ALTERED STATES PART 3?

Might as well continue this for the week. The last two entries have been taking flawed images and working to make something a bit more painting-like out of them. It's a process that by and large is nothing more than a way to exercise my skills on Photoshop, and make an effort to create something above and beyond what was captured in the photographic image.

The below was shot in the early morning on Baie St Jean on the Caribbean paradise island of St. Barths. It's a wonderful little island with a French flair and a casual but uber-wealthy vibe. 

Something about the composition has appealed to me for years, but I haven't taken the time to play with this image to try to create something better. The original is flawed in that it's too stark, with the peninsula cleaving the shot in half. Even lightening up the shadows reveals too little definition to really soften the image.

It occurred to me that some cropping and heavy color enhancement might make a more interesting image. While it looks like a black and white original it's not. Full color, but it's all washed out by the chiaroscuro*.

Let me know what you think.

The original image. It almost seems like two separate shots combined between the boat floating on a morning bay and the sun rising over the island.The sun's light completely washes out almost all color.

By boosting the color and pushing the shadow intensity up considerably we get a little of the texture of the island and clouds, but the color is completely off.

For the final image I boosted the reds and cyans up considerably, getting more of the clouds and water, and enough of the island to give it something less than the monolithic blackness of the original. Then, playing with a dry brush filter I gave it just a very slight texture which brings out more of the clouds against sun's sphere. There's also a reflection of the sun's light more effectively framed in red on the water.

I'm still not happy with the sickly yellow color of the sky and the tell-tale white strip along the top of the hill, but that will have to wait until I have a bit more time. I'll post that in the future.

* (Contrast between the dark and light sections of the picture).