51. Complimentary

Sand dunes, Mũi Né, Binh Thuan province, Vietnam
photo by Chalermkiat Seedokmai
website - https://www.facebook.com/itsme9th/
original image - https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/sand-dunes-in-vietnam-royalty-free-image/509011112
Windows 10 Spotlight verison - https://windows10spotlight.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/81e799f35ba23b5bd7e71f8c2dd3718d.jpg

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A great example of complimentary colors, orange and blue in this case. This is another photo where I used the Windows 10 Spotlight version as the starting point. They cropped out most of the sky, and I think it benefits the composition - the whole thing becomes more abstract, the footsteps take over as the point of interest, and they are much more interesting than the sky.

Other than that, only basic adjustments.

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50. Welcome to the Jungle

’The Beautiful Gloom’ - North Vancouver rainforest, British Columbia, Canada
photo by Tristan Todd
website - https://www.tristantodd.photography/
original image - https://i.redd.it/72szoz3idaq61.jpg

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What a great photo. That's all I have to say.

Didn't do much of anything to it.

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49. Pointy

‘The Rockies’ - Banff National Park, Canadian Rockies, Alberta, Canada
photo by Christian D’Antonio
website - https://500px.com/p/chrischrisdan/
original image - https://i.redd.it/jzfz84b6unn71.jpg

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This one is a strange pick for me. It is heavily edited, with the mountains stretched vertically to make them more impressive (the photographer posted his process here, check it out). I usually prefer photos that are more true to reality. But when I was choosing them, this one somehow always stayed in the selection, because - edited or not - it has a great atmosphere and really is striking. So here it is.

There was quite a lot of work on it, because while the above editing was great artistically, technically it was not. There were obvious and ugly edges on the mountains from imprecise cutouts, and some weird banding and colors in the clouds from over-processing.

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48. Purple Heather, Purple Sky

‘Mystery Morning’ - Heather fields near Hilversum, North Holland, Netherlands
photo by Albert Dros
website - https://www.albertdros.com/
original image - https://i.redd.it/66hlnugoyb611.jpg

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Moody. I'll take it. I reframed the photo a bit - i think the tree looks better like this than dead center. More dynamic. I also added the crescent moon, hopefully oriented properly to where I think the sun is. I did it because there is another photo from the same series - Purple Dutch - that had the moon in it that I liked, so this is a case of having your cake and eating it, too.

Other than that, I darkened the image a bit, as I usually do.

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47. Behind the Waterfall

‘Waiting for the Midnight Sun’ - Seljalandsfoss waterfall, South Region, Iceland
photo by Alex Armitage
website - https://www.alexarmitage.com/
original image - https://i.redd.it/63pi3kq0ak961.jpg

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Quite a few photographers covered the same subject. I like this one the most. Wonderful backlight and great atmosphere. Also, no long exposure! See my Pet Peeve #1, and tell me that the intricate shape of this waterfall stopped in time doesn't look better than the ugly mush that you'd get with long exposure.

This is another photo where I only did the basic adjustments.

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46. Simplicity

’Twilight Hours Around the Great Lakes’ - Nordhouse Dunes Wilderness, Lake Michigan, Michigan, USA
photo by Two-Snap
website - N/A, was https://www.reddit.com/user/Two-Snap
original image - https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjcgmW2QZQw-eLj-EPrXMhuQnFERkKk9vIUtC553vs4Ow_9B74-KEUoeCAIOur3a4-xwDwHt7cuy7hd8GyFZc4vbGGovYuj3EpZ1NMsOmfHim-x4HJZbDYQeILUIYp1HsihQxidka1rxC1uBQzT2Ib-xb0x4rmPDM3K-_H0zRi3TQQFkcB4T4jlKXBMNw=s1800

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A photo by the reddit user Two-Snap, who appears to have deleted his or her account in the meantime, so I can't link to the source. I don't even know what I am looking up (Burnt wood in the desert? How does that happen?), but I like the simplicity of the composition, with clearly defined foreground and background. And the crescent moon is in just the right place. It's a pity that the wavy sand got cropped out for the landscape version.

I left everything as is because the colors were quite elegant and the contrast is nice, I only upped the sharpness somewhat.

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45. Even More Weird Rocks

‘The Mountain Whose Name Is Missing’ - Hoodoos at Capitol Reef National Park, Utah, USA
photo by Seth Conner
website - https://www.instagram.com/dendronaut/
original image - https://i.redd.it/58qtt9t1tkd61.jpg

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These are hoodoos in Utah. There's going to be a lot more Utah, because Utah is apparently full of weird and impressive rocks.

I did basic adjustments here, and removed some clouds that I didn't like.

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