Edit Me An Image #14

Continuing the image editing thread, 14th issue!

General rules:

A previous round winner presents a busy or just not so interesting image, having at least some potential for different crops or visions.
Anyone (except author of original image) can edit the presented image, up to three distinct edits in separate posts are permitted.
All edits must be based on original image, not on another people's edits (of course borrowing ideas would not be a problem).
Short explanations about your editing intentions are encouraged, but not required.
Once the deadline for images has been reached, no new image versions will be accepted. Questions and (polite) discussions of techniques are welcome, so that we can learn from one another how certain edits were achieved.
The edited version gathering most likes within the announced period, wins and its author will start next round.
On the closing day for voting, if there is a draw in the number of likes for two or more edits, then the person that posted the original image will decide the winner.

Editing rules:

All "normal" adjustments (brightness, colors, curves etc) are permitted (both local and global ones).
All geometric adjustments (perspective, cropping etc) are permitted.
Artistic effects (brushes, textures etc) are allowed.
No additions or replacements may be made to the main subject matter of the image; non-essential objects may be removed, and parts of the original image can be "moved" to a different position in the image. Sky replacements are OK unless the sky is the main subject. (We are still refining this rule).
Generative AI must not be used
Get your images posted by December 31. As always, you can vote during the entire contest plus one day after the image submission deadline. I'll post reminders. You can peruse the entries and finish up voting on January 1.

Here's an (old) Sony RX100 (Mk I) image (jpeg format) from just off of Jamestown Rhode Island. I'm away from my regular computer at the moment, so an older file that was never properly edited will have to do. There's no SOOC jpeg for this, but it probably would've looked something like this...

This was shot one-handed and deliberately a bit wide from a kayak in bumpy conditions, so some cropping/leveling is certainly in order. The exposure is a bit dark, but the highlight detail is intact. There is some significant fog in the background, but the foreground was actually quite bright and dynamic in "real life'. There may be a bit of vignetting and loss of contrast to deal with from the less than stellar non-coated glass on the front of the waterproof housing. Good Luck with it.

Here's a link to the original RAW file...

www.dropbox.com/t/cWsVYCXYW85BlWfU

Converted to TIFF by RawDigger; edited in the GIMP. I felt that the main subject was the boaters. At the same time, the back of the foreground kayak was distracting my eye. So applied a severe crop. Then applied a gradient mask to keep the hills misty while applying three shots of USM to bring out the subjects.

Away from most of my tech, but can play on phone anyway! Texture overlay in Distressed fx.

Zooming in a bit more to show just this one guy fighting his way passed the jagged looking rocks
Then some curve adjustments

I was interested in the second guy. Here is a heavy crop with a little adjustment in Capture One.

Colours were unrewarding so straight to B&W in FastStone.
Reds down, blues up, some contrast and too much sharpen, plus a little crop.
Ran out of pixels to take it further.

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Well, it's New Year's Day, If anyone is sitting around in front of their computer and wants to contribute an edit, get it up by midnight east coast USA time and, I guess, there will be a day of voting afterwards with the winner announced at the end of the day Thursday.

I decided my first effort was a bit too misty so I downloaded it and applied some Wavelet processing in the GIMP:

Speed and power!
It seems to me that photo needs more action, here is my attempt with DXO analog efex motion preset:

Thanks everyone for taking the time to submit an image (or more)..By my count, AlanSh, Fireplace 33, and NCV's entries each garnered 2 votes apiece. That leaves the tie breaking vote to me,and, of those three, I'm going to tip the scale in favor of Fireplace33's image for the most natural looking rendering (IMO). A special mention goes to ArvoJ's late entry too, I usually prefer a more true to life color palette for this sort of thing, but I thought your version still conveyed the appropriate feel of the original larger scene. Fireplace, you're up next...

For anyone interested, I did two versions myself. It's a difficult image to crop in a satisfying way (and why it didn't originally make the cut), I went in much the same direction as most of the other entries...

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Hi Erik,
Thanks for tipping the balance in my direction :-)
I'll go now and find the next image for you all to play with and post the new challenge soon.
Trevor (aka Fireplace33)