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! DO YOU LIKE IT? Boost your post count easily with a quick 'yes' or 'no'!
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.
thanks LaFoto, for the great explanation! I'm still learning different techniques and won't forget to study levels.