Lonely Winter Day - Too much processing?

[TimA]

This is one of the shots I took on New Years Day at Bradley Woods Reservation on the west side of Cleveland. The first shot is pretty basic editing. Some curves work. Some vibrance and contrast. All done in Lightroom 2.

The second shot is also all done in Lightroom2 but now it has heavy lens correction, split toning, and so forth to give it a far more preprocessed look.

Looking to see what others think about how it turned out and if it's too much. Thanks in advance!!

[Hartzler]

It's a beautiful shot. I love the snow falling. As I look at the the two comparisons on my monitor, I prefer the first to the second. In my experience, there are always subtle tone and color differences between how a shot looks on one browser and monitor as opposed to another.

I briefly downloaded the two images so I could compare them side by side. I think you've got a bit more sharpness preserved in the first and after I hit levels on the original I also thought there was a better depth between the 'bench' and the trees. I thought the color looked a bit better in the 'bench' in the original whereas it seemed too much light, a little loss of detail in the more processed version.

These are such subtle differences, if I had seen either image by itself, I would have found both delicate and beautiful.

[tott7000]

I like the second one better, except it might be a little to bright in the center. I'm waiting for an angel to show up and it takes away from how beautifule the coloring is.

[moon]

First shot is better in my opinion. Both real nice though.

[junglebear]

I like both versions of what is a very nice shot, I think choosing one would depend on what you wanted to use it for. For me, the second version is a lot more moody whereas the first is serene and contemplative, I don't know if you have a particular use in mind for one of them.

Having said that, I prefer the first version. It's a very nice natural shot and I always think those don't need much processing unless there's a specific theme you want to convey.

[TimA]

Thanks everyone!

Sometimes you get stuck doing so much post processing that you end up looking at something more natural and you get the urge or feeling that it has to be "tweaked". I don't really have any use for this in mind other than maybe printing it or using it as a background... This was taken on New Years Day as part of year two of my photo a day thing.

Thanks for all the opinions. It allows me to take a step back and look at my work more critically than emotionally!

[k8et]

i like the second one better! great feel to it, love the color and how it draws the eye down the path...