I have this image that I quite like. It is old, technically imperfect, etc. I did at one time (ca 2007) develop it using some trial version of Photoshop Elements (jerking around with presets and sliders), and I am pleased with parts of that file. It would have been nice to be able to recreate those parts that I was pleased with using Lightroom, with better flexibility (and to me: non-destructive editing, as I do not have Photoshop).
Many would probably say that the breaking waves are way to much sharpened, that there is some false "worm" structure in the ocean etc. I am ok with that. Those parts looks good to me, when printed on metallic lustre paper. Of course, I wish that I had had access to a higher-resolution camera/lens at the time.
My main gripe is with the structure of the wet rocks in the bottom 1/3. In the Photoshop Elements version, they seem to have a somewhat natural, fine structure. The Lightroom version, on the other hand, looks "blotchy" and clipped in whites. I figure that it has something to do with sharpening parameters and (perhaps) local contrast, but I just can't find the right settings.
Anyone with better coupling between vision and parameter understanding than myself?
I can make the "wet look" better by decreasing sharpening radius and increasing the amount and lowering the mask, but then I get significant "worming"/"mazing" elsewhere.
Selected LR parameters:
Exposure: +1.15
Contrast: -24
Highlights: +55
Shadows: +48
Whites: 0
Blacks: +25
Clarity: +31
Vibrance: -100
Saturation: 0
Detail
Sharpening
Amount: 84
Radius: 2,3
Detail: 69
Masking: 61
Noise Reduction
Luminance: 29
Detail: 19
Contrast: 0
Color: 69
Detail: 0
Smoothness: 50
Process: 2012
Profile: Adobe Standard