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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197. You All Know This One

Glenfinnan Viaduct, Inverness-shire, Scotland, UK
photo by Jack Anstey
website - https://www.instagram.com/jack_anstey/
original image - https://unsplash.com/photos/XVoyX7l9ocY

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There are many photos of this, I like this one the most. It's really something straight out of the book.

Had to balance the colors and fix the blacks.

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194. The Steps Up the Hill

National Park in Nan province, Thailand
photo by Pongpon Rinthaisong
website - https://www.instagram.com/spyarm/
original image - https://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photo-landscape-national-park-nan-thailand-province-image67643824#res29250703

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A nice clean composition. I made it even cleaner by removing the visitors.

There was also a terribad vignette in there, so I gently threw it out.

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187. Five O'Clock

Evergreen tea plantation, Munnar, Kerala, India
photo by Martin Morgenweck
website - https://www.martinmorgenweck.com/
original image - https://image.jimcdn.com/app/cms/image/transf/dimension=2048x2048:format=jpg/path/sc92fc401a009c816/image/i9ad8ee7f8db9ed33/version/1642341385/image.jpg

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Nice atmosphere and lighting.

I just darkened the sky a little.

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185. Onions

Fuerteventura, Canary Islands, Spain
photo by Christoffer Engström
website - https://unsplash.com/@christoffere
original image - https://unsplash.com/photos/8NuHwPbO62k

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...have layers.

Nothing at all was done to this.

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181. Long Shadows

NamibRand Nature Reserve, Namibia
photo by notausernameagain
website - N/A
original image - https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBGgR4YCnchbQ4uYMYQUmgVMqRWdnNNCDLOldJYsCl-gijEhcqFYaNjpGh8-YxLlhv3BgkQ73J3VHJ7asgqTnc24QIZNhd_yk3_xVd5nCe9QfszDv4FR7V0-otcoq_gV-G3Ea8tQpN-FQ8it9GvqCqXeH0yVvk7O1g5fVsDHxqyJSo4___ki59N9UoyQ/s4311/181b_Original.jpg

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NamibRand again. The long shadows and the minimalist composition were the draw for me here. I used to like lens flares and glares - I still do, when I'm filming something - but not so much for the wallpapers. So it got the boot.

And I pushed the blacks.

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179. Windmills

Shiloh wind power plant, Montezuma Hills, California, USA
photo by Matt Granz
website - https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattgranz/
original image - https://live.staticflickr.com/4683/24231842897_e8a0711772_o.png

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Wind turbines, to be exact. I always liked this motif. And sunset really adds to it.

I gave the colors more punch.

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177. More Greenery and Moodines

‘Mighty Glencoe’ - Glencoe, Glen Coe, Lochaber, Scotland, UK
photo by Silviu Dascalu
website - https://www.silviudascalu.com/
original image - https://i.redd.it/guxo3pdw0vw71.jpg

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Scotland again. Green hills again. Overcast skies again. Wonder if they get any sun over there?

Well, if I had to have clouds, I thought I could at least recover some detail from them. And I fixed the color balance, and pushed the blacks some more.

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