Photo Editing: How much is too much colour?

[obsidian]

I've been tweaking a few of my photos in Lightroom and I'm wondering what you photo experts do to judge colour. I've been twiddling around with the various sliders, curves and histograms and with each tweak, I think I like the changes, but collectively I wonder if all the tweaks added up are a little too much and not true to the original photograph. When adjusting colours, how much is too much?

Here's a before and after shot. I'm wondering if the tweaks are over the top and any rule of thumbs to prevent things from looking like they are positively radioactive.

[Fender]

- not an expert, but I don't think the processed pic looks over done

[Transient]

The second picture is too vibrant; you're picking up too much yellow in the grass.

[chopov]

The first picture looks IMO way more natural than the edited one. When the leafs become yellow in the fall the grass is never as yellowish green at the same time...

[creep]

If you want to stay "true to the original" why not just leave it the fuck alone?

[DTS]

If you want to stay "true to the original" why not just leave it the fuck alone?

Exactly.

[Whiskey 7]

- not an expert, but I don't think the processed pic looks over done

Looks OK to me too

[ForM]

The trick is............

Don't ask what people want to see. Rather, show them what YOU want them to see.

[corsair]

Color depth of the big leaf has decreased by editing, especialy in it's bottom left corner it is quite apparent. Consequently the leaf looks more flat and homogeneous.
It's not much of a problem for the leaf itself, however, I think the result would've been nicer if the front and back were edited seperately. Decreasing saturation in the back, and increasing it in the front would make a more interesting contrast... probably.

[bitWISE]

I agree with the grass and the bottom left comments.

[Grandpa Stu]

it all depends on your goal. if you want to convey a feeling of sadness you could boost the blues and greens and desaturate a bit. want something to look warm then do the opposite. if you're only goal is to make a "pretty" picture, well then, that's entirely subjective.

with that said, subtle tweaks can go a long ways especially when you start stacking them up. also, try to avoid blanket treatments and instead focus on specific areas and/or colors while doing adjustments. doing so would allow you to make that leaf pop without the grass becoming too yellow.

[obsidian]

I'm actually wondering about the overall process and workflow that you guys use. What do you tweak first, how you use certain tools, etc.

Like I said above, my current process is just to adjust each slider value at a time, but the compounded result often ends up looking over the top like the examples.

I know to use the histogram to watch for colours clipping off at either end of the scale and to adjust accordingly, but what else should I do and keep an out for to prevent things from tipping too far off the scale?

[ek]

The first picture looks IMO way more natural than the edited one. When the leafs become yellow in the fall the grass is never as yellowish green at the same time...

thats because it is, dipshit. imo.

[plained]

ive said how i feel about this in the past

pushing everything up and adding effects and all that, to me, simply just turns into generic "ooo yea" type of commercial art, where every pic looks the same and doesnt stand out at all.

it takes away any value , to me imo anyways

[StormShadow]

General rule: If it looks like its been edited, you have gone too far.

I usually try to get a sense of depth with use of shadows and contrast but if the focus of your picture is autumn color, jacking up the color a few notches is fine too. Your second picture does not look over saturated imo.

[Dave]

Like others have mentioned, the leaf looks good, but the grass gives away the oversaturation. With the right light, you can get the leaf to look that bright without processing. IMO, the second example looks poorly processed rather than an attempt at an intended effect.

You can always try the Alien Skin Exposure plugin for Photoshop. It does a good job of creating film-like color effects that don't go too far into radioactive territory.