Last summer I went to Denmark and also took some photos at the North Sea. First I developed the “great shots”. Later I also dealt with the “more boring” pictures. I was surprised how well a mediocre photo can look after playing around a bit. I’d like to see what you can do with it. Have fun…
@Thomas_Do, why was it boring in the first place?! Looks fine. But, if I may say so, why f22 and 1/25s shutter? Might have been sharper at f11 and 1/100s. Here is my attempt on the latest windows build (rawtherapee-w64-20171108_1106-git-dev-01be2cddc02eaee96efbbf7170ebbad52ea9e3bf). Seems to be working fine @Morgan_Hardwood, thanks. 20170809_0119-1.jpg.out.pp3 (11.8 KB)
@Thomas_Do Looks fine to me. In this case, I don’t think the setting detracts from the nature and mood of the scene. Good job sir! If this is mediocre, then your great shots must be too much for our unworthy eyes .
Here is a BW version. The color version was bright and cheerful, one feels like starting the journey on the boat. Now here is the dark version. Think twice before you board 20170809_0119BW.jpg.out.pp3 (10.8 KB)
Many thanks to all who participated! Interesting what you can do with this raw. From a “dramatic” sky like in @yteaot and @shreedhar 1 to the scary version @shreedhar 2, I also like the light and the crop of @msd (1).
@Thomas_Do thanks for providing raw and context and pips sharing their versions, @shreedhar if that B&W was a generous naked woman would be close to man ray’s
Weather seems moody yes, my goal was to try to preserve that moodiness with a touch of happy colours on the boat… that somehow reminded me knife in the water
Then to gimp and gmic, DR increase (split in dark and lights {which was blended in soft light mode and 33% if I recall correctly}), my own LUT (for personal ref BSC-HC-01) with 100% luma weight and half of its colour (was coming in too strong, je je), still had to add a curve to fix bluish shadows. =)
LuminanceHDR output of Ferradans (lower half) and Mantiuk 06 (angry looking sky), masked with gradient in McGIMP and finally colors boost in RawTherapee.
I am actually fine with the clouds. Usually, I would steer clear of sharpening the water, esp. when it is choppy or has a repeating pattern. Very distracting.