The Story behind my best photo of the year.

This is one of my most successful photos so far... I have even added it last year to the group called "Your Best Shot 2015".- the link is listed at the bottom of the page- As a result, I think this is why much more people have noticed it. There is an interesting "story" behind this photo. Not the story of how I took it, which is how it usually is, especially with journalists, or national geographic people. Rather how I processed it is what makes the story interesting. I do not really have much access to the full version of Photoshop at all even though I have the original software; I have yet to recover it from my dead computer, however...
I did get a chance to use Photoshop recently on another computer. What I did is I had used the newest version of Photoshop, which I have ever since thought about purchasing. Now, as I have written on Flickr, I had went beyond the traditional way of increasing saturation- that is, by using the saturation and vibrance slider. So, when I opened up this photo in PS, I made a few duplicates of the pictures (and later edited them as layers). The first layer I duplicated twice, then I inverted the second one. I made the bottom layer invisible, and, with the second layer selected, applied an Inversion to it. Next, I selected a blending mode of Luminosity. This effect works wonders whenever you are trying to go for creative negative photos that are not photogenic, but rather artistic. I then merged those visible layers.
After all of this was done, I opened up the original again. Later I merged it with the resulting picture I came up with. Then I adjusted the opacity so that the effect may not be too strong. Then I even tried to make a layer mask. I am not sure why; for some strange reason, I liked the elements of the foreground more like they were in the original. That is, to keep their saturation down. In the end, I had made a couple of versions of this image, one with less saturation in the foreground. Thinking back on it now, I think the reason I wanted this result is so that there is more emphasis on the saturation of the background, particularly on the cliffs. That way, the image is, in a way, more compelling.

For the next step, I applied the blending mode known as Lighten. First, however, I had to make the bottom layer visible again. This gave me a really neat look which I also consider pretty strange at the same time, because of the vivid colors that it had resulted in. I could definitely describe more about this effect some time. I then duplicate the bottom layer another time, and make it invisible; merge the visible layer, then I make the bottom visible again. Then, with the top layer selected- this is the inverted one- I change the blending mode to saturation. Now, interestingly enough, there is another blending mode you could also try- color- which results in similar effects. However, as I have found out with my time experimenting, this is not as reliable as Saturation mode.

The benefits and drawbacks of using this technique...

Now, after the final photo was complete, I have notice,d to my dismay, that there is a drawback to using this method. It has created some, what I would best describe as banding- where colors are uneven; in this case it has to do specifically with color gradients. I am not sure why this occurred. However, since I did not have as much access to Photoshop as I wished for, I have not gotten back to the image- yet. Before I applied this method, I had made several changes to the image which included sharpening it and increasing saturation/vibrance, as well as adjust the levels. I think that this is the reason why the color gradients are not so smooth in the end. What I should have done instead is to apply this effect after I do the sharpening, sat., etc 😕. Anyway, if I had access to PS, I would still be able to manipulate my originals. So, although this technique has had a negative influence on my photos, does not mean it needs to be a drawback for someone else- because it might just have to do with what steps are done first. And, as is in most cases, keep your original images.
Now, let's get to the benefit of this technique. If it has the potential to produce perfect results, then I would consider this technique totally great. It produces an image that is reminiscent to that of film. And personally, I think it is very neat how film reproduces colors. It is quite intriguing- the fact that film and digital technology just doesn't produce the same results. I find that the colors are so accurate in the resulting image, that they literally could not have come out any better. That is, if you follow all of the steps like you should. You learn something new every day, eh?