"Bluebonnet Glory" First composite Photograph

"Bluebonnet Glory" Composite
Evening sky and sun with light beams added.

Original

Equipment: Samsung S22 Ultra (auto mode)

Software: Luminar Neo for light editing and lighting.

In the spring of 2023 I drove past a massive field of bluebonnets NE of Austin on FM Rd 486--about halfway between Taylor and Cameron. So I stopped and took a handful of pics. This is an edit and my first composite (adding other pictures/graphics to enhance the original photo). I replaced the sky and added a sun with sunbeams. Spring of 2023 with S22 Ultra auto mode.

Process:

When you see a large beautiful landscape that you want to photograph, never forget that you really have to be there for the effect, a picture of a wide open space rarely is able to capture your experience for others to enjoy the same way. So it's very important to consider the foreground and perspective before shooting a bunch of pictures.

Here's an example of what I mean:

This picture is of the same field but I was trying to get all of it. And all it accomplishes is turning into a flat, mostly 2-dimensional picture with nothing to draw the eyes to. I did get a little lower, not low enough, and there is some foreground happening, but I knew I had to do better. The cloudy blue sky helped for the lighting but it was boring to me. For the natural purists, I will admit the original clouds did have potential in post-editing. There is enough definition to accentuate the clouds with added contrast. Maybe I'll go back and try that another day.

Here is another picture where I used the barbed-wire fence and wooden posts. At this time I was experimenting with different skies. Notice how the background skies drastically change the look and feel of the photo. Of course, you have to change the lighting of the field to match the sky.

Luminar Neo has a "Sky" AI that analyzes the picture and identifies what is sky, ground, people, etc...and it really does a good job at it, not perfect all the time, but impressive. Once the sky is identified, you then have the option to make edit adjustments to the selection or replace the sky with a sky pic of your liking.

Now let's get back to "Blue Bonnet Glory".

After adding the sunset sky I added a sun and sunbeams. This is an option in the edit options in NEO. You can place the sun anywhere and you have control over it's brightness, number of light beams and how far they cast.

I then added the Preset "Easy Landscapes: Forest stream100%" This preset desaturate the photo more helping with clarity and darkened the blues with added contrast.

To add more depth to the picture I used "Dodge and Burn" to lighten the midground and darken the foreground. I think it gave a more mystical feel. The barbed wire running through the foreground also adds some pop.

The only editing I did besides light was there was a brown straw that went up from the front center bluebonnet that went all the way to the tree line in the back (see original). I used the healing brush to remove it.

If I was to take this picture again I would do so in PRO mode and RAW files to go with the JPG auto mode. RAW mode adds more information and potentially you have more information to work with in post-edit. With that, I would be hoping to have even more detail/sharpness in the mid and background of the field.