‘Sunset Towers’ - Mono Lake, California, USA
photo by Tassanee Angiolillo
website - https://www.tassanee.com/
original image - https://i.redd.it/7sw32la9xdl71.jpg
Crazy colors. Looks like another planet. I especially like the blue Belt of Venus above the horizon. If you don't know what that is, it is the shadow of the Earth thrown onto the atmosphere after the sunset.
I only had to clear some sharpening artefacts here.
First month done!
‘Moody Day in the Swiss Alps’ - Swiss Alps near Appenzell, Switzerland
photo by wolfix17
website - https://www.reddit.com/user/wolfix17/
original image - https://i.redd.it/07rq8qab06c71.jpg
Love the sense of scale here. And you can feel the cool atmosphere.
Like in the previous photo, I only did some slight sharpening.
Proxy Falls, Willamette National Forest, Oregon, USA
photo by Jon Gales
website - https://www.instagram.com/tookthescenicroute/
original image - https://i.imgur.com/7cOw8fW.jpeg
A nice close-up of the mossy hexagonal columns at Proxy Falls. The photo is mostly a texture, but works nicely as a wallpaper. Sometimes, simplicity works the best.
Processing-wise, I only sharpened the image slightly.
‘Fragility’ - Landscape Arch, Devils Garden, Arches National Park, Utah, USA
photo by Zach Finch
website - https://www.zachfinch.com/
original image - https://i.redd.it/6zrth70kufh71.jpg
Nice sense of desolation here. I can almost hear the Moricone soundtrack when looking at this.
I upped the contrast some, and brought down the levels a little. There was also some sky clean-up around the arch.
And another week done.
‘The Beautiful and Peaceful Fagradallsfjall in Iceland in Action’ - Fagradallsfjall volcano, Reykjanes Peninsula near Reykjavik, Iceland
photo by Jay March
website - https://www.abstract-landscape.com/
original image - https://i.redd.it/6f101eilw3p71.jpg
Great photo of the recent eruption. I especially like the heat haze that blurs the background.
I removed the vignette from the photo, and sharpened it somewhat to further emphasize the erupting lava.
‘Valley of Endless Light’ - Picos de Europa, Cantabrian Mountains, Spain
photo by Enrico Fossati
website - https://www.enricofossati.it/
original image - https://static.wixstatic.com/media/6ea9d7_9eaec2a7c715473a85c9d055c950a65a~mv2.jpg
Enrico Fossati. I am of a two minds about this photographer. On the one hand, he is intresting, covers some impressive subjects in an impressive way, and does have a unique post-processing style. From his site: I am a world-renown image editor for my specific processing and production. On the other hand, world-renowned or not, I am not sure I like that post-processing style. It is interesting in a photo or two, but once you use it in all your photos, they all start looking the same. Just try going to his site, and looking at the thumbnails of his photos side by side - they all meld together. To add insult to injury, the heavy post-processing that removes color from the photos, boosts contrast to insane levels and even adds-in localized (fake) lighting kinda cheapens the subject matter (which is impressive in its own right) and makes it not look real. Not everything should look like Rivendell.
So I changed this quite a lot. While I can't be exactly sure, this looks more like a sunrise than sunset to me, so I dialed it more into yellow. I returned some color to the image, because the orange monochrome was a bit much for me. I also returned some detail which was washed out by the flare - which I am also pretty sure was added in later. He has another image from the same series here. That one seems closer to what the real thing looked like, but appears to be stretched vertically. Anyway, that's where I borrowed the clouds from, because I did like the atmosphere of the original photo I chose more. I had to be very subtle though, because making the clouds too detailed behind the flare would make them look fake. So there's just a little more detail in them, mostly around the sun.
‘Buttercup Field at Dusk’ - Bedfordshire/Buckinghamshire, England, UK
photo by Craig Sweetman
website - https://www.flickr.com/photos/186801162@N04/
original image - https://i.redd.it/6cz3576l3t471.jpg
More Craig Sweetman, and another meadow (possibly even the same one? I told you he likes to squeeze water from rock...). This one has a different atmosphere, muted and dark. Very relaxing and pretty.
I removed some clarity-related halos around the trees, otherwise I think Mr. Sweetman's color control is great.
‘The Sands of Time’ - Lower Antelope Canyon, Arizona, USA
photo by Javier de la Torre
website - hhttps://www.javierdlt.com/
original image - https://www.javierdlt.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/The-Sands-of-Time.jpg
Antelope Canyon. Otherworldly, with some great warm-cold colors going on. As far as I know, the sandfalls are not a natural feature, but something that photographers do by way of throwing some sand on the rock ledges just before taking the shot. They do look nice though, so more power to them, I guess.
I just sharpened this a bit, that's all.
