This week I’ve been working a little on processing photos from our Caribbean cruise. I took sooo many landscape photos that I’m having a hard time sticking to the task at hand. Not to mention there may have been a little daydreaming which doesn’t help!

One photo I’ve been working on is a view from our ship looking out at the harbor of Martinique. Off in the distance to the left is Mount Pelee which is a volcano that has been dormant since the 1929 – 1932 eruptions. What inspired me about the landscape was the lush greenery with the shadows of the clouds dancing on the hillside, the city harbor nestled in the valley and the sailboats moored out in the deep blue of the waters. Simply put, it was breathtaking.

What I liked about how I took the photo was the perspective of the bow of the ship pointing into Saint Pierre. Unfortunately, like many photos you take, the camera never sees it quite like the human eye. To me it’s dark and lackluster, nothing like what we saw in person.

I began experimenting with the usual edits: exposure, curves, contrast, saturation, etc. Nothing quite worked to my liking. I then started experimenting with the “Tonal Map” option in Affinity. The “Tonal Map” option gives images an HDR (high dynamic range) look and feel.

My first attempt wasn’t bad, but I feel like it was a little too unrealistic and the ocean turned out a little grainy. In my attempt to boost the color of the rooftops, the red color seems to be too much.

My second attempt was much better. I feel like I nailed the colors better and the ocean took a deeper, bluer tone. But it was still missing the “pop” I was trying to achieve.

They say, “3 times a charm” and I think I may have hit the mark with this version. The landscape has the vibrancy I remember; the ocean could still be worked on a little bit more. But I can live with it. Or so I thought.

If you’ve hung with me this far, thank you. I wasn’t completely satisfied with the last shot, so I decided to merge all three (3). Voila! If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again! I’m glad I did. The colors and the pop are there!

Here’s a look at the original and final images.

Now I really want to go back to the islands!

“I wanna be there
Wanna go back down and I’ll get high by the sea there
With a tin cup for a chalice, fill it up with good red wine
And I’m a-chewin’ on a honeysuckle vine.” ~ Jimmy Buffet

Until next time,

~donna