169. Go Toward the Light

‘Golden Forest Pathway’ - Unknown location
photo by Johannes Plenio
website - https://j.plenio.de/
original image - https://unsplash.com/photos/hvrpOmuMrAI

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Nice moody atmosphere and wonderful colors.

Nothing much done here.

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122. The Cloud

Mountains in Norway
photo by Cosmic Timetraveler
website - https://unsplash.com/@cosmictimetraveler/
original image - https://unsplash.com/photos/2HJeDiETQQk

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That cloud is amazing. And so is the pool of light on the trees.

But the whole thing was a bit washed out, with a strange bluish tint in the shadows, especially on the distant montain peaks on the left. You could say it was the effect of the atmosphere, but it just didn't look right. So i fixed it.

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11. This Looks Staged

‘Distant Lightning’ - Ukraine
photo by Denis Bodrov
website - https://35photo.pro/yenik/
original image - https://35photo.pro/photos_main/774/3874229.jpg

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But you can't really stage nature, can you? A photo by Denis Bodrov, a Ukrainian photographer, so I guess this is somewhere in Ukraine. He has a specific style - most of his photos are moody pieces shot during nightime, with wonderfully eerie atmosphere.

Cleaned up the photo a bit, raised the contrast - mostly on the cloud - and removed poor Denis (I guess?), because I like the feeling of desolation more.

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7. First Week Down, 51 to Go

Footpath in Lennox Forest just north of Glasgow, Lennoxtown, Scotland, UK
photo by Brant Adam
website - https://www.instagram.com/brantadamphotography/
original image - https://www.instagram.com/p/BPu29gYD1YU/
Windows 10 Spotlight version - https://windows10spotlight.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/1a6e1389adac0b89c26c06bac0e0b27c.jpg

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This was a wallpaper served up to me by Windows 10 Spotlight. They don’t give any credit, so I had to dig out the author.

One thing I’ll give to whoever is behind the Spotlight photos - while they often cross the line to kitschy with their photo editing, they just as often bring new life to photos, and this is a good example of the latter. In its original form I would have probably skipped this photo as rather mundane, but somebody there noticed it had potential, and did quite a good job at color design and reframing. Bringing the red leaves into focus was a right thing to do. So I used the Spotlight image (rather than the original photo) as a starting point for my edit. I didn’t do much of anything - just sharpened and brightened the image a bit - it was a tad to dark for my taste, which is unusual. See below.

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