Week One. One Four Challenge (July).

It is July already and time for the One Four Challenge. For this month, I wanted to edit a picture I took in Jamaica this last May.

On this night of the vacation, I had put my “real” camera away. I was enjoying the night and a few drinks. My friends and I were headed to the other “island” and taking the short boat ride. As we walked down the pier, I was drawn to the view. Naturally, I had to take a picture. This is the non-edited iPhone shot.

When looking at it, the picture does not really do it justice. So, I figured I could have fun with it and edit it this month.

So for my first edit this month, I wanted to show you what the picture looked like more…at least in my head. To get the vision I saw, I did a few simple edits:

• Created another layer of the photo.
• Enhanced the saturation of the top layer of the photo to bring out the colors in the sky.
• For the bottom layer, I added more blue, saturating the ocean more. By doing this, I was removing some of the yellow hue on the water from the sun.
• To show both of these edits in one photo, I erased the water out of the top layer. This way, the bluer water would show through to the saturated photo layer.
• Once complete, I merged the two layers into one shot.
• Now, I applied the HDR toning effect and turned down the details so the photo had a softer look.
• Then, I bumped up the contrast and brightness and bam…I was done.

Here is the end result:

What do you think? Suggest? Want to see?

For those of you not familiar with the One Four Challenge, make sure you go to the host page, Captivate Me. Robyn has endless magical shots and all of the challenge guidelines for you to contribute. To see other One Four Challenge submissions, just search One Four Challenge in the reader.