"Broken Home" - help me make this POP

[saltydog]

Hi everyone,

The picture below was taken at the Socrates Sculpture Park in Queens, NY - often a place for pretty cool and bizarre shots. The building isn't photoshopped , that's just the way the artist put it up :D. I was there on opening day and it was rather difficult to get this shot as numerous kids and adults ran and stood around everywhere. So I am rather proud of my patience and in finally getting a worthwhile shot of this but - I was up against the setting sun right in back of the scene and of course the little girl easily gets lost to begin with. Does anyone have suggestions on how to save this?

I shot it in RAW, but adjustments here have been made mainly in PS and shredded my histogram, while the whole thing still looks mighty flat to me. Can this be saved? Feel free to play around. If it helps, I can also post a link to the original file.

Thanks,
Jana

http://saltydogphotography.smugmug.com/photos/290995622_PL65P-L.jpg

[Azzaro]

What is the link?????? azzaro neat picture...

[saltydog]

What is the link?????? azzaro neat picture...
Here's the link to the RAW file with all the default values: http://saltydogphotography.smugmug.com/photos/291071862_v5bmX-M.jpg

[Azzaro]

This is my thought on it....The llink didn't take me to a raw file.....Soooo this is from a screen grab....Maybe I over did it???? azzaro

http://Azzaro.smugmug.com/photos/291142814_AFwT7-L.jpg

[Vanquiz]

Well, the house looks like in a fantasy land, so I try to make it looks like a comic fantasy photo of it ...

http://xs227.xs.to/xs227/08194/290995622_pl65p-l3937.jpg

EDIT : Hmm, I think it's over saturated and too bright ...

[DaddyO]

This has been very educational to try. I managed to get this variance of your image.
My monitor was picking up an odd yellow/green cast so I changed that.
Plus a few other minor things. Would actually like to brighten more but left it at this.
My skies a mess but it was just something quick there. :D Michael


http://www.quick-silver.net/pictures/Jana_Dgrin1.jpg

[DonRicklin]

I presume this is a construct, not actual hurricane or tornado damage?

I like the last DaddyO attempt, so far. You could try a sky substitution!

Don

[saltydog]

Thanks for all the help, guys!

Yes, as I wrote on top, this is an art piece at an outdoor sculpture park, no hurricane involved :D.

I do like DaddyO's conversion a lot, that's kind of what I was looking for. If it was done in Photoshop, could you tell me the adjustments/values you applied? Just so I know which direction to move in. I'm sure I'll be able to figure out the sky eventually. Thanks for pointing out the yellow/green cast, I'd been looking at this pic so long that I didn't even notice it anymore but just now I saw it right away.

Azzaro, your version is a bit overdone but not altogether bad, just too much of a good thing maybe. I like the dark yet oversaturated colors, it's a good idea to play with.

I'll give it another shot and will post the results later.

Greetings,
Jana