I shot this from a vantage point close to the castle of Chateauneuf en Auxois, overlooking the canal and one of the small villages near by. It's a charming landscape, but as always, it comes off as flatter than it really is when you see it like this. There are more hills to this area than you can tell from looking at this shot. Boy, do I wish I had the ability to bring out the beauty of the rolling landscape and show it like it was. I'll just wait patiently for the "holographic imager" to be invented I guess...
I did a lot of editing to this shot, obviously. Off the top of my head I used, Levels, Detail Extractor, Bleach bypass, Contrast color range, Cross processing, Graduated filters, Foliage, Skylight, Tonal contrast and then a slight lightening of the center. Oh, and a noise reduction - since all that tweaking bought me some free grain. I think that's it... It took me a while to get the look I wanted. As you can see, the original is quite bland, and the clouds were casting shadows over the landscape, making it look dull and colorless. This enhanced version is closer to what it really looked like, though of course I've taken some artistic freedoms, but then that's what we all do in post-ed isn't it? Spice it up a bit to make things a more beautiful :)
I hope you like it.
/MrsHjort
The processed version is definitely a vast improvement on the misty original, and I like the depth you have achieved in the shot now. The canal has managed to become a little blended with the environment though, and looks more like a road to me now. I think it worked well being so bright in the original so that it was clearly water reflecting the bright sky. Love the contrast and depth in the shot overall though. What a view! No wonder they chose to build their castle there!
ReplyDeleteWow, what a beautiful countryside, and an idyllic looking photo to compliment it, awesome landscape shot.
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