I’m revisiting some captures from last year when I was very new to RawTherapee. From the jpeg OOC this image didn’t stand out to me at all and I didn’t even edit it because I knew nothing about RAW processing at the time.
The first version here is neutral profile in RT with just basic corrections turned on and rotated/cropped like the final edit for easier comparison:
I now arrived at this which I’m quite happy with. Just slightly edited in GIMP to remove the neon sign from the radio tower in the background near the center of the image. My personal emotional anchor in the image are the ducks sitting at the lower right just a couple of meters away from me. They just chilled there, enjoying the tranquil evening mood just like I did when taking this image:
Looks like the perfect title card for that new TV show, Cologne Vice set in The City That Never Sleeps, except for the durch das Landesimmissionsschutzgesetz NRW geregelte Nachtruhe von 22:00 Uhr bis 06:00 Uhr, sonst ruf ich gleich mal an, Anzeige ist schon raus.
Inspired by Uli’s version, I fiddled around with the HSV equalizer in RT for a bit, turning up yellow, and then I played around some more in GIMP, increasing the contrast just a tiny bit.
I think this version is pretty much as good as I can get it with the processing/editing skills I currently possess.
What I find very difficult is how my eye adjusts to the color gradient in the sky to the left of the image. imho it looks much better now, and I’m not sure if it isn’t still a bit too pinkish near the clouds.
