Edit Me An Image #47 - Voting day + free comments time - Homage on Capt Sottocorona Memory

Capt. Paolo Sottocorona Meteo Spec on La7 - Italian TV. - Air Force Captain - retired - Sailing instructor and BoatMaster -
Counting specific 1500 transmissions of more than 1 hour. 45 years of building weekly meteo columns for all the main Italian Channels.
A few weeks ago, he died quietly at home, where he returned from his spot at 13:30. Age 77.
A hard shot for a big share of Italians who are still missing him every day, every morning is empty. Our/his Facebook group
The La7 Chain didn't replace the vacuum; it was impossible. Even people like me who never looked at La7 were punctual for his spots at 7:30 or 8:00.
It was a sailor, rider, traveler, writer, instructor .... but mostly a man .... a man that never had fear to express his thoughts in less than 7 minutes.
A really kind person, a well-known friend in the home of each of us. Few have ever met him. These lucky guys say that it was also the same in real life.

About the image:

I was impressed by the number of cloud strings, considering that I had strong winds and a sunset behind my back.
Tough of him and the comprehensive explanation he gave on the photo he chose.
Raised my camera, took only one shot, my mind on him, then I had to run back in the car. Couldn't see anything clearly anymore.

I've edited at my best the original and I will post it at the end.

The challenge is to represent what happens in the sky - What's the show's going on

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 the author of the original image) can edit the presented image; up to three distinct edits in separate posts are permitted.
All edits must be based on the original image, not on other people's edits (of course, borrowing ideas would not be a problem).
Short explanations about your editing intentions and/or techniques 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 the most likes ...wins ... and its author will start the next round, unless it would prefer to pass the torch to someone else.
On the closing day for voting, if there is a draw in the number of likes for two or more edits, then the person who posted the original image will decide the winner from the photos receiving the most votes.

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. Sky replacements are OK unless the sky is the main subject..
Generative AI must not be used. Generative removal is OK.

Timing:
Post your images all week long + Week-End... last day will be Monday, November 10 by 23:00 CET.
You can vote whenever you want, but November 11 till 23:00 CET will be a day just for voting.

NEF File: www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/irl2ze85bqedfindrncng/2025-10-25-16.06.05-3_Zf.nef?rlkey=ihre9ppz3giysylexvx6d9u6a&st=zlfw6ogq&dl=0

Here's my try. The RAW file this week isn't supported by my old Windows 7 version of Lightroom, so this is from the JPEG. It's a simple landscape, and I wasn't inclined to overbake it into something it isn't.. Not super exciting, but I think it looks relatively natural...

My attempt, maximum effort on cloud details, with DXO Nik color efex plugin multiple filters:
detail extractor
tonal contrast
pro contrast
remove color cast
glamor glow

First snow.

just for fun.
playing with levels on ground.

@Vahur

Wow... interesting idea and good execution

( on the first snow I will get a shot and post here! )

Just some sky retrieval

B&W

I am starting to learn the newly-free Affinity, so I decided to give this a try as part of my learning curve. Virtually all my changes were in the Develop module. I toned down the vignetting (although probably should have gone a bit further), applied a gentle gradient to the sky and adjusted exposure a bit, applied some brightening, contrast, and saturation to the field, and increased the contrast a bit on the mountain in the distance on the left. It's all pretty subdued.

I figured a B&W try was in order as well...

Sorry ... I'm late.

Voting day until 23:00 CET [UT+1]

Here is my edit: removed all power lines and poles from the back; changed luminance to enhance the clouds' rays running both directions; adjusted slightly the terrain's gentle slope to adapt to tree lines... this being a slight hill and not a flat field.

At 16:00 is not yet "sunset", but the sun is already hidden behind the Alps' mountains in my back.
Only the cloud gets light from the sun's rays.

SOOC

My takes.... on some of the edits I find most interesting ... not judging anybody !!! 😂

AlanSh's last try, got the sky perfectly, but the image is damned by the terrain colours/luminosity and the back mountains' blue

Arvo's second try, a cropped image that exalts the thing that astounded me in the real world: the rays and light coming from the clump of trees. Snowing them, darkening and vignetting, gives an image with a great feeling, even if not connected to the real world.

Vahur's "First Snow", is short of a fantastic view of this same hill under a light snow; the sky doesn't lose its plot but becomes secondary, a complement to the image.

Minniev B&W, a snowed field with a dramatic overall imprint... sky loses some plot, but gains as the main subject with a preponderance in this image

ErikWithaK gives a very interesting texture to the sky... but in my view, the terrain competes too much in the full image

AlainCh2 The sky reaches good texture [but not enough], the colors sound wrong ... the terrain still absorbs too much attention in the full image.