I hope this doesn't distract from the pics. But can I ask why not take normal photos and show the original colors? Why do people feel the need to enhance the colors? If you take a good photo and it's clear, wouldn't the colors come out better? Or is that the problem and people are trying to correct it by enhancing a color?
No, no distraction at all, I think that is a great question. Here is my take on trying to explain what I've done. It could be right or wrong or who knows, but it is just my relatively neophyte point of view.
I liken the use of digital post processing to be like the digital filters I apply in post processing to my black and white work. For example, in Picasa you have 3 ways of converting color to black and white. One of these is a black and white conversion with variable filtering. A filter can really change a monochromatic picture. Photographers have been using filters for a long time, the ones that mount on the lens.
Since I shot all of the pics on this thread with a pocket camera without an interchangeable lens and without a way to apply a filter, physically, to the lens, I like to check and see if a filtered black and white process is the way to go. Filters can make the clouds more defined etc...
I don't know much about color, I am feeling the differences between composing for black and white and composing for color, I might be going up a blind alley here, but I do feel that approaching a shot with the end result visualized to be in black and white is different from the approach to a color shot.
An example of this is the statue shot. I was trying to get the placement of the objects to my liking, I was really impressed with the natural light in the "golden hour" and I did try to take into account the colors. I had a hard time trying to get the shot to work in black and white in the digital post processing and I don't think it really does.
The ship was interesting to me as it really was painted an odd and bright color for an ocean going vessel. Usually, you might see some red, black, green maybe, and of course, white and a lot of gray or gray/blue. But that color was the first time I had seen it on a ship. I decided, and likely incorrectly, that if a little bit of that color with that light was good, then a lot of it would be just right. The old "if a little bit is good, then too much should be just enough" idea being applied.
I know there is some controversy over the High Dynamic Range (HDR) being used in post-processing. Again, I don't really know much about this, but I do know that it is fun to play with, especially in black and white. Personally, it appeals to me, but again, I am likely using too much.
Maybe it all comes down to what I am seeing and then, maybe, in the post processing with Picasa, trying to convey or amplify what appealed to me.
What I do know is that it is quite challenging to express sensations when it comes to photography!