Thanks all for your comments. The actual scene didn't quite look like this in real life (a bit more muted) but I was kind of fascinated to see how the colours came out in Lightroom when I applied the Camera Landscape calibration profile (a bit of the develop module which I have only recently noticed). Apart from that, all I did was pump the contrast a bit and the vibrance a little bit more (OK, quite a lot more).
The scene is Lake Baringo, in Northern Kenya. A great place to take photos if you like doing landscape and wildlife.
Depends on what you want. It certainly is not a "traditional" photograph, but if you were looking to accentuate the surrealistic and graphic qualities of the scene, it works just fine (for me). I also think it would make a stunning black & white.
Yes, surreal is what I was after... I'm excited by your B&W idea, honestly that thought hadn't even considered the possibility of crossing my mind. I'll give it a go and post if it works.
Note sure what you mean by, "Did I go too far?" Do you mean that you made the colours pop, or enhanced them? I have seen colours like this before, but it is difficult to capture them and still hold some foreground detail without a split-neutral density filter. A lovely image, which looks familiar. Is it one you posted before?
JMR
Thanks John. No, I have not posted this one before but I did put up a similar one from the same shoot a month or so ago.
It looks over-cooked to me. Could you tone the colours down a bit? A little less saturation? Understated is generally good, IMO
While I usually prefer monochrome photography, I literally was singing "America the Beautiful" ("...for purple mountains' majesties") in my head as I looked at it, even though it's probably NOT in America. I don't think it's overdone at all. I think you captured a majestic moment beautifully!
Yes, well I think these two comments illustrate that this is a Marmite* photo. You are not going to get a neutral response to it! I don't think any of my photos have inspired anyone to song before, so that is a first!
* For the benefit of non-English readers, Marmite is a revolting substance derived from yeast which is spread on toast. Some people love it. Others hate it. What you never find is indifference.
I like it. The neon-like colors are good - like nature on steroids. How does it look in print?
It’s one of the few images I've seen here recently that isn't like every other one.
Thanks - that is a nice compliment. In print, it looks a little more muted but still very striking. In fact when I first developed the photo I kept myself in check and it looked OK on screen but slightly dull in print. So I went bonkers with the vibrance slider, and liked the rather surreal result on the screen.