Dreaming of the warmer days

AtaraxicShrug · January 28, 2026, 6:00pm

This is an image of the remnants of an old (1800’s) sanatorium, taken in New Mexico over christmas. While the image itself is a little…meh…I found processing it required more than applying some of my defaults and calling it a day. I think it might be a little HDR at the moment, but I am not sure much can be done.

Anyway, with temps in single/ low double digits (it was 6 degrees F a couple hours ago) I found myself pining for warmer times and places. I know some of you are in the same situation if you live in the US. Have fun!

This image is licensed CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

_DSC4863.ARW (24.2 MB)

Ayoul · January 28, 2026, 6:27pm

_DSC4863.ARW.xmp (12.4 KB)

age · January 28, 2026, 7:09pm

_DSC4863.ARW.xmp (11.3 KB)

dqpcoxeas · January 28, 2026, 7:18pm

My version…

_DSC4863.ARW.xmp (30,9 KB)

Tim · January 28, 2026, 7:58pm

For some reason, I prefer this image without ColorCalibration.

_DSC4863.ARW.xmp (7.9 KB)

Attila_Low · January 28, 2026, 9:04pm

_DSC4863.ARW.xmp (20.5 KB)

Popanz · January 28, 2026, 9:42pm

quite unsure about this edit:

_DSC4863.ARW.xmp (27,0 KB)

thumper · January 28, 2026, 10:09pm

Here is my edit:

Here is a side by side of the original raw (after crop/rotation) and my edit in darktable.

Here is the xmp file:
_DSC4863.ARW.xmp (35.0 KB)

Terry · January 29, 2026, 12:18am

I love this shot and I even like my edit of the shot. I went heavy handed on the edit and deliberately brought out the textures. I wanted to shot to have a gritty look about.
_DSC4863.ARW.xmp (19.1 KB)

AtaraxicShrug · January 29, 2026, 2:20am

@Popanz Where is the unicorn? There needs to be a unicorn on the top of the mountain! I joke, but I had a very similar version as I was trying to shape those mountains. They are hard (imo).

@Terry I think you nailed the gritty look without it feeling too contrived. The shadows in the mountain crags were super hard in real life, and your render works well with that!