This is a beautiful image Kris and I quite enjoyed having a go at it. Here is what I ended up doing:
In Lightroom:
- I worked with the Highlights, Shadows, Whites and Blacks and cropped the image to a 4x5 aspect ratio. I also played around with the white balance and finally I moved the image into Photoshop.
In Photoshop:
- The first thing I did in Photoshop was to add a (85) warming filter because even after my adjustments in LR I still felt that the image didn’t feel right.
- Next using a lights luminosity mask and a levels adjustment I darkened down some of the really bright blooms.
- Then I added a vignette.
- Next, using the “Paint Contrast” tool in the TK9 panel I added some contrast mainly to the path in the middle but also to the big tree trunk to the right side.
- Next I cloned out the blue trail marker and some small bright areas around the very edge of the image to keep the viewers eye from wandering to close to the edge.
- Finally, I dodged the path and the left had side of the tree trunks a little bit more.
