This image (the watercolor version) just won “Best in Show” at the Westchester Professional Photographers Association in our Quarterly Image Competition on Tuesday!
Sundowners - Restaurants and Homes on the bank of the Singapore River at sunset, Singapore.
I walked out of the Asian Civilizations Museum and along the Singapore River. I saw this view of shops and restaurants along the bank, but it was kind of hazy, I was looking directly into the sun, and the colors were subdued. Normally I would have not taken out the camera, but I liked the scene and figured I would give it a try.
Watercolor Sunset - Restaurants and Homes on the bank of the Singapore River at sunset, Singapore.
As expected, it was a bit overexposed, hazy, and had subdued colors! In post-production I brought down the exposure overall, used a graduated filter to take down the sky even more, and increased contrast. The result was okay, but still missing something, so I pushed even further to make it look like a watercolor painting by using Topaz Simplify. I was very happy with the result. Which one do you prefer?