Hidden Hues + RAW file

This is an image that builds on the "blended balance" concept in my last post. In addition to playing up the blues from the open sky, I also tried to bring out the underlying coloration, though the reality on the ground is that these colors are quite subtle to both the eye and the camera. A straight conversion of the RAW file is posted below for reference. Hopefully, though, it's obvious that the colors and patterns in the final image are actually present in the scene itself.

I honestly didn't see or even imagine this image when I first hiked here. Aside from the obvious yellow in the background, there wasn't much color. It was only after getting the exposures into Photoshop that the colors hidden in the formations became apparent. I've already mentioned in a previous post that this place Photoshops better than it photographs, and this is a case in point.

I know this level of enhancement doesn't feel right sometimes, but I think it's pretty neat that these colors do exist at a subliminal level in the natural world and that we now have the technology to capture and express them in our photographs.

I would, as always, be very interested in hearing your thoughts on this image and how it could be improved.

5D2, Tamron 28-300 @ 209 mm per EXIF data, but I thought it was 300 mm, f/16, 1/6 sec, ISO 100, five focus-blended images.

Follow-up: Saturation mask also posted below.