I’ve been going through old photos on my hard drives and have so many that I haven’t had a chance to edit and are just sitting there raw and waiting for my attention.

Looking at this photo I saw it more as a painting possibility and took the opportunity to edit the photo 9 years later. First, I took out the line from the sailboat which distracted from the foreground waters. Then I rotated the photo 1º clockwise since the horizon was crooked and also distracting. From there, I did a basic correction in Topaz Studio which made the golden color pop more.

Ultimately, I see this image as a painting though and once again went into my Topaz Impression filters. I prefer to use a combination of layers. Two of my favorite filters are Edward Hopper and Georgia O’Keefe.

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I play around with the opacity and the light,, sometimes choosing an overlay, screen or pin light effect. Ultimately for this final for this photo I decided on a soft light at 74%.

I like the way the some of the effects which the Edward Hopper filter are toned down a little and soften with the Georgia O’Keefe filter. I love playing with layered filters and the effects they can create.

This is also my post for A Photo a Week Challenge: Fleeting. I find that when trying to capture the magic of the light of Mother Nature’s evening show, as it dances and shimmers, changing every second, vanishing as quickly as it appeared.