I can’t believe how quickly May has flown and all of a sudden June is upon us and with it the start of a new series for the fantastic One Four Challenge. This photo editing project hosted by Robyn Gosby at Captivate Me involves us working on an image of our choice and producing four different interpretations over four weeks. It gets harder every month – harder to be original with what we do, to select a photograph that lends itself to different variations, to find new ways of processing, to keep experimenting and learning. There lies the challenge! And there is so much to learn.
This month’s image
During a recent weekend on board Take It Easy in the Gippsland Lakes, we were struck by the beautiful light in the late afternoon. At the end of May, the first hints of winter are noticeable: temperature drop, clear deep blues in the sky and the water, strong shadows, clouds reflecting the sunlight. I love the winter light. It is wonderful for photography.
So my subject for the month of June is a sunset over Lake Victoria, taken from the Spermwhale Jetty. Each week I will work on recreating the amazing change in colours and moods we witnessed over a half hour period at the end of a cool but sunny day.
Here is the original untouched raw image I selected from the many shots I took that evening.
Gippsland Lakes – Original
Week 1 process : Cool blues
For my first edit, I wanted to emphasise the coolness of the sunlight. It was very chilly. The temperature had plummeted, the light breeze made it feel even colder. Although the glow of the sunset was colouring the sky and was reflected in the water, the dominant colour at the start of the light show was a cool blue. It said: “brrrhh, it’s freezing!” So to emphasise that mood, I increased the exposure a smidgen, lowered the contrast, temperature and saturation. I also added a graduated filter at the top to bring out the reflected amber light in the clouds. Here is the result:
Week One – Cool Blues
As always, kind comments and feedback are welcome.
Do take the opportunity to have a look at what other participants to the challenge are doing by visiting the One Four Challenge tab or clicking here. We have some very talented photographers in our midst.
Sv-Anui 
This is a stunning start to June Chris – a beautiful capture!
Glorious! Your first processes do say ‘cold’. There is a wonderful stillness to this image as well as the movement in the clouds.
I love what you said about being original and moving forward while still learning. So true 😃
Thank you Robyn – glad the coldness yet beauty of the scene came through. Good to take part again😊
Its wonderful Chris and I feel energised to get stuck in again too 😃
Pretty, Chris. I really like the variation in color that the ND tool emphasized in the clouds. It has a beautiful natural cool color to it and those reflections in the water of the clouds are beautiful too.
Looking forward to enjoying this image each week, beautiful choice!
Thank you so much Carrie for the encouragement. Different moods coming this month!
I like this image, it will be interesting to see what you do with it.
Thanks Leanne. The changes in colour in a short space of time were amazing so I hope I can convey this over the next weeks.
You did it, I think, it certainly looks cold & fresh. A good variation of the usual warm glow of sunset
Hi Sue – very different moods in a short space of time… So that is my mission this month! And it was cccold!
Interesting…increasing the exposure can be a problem because you lose detail in the highlights, but it’s OK here
You have to work on detail and exposure in tandem! Thanks Sue!
😀
A nice starting image, at first i wasn’t too sure about adding the coldness to scene but the more I went back and forth it seemed to work. Great shot.
Hi Ben, thanks for taking the time to comment on my experiment.
gorgeous and perfect edit. The sun has a more radiant cloak!!
Hi Cybele, it was quite brilliant and clear colours!
Beautiful blues! It was amazing photo without any adjustments, but then you tweaked it in all the right places!! Great job.
Thanks for the lovely feedback Kristen – much appreciated.
What an amazing image, I suspect I’ll like every version.
Oh Lore what a nice thing to say😊
Such a stunning sunset to work with – I never get tired of them and this one looks fantastic both in the original and in the blue version.
Thank you so much for the feedback! Winter sunset have a different feel and colour range, so I will try to convey this in the series this month!
a stunning image. The blue edit really brings out some lovely colour.
Hi Marsha – thanks so much for the lovely feedback😊