The sea was far too dull in the original shot, so it took a bit of Photoshop.
First I got the sky right. Then I used the magic wand to select the sea. Of course there were a few clouds selected as well. So I layered via copy, made a layer mask, deactivated the background layer and painted out the clouds, converted the layer to a smart object. Then I desaturated blue, increased blue luminance which brought out the contrast, activated the background layer and balanced the brightness by selecting “screen” opacity 10%. Flattened the layers. It took a lot longer to write down than to do I wonder whether a simpler workflow would have worked.
Wow - that’s some dramatic scenery! The high contrast of the clouds and darkness of the sea convey the overall mood of gloom and heaviness of a storm still present. The sense I get here is that the sun is being overwhelmed by the power of the dark clouds/sea. Very powerful message here.
The layering of the clouds is fantastic and rich. The decrease in contrast moving towards the horizon is effective.
When I look closely at the image, there’s some funny patterns in the sea that seem to be affecting the texture - reducing the texture a little and blocking up some shadows in the waves…yet perhaps that was your intent? I think there’s some blue cast in some of the water as well as some haloing near and on the horizon that could be treated as well.
Powerful scene here @jaapv…I’d be curious as to what you were trying to convey.
About the blue cast in the water: As I wrote, I desaturated blue. 100% That is an optical illusion caused by the colour of the sky It is the reason I worked on the sea with the sky hidden.
There is a beach on the horizon. You can even see the trees at large magnification. But the PS work may have left an artifact I’ll look into it.
Thank you for your in-depth comment.
Edit: Yes, the trees on the left. Ab tad too much feather in the mask, I guess. I’ll correct it for the print
I wonder whether a simpler workflow would have worked.
It is the reason I worked on the sea with the sky hidden.