60 Hour Post Processing Challenge #594 - Closed - Winner Announced!

[betamax]

This contest will end Friday afternoon Thursday 8pm Sydney time.

Taken in Morton National Park - Kangaroo River. Shot in hires mode on the E-M5ii using the tiny Pany 14mm f2.5. It was a day for me to be reminded how small and light the original plastic lenses were, and the trip didn't disappoint. I had the Samyang 7.5mm fisheye, the P14, P20, O45 and the O60 on the day and the gear was so light, taking my 1.5kg tripod to shoot hires wasn't an issue.

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The Challenge Master provides an image or images to be "improved" upon by way of post-processing, as well as a closing date for entries.

Jpeg, TIFF and hires raw files are here:
https://1drv.ms/u/s!Av3t3-eGT_5xmj42i28tDoMqqnp8?e=eQrr2z

1. Entrants are to post their entries, visible in this thread, at a resolution of 1000 to 1600 pixels in the longest dimension, prior to the closing date.
2. Each entrant is allowed two entries in the Challenge.
3. At the close of the Challenge, the Challenge Master will select a Winner and Runners-up.
4. The Winner of the challenge is honoured as the Master of the next Challenge

Notes:

• Any/all source images used for the challenge must be the Challenge Master's own images. They are posted solely for the purpose of this Challenge; not to invite critique or criticism nor for other uses. If Entrants post their entries at a photo sharing site, they should credit the owner of the original image.
• "Improve" is a subjective term, and may include many creative ideas, as well as traditional "fixing". The Challenge Master agrees that Entrants may make any changes they deem fit in their entries.
• Entrants are strongly encouraged to share the tools and techniques used for their entries, however this is not a requirement for entry.
• As we all know, beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. The Challenge Master is encouraged (but not required) to state the criteria used to decide upon a Winner. While we may not all agree with the result, the Challenge Master's decision is final. Please refrain from posting adverse comment.
• If the Winner is unable to post a new Challenge within five days, the honor passes to the next Runner-up.

 

[relic]

Gorgeous scene beautifully captured. Not much to do. Opened .orf file in DxO PL2 (mainly light levels, contrast, chromatic aberration corrections), exported as a 16-bit tiff file (as had been suggested by @WhidbeyLVR), then tweaked in Elements keeping the 16-bit format (hence no layers available), some localized haze reduction, very slight dynamic contrast using ON1 Effects plug-in (which really taxed my computer's ability), resized and saved as 16-bit jpeg.

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[rpatodia]

Lovely click. Normal adjustments in DxO PL2

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[rpatodia]

used silver Effex on above

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[Robert Davidson]

Beautiful place.
#1.

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[relic]

Entry #2: A slightly warmer version of entry #1 (Nik Color Efex), while "protecting" sky & clouds and their reflections.

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[Zeus1]

Don't like the leaves in the upper right corner, nor the twigs in the water lower left. Color seems not important in this picture, IMO.

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[Hendrik]

Went for a more Hudson River school look.
All accomplished in Adobe Camera Raw from the HiRes file. All, except for the spare sky I had lying around, that is. That's Photoshop.

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[BosseBe]

Used .ORF file.
Entry #1:

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[BosseBe]

B&W from the above.
Entry #2:

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[todd]

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[Rob Rider]

#1

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[Fred S]

Attempt # 1
I had to use High Octane Gas in my computer to work with a 99 mb orf file ( LOL )

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[Rob Rider]

#2
worked on this a bit more.

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[WhidbeyLVR]

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The usual workflow from raw through DxO to Gimp and Nik tools. Exposure, local contrast mods. Color adjustments to slightly warmer and more saturated. Added a hint of extra texture to the blown highlights in the clouds and the green reflection on the left.

 

[betamax]

As usual, great entries all round. A little over 12 hours to go before curtain closes!

 

[betamax]

Time is up! Thank you to everyone who participated!

Lots of different takes on the image. From very bright to very dark.

@Rob Rider's #2 got closest to the actual look on the day. You processed it fairly close to what I did with it, so prize #3 goes to you!

#2 goes to @todd phillips. It had a nice, very warm feel to it overall which gave it the mood of a really hot day by the river. I really liked the work around that forground rock to get rid of reflections too. In the end it was Lyle's more natural look that won over.

So @WhidbeyLVR #1. I noticed not just the work on the clouds, but that haze was gone, and the colours looked close to what it was like on the day as well. Nicely done Lyle, so it's over to you!

 

[WhidbeyLVR]

Time is up! Thank you to everyone who participated!

Lots of different takes on the image. From very bright to very dark.

@Rob Rider's #2 got closest to the actual look on the day. You processed it fairly close to what I did with it, so prize #3 goes to you!

#2 goes to @todd phillips. It had a nice, very warm feel to it overall which gave it the mood of a really hot day by the river. I really liked the work around that forground rock to get rid of reflections too. In the end it was Lyle's more natural look that won over.

So @WhidbeyLVR #1. I noticed not just the work on the clouds, but that haze was gone, and the colours looked close to what it was like on the day as well. Nicely done Lyle, so it's over to you!

Thanks for hosting, Alan! And thanks for the nod. I thought there were many excellent entries. I know from experience that judging can be as challenging as creating an entry.

I will try to get the next challenge up before the end of my day.

 

[WhidbeyLVR]

New challenge is live!