Help with PP - driving me mad!

[Flippin' Kipper]

Rob and Robbie were giving me some pointers on a recent thread, and apparently my photos were underexposed - this was due to me aimlessly mucking around in Lightroom (3.4) changing random settings. I was hoping that you guys could give me some pointers on which settings you generally use - your work flows etc? I honestly have very little idea what I am doing, but have uploaded two of my recent attempts for critique and suggestions on what to change etc - all help very much appreciated!!!

Photo 1 -
1)three grad filters applied to darken sky and lighten foreground
2) recovery at 100
3) fill lights at 14,
4) saturation and luminance adjusted to make oranges more orange and sky a bit more blue.#


IMG_1049-2 by Flippin' Kipper, on Flickr


IMG_1049 by Flippin' Kipper, on Flickr


Photo 2 -
1) grad filter to darken sky and improve saturation of blue in sky,
2) exposure upped 0.05,
3) sharpened quite a lot.


IMG_0995-2 by Flippin' Kipper, on Flickr


IMG_0995 by Flippin' Kipper, on Flickr

[D44VEE]

I personally think you've done a very good job on both of those!

Photo 2 clearly didn't need much in the way of exposure control as it seemed quite balanced right out of camera.

Photo 1 is a little more tricky due to the extreme contrast between the sun and the land in the foreground. I really like they way you've recovered the sky to the top of the frame, likewise with the distant ground. For me, the foreground has been made a little too light, almost making the picture look HDR. Personally I'd drop it back a touch, and make the whole photo a touch brighter.

Really nice pics though in general, can't really improve on them much!