I would like to thank all of you for the nice comments and encouragement on my recent State Park photos. Some of you commented, "Wow! Really have to go there!" This has me worried in a way... I think it is a beautiful place. My motivation for the techniques used came from reading about the Slot Canyons in Utah and Arizona, where very long exposures are needed to bring out the colors, and they change from moment to moment with the light. Guess what --same wonderful things happen in the middle of Illinois. Or, as some have shown here, at dawn or dusk in the city, or at the beach. The middle shot here used no manipulation. Scan of Fuji Superia Realia, with no curves. The brighter colors are just due to picking up more light through a longer exposure, and the saturation of the film. In the shot on the left, I tried to manipulate the middle image to look as close to what I remember the real scene as possible. And on the right I'm trying to make the scene even more real.

Its very interesting that you feel the RH image reflects how the scene was, I have noticed this, how when taking the picture you have the heightened feeling for the colours and detail, it never seems to be there in the final shot. For me the one in the centre works fine I feel the RH one just a tad to saturated. :0 )

Well I really liked the one you posted in the gallery, but in looking at the comparison, I think the middle works just as well..... :~)