Salvaging a Photo

When leading photography workshops, I stress the importance in "getting it as right as possible" at the time you "snap" the photograph, rather than relying on software for the "save."  That said, all digital photos require some degree of enhancement since there's usually a slight gray cast over digital images.

And that said, there are times when an otherwise nondescript photo CAN be saved and SHOULD be saved during the after capture process.  Here's an example taken on a lonely state highway at the "city limits," such as they are, in Baker, Nevada (the home of Great Basin National Park and Lehman Caves). The photo, with the moon just beginning to rise at the left edge, does convey some sense of the long, lonely road; with some subtle colors.  But took much sky and, actually, too much foreground, with the yellow and white lines stopping before the bottom of the frame.

So, with some adjustments in Adobe Lightroom, and cropping the photograph in more of a panorama, it more striking photograph resulted - and one more in keeping with my initial vision. The wider sweep of the desert landscape, darker tones and more "dusk." 

So, before you discard a photo file, take another look and see if there's an image within the image that's worth keeping.