Storm over Playa : 1-to-3 Photo Challenge

In early June, while participating in a Great Basin Natural History workshop, I took photos of the storm over Playa. Playa, located on the shores of Summer Lake, serves as a retreat for artists and scientists looking for a peaceful place to do their work. They also offer a limited number of workshops.

We had an unusually wet spring here in the High Desert. This photograph shows a big storm over Playa. I stayed in the two-story cabin pictured and had commanding views of the Basin and Range landscape. High winds were pushing dust storms into the air near the lake’s shore.

I’ll be showing how I processed this picture three ways with Corel PaintShop Pro 2021. Prior to trying out the various effects, I slightly increased the contrast and brightness.

The first two show the original photograph and the same picture with a Retro effect. For this image I went to Effects>Photo Effects>Retro Lab>Process 2. This effect slightly blurs and darkens the edges and increases color saturation. I thought this effect made the center appear brighter and gave the photo a vintage feel.

The next two photographs show the original and the same picture with black and white processing. For this image I went to Effects>Photo Effects>Black and White Film. I accidentally slid the clarification to high and liked how it turned out. This effect emphasizes the dramatic storm clouds in the High Desert Sky

The last two photographs show the original and the same picture with a Chrome effect. For this image I went to Effects>Artistic Effects>Chrome>Dark & Rough setting. This effect gives the sky a nightmarish look and darkens the landscape.

It would have fit well with last week’s Lens-Artists Photo Challenge of ‘Surrealism.’ See my take on that challenge here.

One to Three Photo Processing Challenge – July