better tree vs. better clouds

[ncbcymtechie]

First off, there wasn't much I could do about the phone lines and I may look to edit them out later, but other critiques are welcome. Mostly I'm deciding whether to choose the better exposed tree:


or the nicely defined clouds:


Is there perhaps a way to combine the tree from the first with the sky from the second? I took the original color photo and desaturated it completely to get the first. Then I adjusted curves to obtain the second.

Thanks!

[raft99]

I like the second one with the clouds more distinct.

[EasternSierra]

There isn't much difference in the exposure value of the tree. It is dark and underexposed in both shots. This *could* be due to using a desaturate command for conversion.

Try converting your image using the Channel Mixer and bump your red channel to 100. Watch that contrast start to pop on it's own. Than use curves to finalize adjustments... It's a much more controlled way of converting from color to monotone...