Click to embiggen
For the October One Photo Focus Challenge we have a lovely peaceful scene – not sure if its seaside or lakeside – from Michelle Lunato – thanks Michelle for a fun image!
If you are new to the 1PF Challenge or to view the other awesome entries – CLICK HERE
While I was considering my options the sparkles on the water caught my attention and that gave me the focus for editing this image. I wanted it to feel late on a summers day, its been hot all day and the sun is starting to go down, and its nice to sit, dangling your feet in the cool water, with a nice cold drink beside you 🙂
Given I have spent so much time playing in Photoshop, I wanted to give this image a proper photography treatment, so this is all done in LR6 with no fancy stuff 🙂
Post Processing Steps:
1. Straighten horison, fix perspective tilt and crop to the edge of the building and up a bit from the bottom
2. Adjust WB to warm up image
3. Adjust global settings, bringing shadows ALL the way up to bring out the details in the buildings and boats on the shore
4. Add a touch of clarity and vibrancy
5. +22 Dehaze setting
6. Play with presets, using Maasai Split tone to add some overall golden warmth to the image
7. Use a .9 stop soft grad and CPL preset to balance out the brightness in the sky
8. Add a soft vignette to finish
Here is a slideshow of the two images for comparison
This was a fun image to edit as it was challenging enough that you really had to work at it a bit to get the best out of it, and was a really good showcase for why shooting in RAW is recommended.
Like it? Don’t? Tell me about it!
Learning to See Light 
Wow. There is really no comparison for me. The edited one is gorgeous and the sparkling water is perfect. Now where’s that cold drink you mentioned? 😀
thanks, I worked reasonably hard with this one to try and get the feel and the mood right 🙂
You did great!
Love what you’ve done with this photo of Michelle’s – looks beautiful! 🙂
Giving this a golden glow really sets the scene here Stacey, the original bears no comparison. You’ve made it beautiful. One question where is Dehaze – in Lightroom? or is it a Topaz plug-in?
Thanks Lee, it was a fun image to edit. Dehaze was a new feature Adobe bought into LR but ONLY into the subscription version. However some nice people made a free preset that achieves the same thing and I have installed that, it does a really good job actually.
Lazy, hazy golden afternoons of summer. Yup, you’ve created that feel beautifully, Stacey!
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I really like what you did with this one.
Beautiful processing. You’ve really set the mood with your work!