205. Steam

‘Prismatic Sunset’ - Grand Prismatic Spring, Yellowtone National Park, Wyoming, USA
photo by Joaquin Baldwin
website - https://www.joaquinbaldwin.com/
original image - https://i.imgur.com/K68SA1z.jpg

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A really nice capture of the Yellowstone's Grand Prismatic Spring. The iconic steam coming ouyt of it was missing (actually, I think it went to the left), so I added it in. This was much, mich harder to do than it seems, due to the reflection - I had to mask out all those meandering lines where the stone shelves jut out of the water, where the steam wouldn't be reflected.

As far as the color grade goes, this is the one photo where the original argubly looks better, or 'more designed.' But it's too unnatural for me - the sky is never really that shade of cyan-gray. So I let some color back in.

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204. Gemini

‘Until the Very End’ - Piopiotahi (Milford Sound) Marine Reserve, Fiordland National Park, Southland, New Zealand
photo by William Patino
website - www.williampatino.com
original image - https://i.redd.it/hul735vv9kv61.jpg

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Otherworldly. Definitely check the original image. It's in the portrait format, and it's crazy good. I had to crop it to landscape for the wallpaper, so I did the best I could.

I got rid of some of the rocks on the right for a better composition, enhanced the colors and the contrast, and got rid of the excess bloom.

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203. Down We Go

‘Niagara Revealed’ - Horseshoe Falls, Niagara Falls, Canada-USA border
photo by Christoph Fischer
website - https://beautysurroundsyou.com/
original image - https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50452656382_91b0634dc2_b.jpg

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Niagara Falls are grand just by themselves, but this moody lighting and great camera angle makes them spectacular.

I removed the sun from behind the mist, it was looking like white blotch.

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202. The Sand Planet

Tegharghart, Djanet, Sahara, Tassili n'Ajjer national park, Algeria
photo by Chettouh Nabil
website - https://www.instagram.com/nnchettouh/
original image - https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a4/Sunrise_Djanet.jpg

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Some photos are just perfect.

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201. Help!

Swiss Alps, Switzerland
photo by John Rodenn Castillo
website - https://www.eyeem.com/u/14590670
original image - https://unsplash.com/photos/rQqWOHZ96OM

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There is a subreddit dedicated to proving that Switzerland doesn't exist, as its landscapes look too meticulous and beautiful to be real. This photo is a case in point I guess.

So, given that this image is probably a fake anyway, I made it even more fake by throwing in a ballooon. Just to break up the monochrome nature of the photo and give it a point of interest. Although I don't think the occupants of the balloon would have a good time at that height.

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200. Another Big Round Number

‘Sunrise at the Ghost Town of Old Paria’ - Paria, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Utah, USA
photo by John Fowler
website - https://www.flickr.com/photos/snowpeak/
original image - https://unsplash.com/photos/5bv-_tIwHFk

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Beautiful lighting and combination of colors. But there was something strange about the sky - there were some strange colors and halos where it met the cliffs. Possibly the clouds were added in later, or maybe it was just a result of a long exposure.

Whatever the case, I decided to do a sky replacement of my own to remove the artefacts. So now it's definitely a composit. I really liked the original atmosphere, so I tried to stay true to it as much as possible - which was not easy. I also darkened the whole thing.

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199. Absolutely Fabulous

Lone tree, unknown location
photo by Johannes Plenio
website - https://j.plenio.de/
original image - https://unsplash.com/photos/MS2dni_S3Ew

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Unbelievably atmospheric.

I removed the sun flare and fiddled with the colors.

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198. More Teal and Orange

Hoher Kasten, Appenzell Alps, Switzerland
photo by Janosch Diggelmann
website - https://www.instagram.com/janoschphotos/
original image - https://unsplash.com/photos/G6xYhlFAQzg

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These colors work so nice here. Also, a very nice composition, with lots of foreground elements and great depth.

I removed some artefacts, balanced the colors, and enhanced all the detail I could.

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