Badlands

We trade urban photography for the exact opposite.

The Badlands in South Dakota. Had I seen these as I was exploring westward, I would have turned right back around and gone back to the good life on the East Coast. Thankfully there were fearless souls who ventured beyond.

The original was lopsided and dull. First I straightened the picture then ran a Lightroom preset that mimics the HDR look. I also used the HDR preset on some ocean/beach pictures I edited in February. I love what it does for landscapes! I then adjusted individual settings of the preset settings to lighten the picture just a little. I used an adjustment brush on the mountains in the distance to increase their clarity because they were still too flat. I toned down the noise and lightened the vignetting a little. The original:

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