Here's one that is a fair bit underexposed. Let see what you can do. {} RAW: Dropbox - M1130045.ORF JPG: Dropbox - M1130045.jpg The Rules The Challenger will provide any photo that he/she deems worthy of challenging other members to "improve" by way Post Processing. It must be their own photo. "Improve" is a subjective term, and includes many creative ideas as well as traditional "fixing". The Challenger agrees that entrants may make any changes they deem fit to post in their entry. The winner of the previous challenge gets to post the next Challenge and serves as the judge for his/her PP challenge. For obvious purposes, the judge is disqualified from participating in his/her own PP challenge. Instead, he/she should post a photo to start out the challenge. If the winner fails to post a new challenge within five days, the responsibility passes to the runner-up. At the end of the 72-hours (we don't have to be strict about 72-hours, especially with time differences depending on where you are on the globe), the judge will name a winner, a first runner-up, and a second runner-up. ---------------------------------------------- Entrants The Challenger's image is posted for the sole purpose of the PP Challenge; it is not posted to invite Critique or Criticism. Entries shall be limited to 2 per member for each Challenge. Entrants to post a BBCode link to the Large size image of their PP edit(s), preferably 1024px x npx, or npx x 1024px, if the original image and/or the PP edit allow for these sizes. Also a click-through to the original sized hosted edit if appropriate (but not a requirement for entry). If you post your entry to a photo-hosting site such as Flickr, Photobucket, or a Gallery, etc., please credit the original photographer to make it clear it is not your photograph; something like "Photo taken by XXXXX over at Mu-43.com" should suffice. Entrants are strongly encouraged to post the settings and techniques used for their entry, however this is not a requirement for entry. As we all know, beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. We may not all agree with the chosen winners, but the judges decision is final without adverse comment from the Entrants; the judge is encouraged (but not required) to state what criteria he used to decide on a winner. To make sure we don't break any Mu-43 rules/regulations, by participating in the PP Challenge you are allowing the judge to re-post your image for the sole purpose of announcing the winners in the thread. --- I'll end the contest Wed, Aug 3rd at 10PM PST. Good luck!
Difficult to guess the colours but a couple of attempts with LRCC: I cropped both to reduce the foreground, removed the drink can and used grad filters across the sky and foreground and several brushes. {} Original at Flickr Then I thought this moody look might work: {} Original at Flickr
The EXIF info tells me You shot this scene at about 0930 hrs AM. Therefore, I conclude You wanted to catch the storm clouds. Ergo, no.1: stormclouds. {} Tried something more artistic, more painterly: paint. {}
Here a couple of attempts. Both are the same crop (16x9 to emphasize the width) done in ACDsee Pro 9. Pushed up the mids and shadows. Added more contrast and increased blues and yellows. {} And a more somber B&W one. {}
View attachment 480444 Processed in ACDSee Ultimate 9, I used Light EQ to set the basic lighting balance and then used Pixel targeting in conjunction with Tone Curves to set the curves for just the sand. I then blended the tone curve layer with the post LIght EQ layer using the "Burn" blending method. Noise control and sharpening via Topaz Denoise 6 and Detail 3. I purposely left the sky banding in to act as a sight line that points roughly where that depression in the sand is pointing.
I also went for the storm clouds, but as natural as possible. WB set to 7500 K, some dodging and burning and local contrast adjustment in ACR. Removal of some minor distracting elements (a white roll of tape?) and sharpening in PS. {}
Inspired by Gursky, I'm calling this Pacific II and charging $4.3m per print. We'll split it 50/50 @sesser? {}
Entry One: Basically Exposure fixes in ACR Grad filters applied to the beach and the sky in ACR cropped to 16:9 in ps6 desaturated the clouds and tweaked the sand to be golden like i see here in oz. added oil paint effect for the hang in the art gallery look. {}
Entry 2: I wanted to do a sky replace but when i pasted this as a layer the crop nearly perfectly lined up to the beach and the more i looked at it i thought why not . Same ACR processing of original but after that it was paste image, flatten crop to 4x6. {}
