90. Primary Colors

Salt lake Dus-Khol' in the evening, Tuva Republic, Russia
photo by Alexander Leshchenok
website - https://35photo.pro/alx1/
original image - https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/35/%D0%9E%D0%B7%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%BE_%D0%94%D1%83%D1%81-%D0%A5%D0%BE%D0%BB%D1%8C_%D0%B2%D0%B5%D1%87%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%BC._%D0%A2%D0%B5%D1%81-%D0%A5%D0%B5%D0%BC%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B8%D0%B9_%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B6%D1%83%D1%83%D0%BD.jpg

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The strange red grass and the fact that there are really only the primary colors - yellow, red and blue - in this photo is what caught my eye.

So, I brought them out some more, and darkened and sharpened the photo somewhat.

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89. Green and Lumpy

Moss covered lava in Eldhraun Lava Field west of Kirkjubæjarklaustur, Skaftárhreppur, Iceland
photo by Andrés Nieto Porras
website - https://www.flickr.com/photos/anieto2k/
original image - https://live.staticflickr.com/7513/15594285500_f761e5295c_o.jpg

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Apparently, this is what moss-covered lava looks like. And of course it's in Iceland.

There was a bad vignette that I got rid of, and some pretty bad halos around the horizon. I'd even say they were the result of sky replacement - that blue sky doesn't look like it was there to begin with. Even if it was, I thought something moodier was in order, so I did the sky replacement myself, and put in some clouds that I think fit the atmosphere better.

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88. Sexy Hexes the Sequel

The Giant’s Causeway after sunset, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, UK
photo by Greg Sinclair
website - https://500px.com/p/gsinclair10?view=photos
original image - https://lp-cms-production.imgix.net/2019-06/65790253%20.jpg

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Hexagonal basalt prisms that look similar to the ones at the Proxy Falls, sans moss. I'd say the twilight enhances the otherworldly experience. I reframed the photo so the tallest part isn't dead center. More dynamic like that.

I cleaned-up some halos, increased the contrast and made everything pin sharp.

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87. Treehugged

The Dark Hedges along Bregagh Road, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, UK
photo by Jacek Kadaj
website - https://kadaj.art.pl/
original image - https://kadaj.art.pl/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/irlandia_20130613__JLK3485.jpg

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A famous part of the Bregagh Road, and you can see why. Great way that the warm sunlit branches contrast the cooler greens.

I only increased sharpness.

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86. Wavesmashed

‘La Jument’ - La Jument lighthouse, Brittany, France
photo by Jean Guichard
website - https://www.jean-guichard.com/
original image - https://www.jean-guichard.com/sites/default/files/styles/max_2600x2600/public/photography/2019-08/a-8153.jpg

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Jean Guichard is probably the most famous lighthouse photographer, the most famous photo probably being this one. However, it doesn't work well as a wallpaper for me - it's too busy - so I chose the one above. That one was also a little too busy, so I reframed it to focus more on the lighthouse, and cut down on the chaos of the sea.

I also turned down the contrast to make the photo somewhat more painterly-looking, and cooled down and darkened the colors.

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85. Windswept

‘Escape’ - Twistleton Scar, Yorkshire Dales National Park, Yorkshire, England, UK
photo by Pete Rowbottom
website - https://peterowbottom.net/
original image - https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51100459436_5816a2b8bc_k.jpg

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It's so windy there that the trees are permanently bent. Wonderful atmosphere and colors. This is the kind of Magic Hour lighting that I like.

I removed some halos, darkened and sharpened the image a bit.

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84. Well, Aren't We a Ray of Sunshine

‘Death All Around’ - Sliding rock on Racetrack in Death Valley National Park, California, USA
photo by Casey McCallister
website - https://caseymacphoto.com/
original image - https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50773864136_8524c807d8_k.jpg

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Despite the cheerful title, this to me is sort of a quintessential wallpaper image, something that Apple or Microsoft would include with their OSes. Very clean, yet still with enough detail and atmosphere to keep it interesting.

It was a bit too monochrome for my taste, so I let some cool tones back in.

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83. Save the Halos for the Angels

‘Polar Night’ - Segla, Senja island, Norway
photo by Fabian Fortmann
website - https://www.flickr.com/photos/fabianf_/
original image - https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50743417653_fb8ab86815_6k.jpg

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And I'll bore you with my peeves some more. This one had some ugly halos around the mountain. Now, they could have been actual wisps of mist, but they looked too regular to me.

So I said, 'To hell with it,' and removed them. While at it, I also fixed the contrast and got rid of the guy in the yellow jacket. People quite often shoot other people in the foreground here - just do a search for 'Segla' and look at various examples - but I think it takes away from the size of the mountain, and makes it look like some rocky protrusion instead. Much better to contrast it to the settlement on the left to get the true sense of scale.

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