I read somewhere that the locals can't stand the photographers that shoot these fields, because there's so many of them, and the fields are a private property. And every photographer wants to have this particular stone house in the frame. Can't blame them, it does look beautiful.
I sharpened the bushes in foreground, as they were too much out of focus, and added a bit of warmth to the image.
A different take on this by a different photographer, and in a different season - the trees have leaves now. Still dramatic.
I reframed the photo to focus on the trees, brought back some color so that everything isn't just yellow, removed a shadow that I didn't like from the clouds, and - this was the most difficult part - got rid of the flare from the sun.
Another land feature made famous by a... well, feature - Close Encounters of the Third Kind. A nice dramatic photo with a path that leads your eyes right to the Devils Tower.
The colors were too sugary for my taste, so I limited them somewhat, mostly by getting rid of the pinks. At least the clouds don't look like cotton candy any more. There was also a halo around the tower, got rid of that.
The famous James Bond Island, from The Man with the Golden Gun. Unfortunately, most of the photos that feature it are taken midday, resulting in harsh contrast and unpleasant glare. Even this one I chose is not that pleasant to look at, despite the nice composition and detail.
So I decided to tone things down with sky replacement. According to Google Maps, you can't really see either sunrise or sunset from this position, but you can still have the Belt of Venus there, and I went for that. The yellow hotspot on the islet shows that sun was already getting low behind and to the right of the camera, so it should be plausible.
This is the best example against my Pet Peeve #1 - overuse of the long exposure. It is practically impossible to find a photo of these awesome falls that is not done in the said long exposure, turning them into ugly white mush. But I did find this one. Please, tell me how the white mush looks better than this wonderfull detail stopped in time, the countles exquisite dropplets suspended in the air. Because I won't listen.
I adjusted the contrast to bring out as much detail as possible. You're welcome.
Another subject that I had trouble finding good photos of. Plenty of portraits, but the landscapes were lacking. I like the atmosphere of this one. The colors are right at the edge of being too sugary, still they are alright. However, this is a prime example of a photographer who doesn't know what the hell he's doing in Photoshop, and shouldn't be allowed anywhere near it. For some reason, he didn't like something on this wonderful sea stack. A flock of seagulls? A bunch of suicidal tourists? That particular rock over there? I don't know, but whatever it was, he sure cloned the hell out of it. It’s horrible. Repeating patterns everywhere.
He also didn't like something about that cape in the background - perhaps its very regular layers? So he cloned that out too, using the sea stack as the source. The result was... a mess.
So, I restored all that. I lifted the stack and the cape off of another photo taken from the more-or-less same position, put that in, sorted out the colors and the contrast, and cleaned-up some weird blotches all over the sea, which I'm guessing were the result of indiscriminate dodging and burning. And there was a vignette there, of course. Luckily, it wasn't too bad. Out it went.
This is the outdoor Museum of Folk Architecture and Life of Ukraine. That's near Kyiv. Hopefully it's still standing. They should update it with a few tractors towing tanks, maybe.
A wonderfully spooky photo, but the colors were all over the place, and dirty as hell. And I don't think they were like that in reality. I actually managed to sort them out, but in the end I went for 'day for night' variant. It looks very Tim Burtunesque.
