This board scares the hell out of me. But, I would like to have some opinions on the following images. Normally I just do quick touches on my photos and do not worry about getting to in depth with processing. But occasionally like to play around a bit more with some of my favorites.

Below I have three from my latest trip that I spent a little bit more time on. Below each image is a link to the much less processed one.

Software I am using is Gimp (cause its free) and mostly focusing on lighting and color.

Thanks in advance for your time.

Auditorium by Road Extx, on Flickr

Auditorium Original

SchoolFront by Road Extx, on Flickr

SchoolFront Original

Stage by Road Extx, on Flickr

Stage Original

Learn to use contrast and color curves to edit if you don't already. Correct WB first.
Make sure your monitor/digital flow through are calibrated, otherwise you have no starting point.
A pro color/tone chart is useful for checking the system from cam to monitor/printer.

Image 3 looks a bit dark. It might look better if you accented the red in the chair instead of darkening the whole shoot. The chair is a focus point in the picture but you are darkening it instead of making it jump out.

Posted by OH_ZOG_NO Image 3 looks a bit dark. It might look better if you accented the red in the chair instead of darkening the whole shoot. The chair is a focus point in the picture but you are darkening it instead of making it jump out.

It looks good to me; too many here don't have enough dark/black zones. You don't need to see ---everything- (nor should you) to create a stunning image.

Not on a calibrated monitor but... it looks close enough to me. That's a keeper.

It looks like you dodge and burned all over the first two images. The first one is decent though the building and trees look like they're glowing in places. The second isn't good imho. It looks like all you did was burn everything above the building and dodge everything below it, the top half of the trees are black and the bottom half look normal... the originals look much better I think.

The third one is definitely the best of the bunch, I like that one.

Like Blackhawk said learn to use levels and curves to edit if you didn't here. The dodge and burn tool is best used for specific areas.

Thanks all for the feedback.

This was actually an attempt at editing with the color levels/curves, actually did not dodge or burn anything.

I essentially made copies of the images and adjusted levels for foreground and background till I liked what I saw. Then using layer mask I brushed away the overlay image to "merge" the two. I totally see the glowing edge on the building, there was more, I missed that bit. The water tower was a pain as I went in and brushed on each support so that it did not show up as a silhouette image, like the top half of the tree in the other.

Again, thanks for input, I appreciate the time y'all took to reply. I shall continue to practice.

learn color correction and working in a calibrated rgb working space first seriously digital dog is a good resource