As The Light Fades on The Great Wall
This is my favorite view from the top of The Mutianyu Section of The Great Wall Of China, just before the last rays of the sun disappeared into the thickening fog. It was a very spiritual moment for my wife and I, as we watched the soft light fade. We were all alone up there for the final hour of sunset, surrounded only by the gentle sound of the cool spring wind. It’s always been one of my dreams to visit The Great Wall and having finally seen it in person, I can happily say that it lived up to all my expectations.
Post-processing Before and After
You may be wondering why the before image looks so dull and flat. It’s because I turn off all of my in camera settings. No D-Lighting, color enhancements, or anything else that alters (or processes) the image. Without these camera settings active, the input into Lightroom looks very flat but it also gives me the ability to push and pull all the color data any way I want. And for this shot, that’s all I’ve done. All the color and contrast was already present in the Raw file. All I did was give it a little encouragement in the right direction. 🙂
