200. Another Big Round Number

‘Sunrise at the Ghost Town of Old Paria’ - Paria, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Utah, USA
photo by John Fowler
website - https://www.flickr.com/photos/snowpeak/
original image - https://unsplash.com/photos/5bv-_tIwHFk

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Beautiful lighting and combination of colors. But there was something strange about the sky - there were some strange colors and halos where it met the cliffs. Possibly the clouds were added in later, or maybe it was just a result of a long exposure.

Whatever the case, I decided to do a sky replacement of my own to remove the artefacts. So now it's definitely a composit. I really liked the original atmosphere, so I tried to stay true to it as much as possible - which was not easy. I also darkened the whole thing.

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174. Make It Shorter!

Kirkjufell mountain and Kirkjufellfoss waterfall at Grundarfjörður, Snæfellsnes peninsula, Iceland
photo by Michalakis Ppalis
website - https://twitter.com/michalisppalis/
original image - https://www.dreamstime.com/kirkjufell-mountain-kirkjufellfoss-waterfall-grundarfjordur-iceland-kirkjufell-mountain-kirkjufellfoss-image182501893

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Another example for my case against gratuitous long exposure. It's almost impossible to find a photo of this location from this angle that isn't taken with long exposure, and doesn't have the resulting ugliness of a smeared waterfall. This is the best that I ran into, and even here we're talking about the exposure that was barely short enough to preserve some detail in the stream. I did what I could to remove the motion blur.

Other than that, I wanted the mountain to be green as it usually is and not brown, so I changed that. Also fixed the contrast.

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162. Waves on Waves

Ponza island, Lazio, Italy
photo by Ferhat Deniz Fors
website - https://www.instagram.com/fotograferhat/
original image - https://unsplash.com/photos/Ref87M0aSDM

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Another photo for my case against gratuitous long exposure photography. Look how magnificent the sea looks because it's stopped in time. All the intricate detail and lighting. Compared to what would be a foggy mush with long exposure, it's no contest.

I did some clean-up and fixed the blacks as I tend to.

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146. Doing the Right Thing

Panther Creek Falls, Wind River Valley, Washington, USA
photo by Cliff Estes
website - https://www.facebook.com/cliff.w.estes
original image - https://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photo-panther-creek-falls-one-washington-s-most-photographed-waterfalls-despite-climb-to-get-to-image93767184

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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.

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82. Forgotten

‘Secluded Mill’ - Old watermill near Keswick, Lake District National Park, Cumbria, England, UK
photo by Pete Rowbottom
website - https://peterowbottom.net/
original image - https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50559585627_62e2711f49_k.jpg

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This was one of Flickr's Top Photos of the Year 2022. You can see why - the atmosphere is just so nice. It's just on the edge of stepping into my Pet Peeve #1 territory with the water and long exposure, but there's still some detail in the stream, so I gave it a pass.

I did bring some cool tones back, though.

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75. Pool of Light

‘The Chosen One’ - Schlern, Dolomites, Italy
photo by Albert Dros
website - https://www.albertdros.com/
original image - https://live.staticflickr.com/5327/30864935180_1ac7fc7f8e_h.jpg

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The warm pool of light that envelops the tree makes this one. There is some long exposure here that I'd be happier without, but it can just about pass - the clouds are still somewhat defined, and not just white mush, although they're not far from it.

I slightly emphasized the aforementioned pool oof light.

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73. That Should Be Water, Not Fog

‘Dark Posts’ - Seaham, County Durham, England, UK
photo by Ricky Schonewald
website - https://www.flickr.com/photos/95699843@N02/
original image - https://live.staticflickr.com/5481/10558219936_1c017c2fb7_k.jpg

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Right, this is a good example of my Pet Peeve #1. I understand that maybe there was too little light to capture this without long exposure, but imagine how much better it would look with the rocks and the sky reflected in the sea. Instead, now the sea looks like fog. I even toyed with the idea of recreating it in 3D, but decided against it on the account of being too lazy. It is a great and very atmospheric photo either way.

Since I wasn't going into 3D, I did only the basic clean-up of the photo.

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3. Pet Peeve #1 - Long Exposure

Bruarfoss waterfall, Brekkuskógur, Iceland
photo by Jacob Vizek
website - https://unsplash.com/@jakevizek/
original image - https://unsplash.com/photos/Fhjxr14xa30

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Now, I am going to rant at length about a pet peeve of mine, feel free to skip. When and who decided that photos of waterfalls have to be shot at long exposure?! Was there a memo? I guess it was interesting the first time - it does give the waterfalls a certain dreamlike quality -  but now it’s almost impossible to find any photo of a waterfall that doesn’t look like white mush. Long exposure has just become a lazy shortcut - use it, and you’ll get a decent picture without much effort. Waterfalls frozen in time with a short exposure can look weird, but when done right, the result are spectacular, and no mush can compare. The photo above is a case in point. I had a hard time finding it. End rant, but I’ll be talking more about this again.

This went through a lot of processing. The original photo was a portrait, and when reframed for the 16:10 screen the part I focused on was much too bright by itself. I had to bring it down, and bring out the detail. The colors themselves should be plausible, as the main thing about this waterfall is that the water does look bright blue in real life.

There’ll be more Iceland. Much more, because Icaland is photography on easy mode - the place looks amazing wherever you point the camera. So that’s what photographers do, when they get there - point their cameras wherever.

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