cc, or just comments in general. Here is the original photo which you are welcome to edit:

When I first took this shot, I tried to edit it, but wasn't really happy with the results:

I thought the shot had more potential, and here is a 2nd edit. Still not good enough imo, but that's why I'm asking for suggestions!

In this edit I did actually try to adjust the curves. I googled it and even kind of understood what I was supposed to be doing, but I've got a lot to learn still. If you want to take my original and just mess with the curves to show me what can be done, go right ahead!

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[jasonkt]

worth a bump to get a view at least

 

[EBphotography]

I think the color of the second with the crop of the first would be best.

 

[LaFoto]

Well, I threw a very widely feathered (90) lasso around the sky and quite considerably lowered the midtones in the Levels (I am a "level-person", and it seems like others are "curves-persons"). Then I looked at the sand selectively (lasso again, same feather), and the histogramme showed me that a good many shadows can be added, but also a good many highlights. So I added them.
Then I worked on the rocks with a 40px-feather lasso and upped their highlights.
To round it off, I upped the reds (via Saturation) from 0 - 10, same about the blues, and the yellows from 0 - 20.

And I took out the rock in the bottom left corner. Not sure if that was overly necessary, but I wanted it gone.

 

[jasonkt]

thanks LaFoto, for the great explanation! I'm still learning different techniques and won't forget to study levels.