Catedral de Mallorca, October 2, 2024, taken with Fujifilm x100v, 1/100 sec, f/2.5, ISO 320. On vacation and taking a walk around Mallorca with my wife, we stopped for a moment to take this shot. After returning to our room, transferring the image file to my iPhone with Apple's SD card reader, and then working with it in Lightroom, I was excited to see the results.

The original RAW file was very lifeless; bright overcast sky, dull gray foreground. I had seen many photos of the cathedral, but very few of them really grabbed my attention.

The editing involved minimal straightening and cropping. After converting to black and white, I upped the contrast, lowered the highlights, and blacks. I added a heavy dose of clarity to the sky (mask) and lightened the foreground by adding more clarity. To various individual elements, such as the palm trees and the cathedral, I added some clarity to bring out some detail.

I really like photos that are as interesting to look at from a distance as they are up close. This majestic cathedral is an amazing structure to view by itself from a distance, but I really enjoy getting up close seeing the young couple, at the wall to the left, probably scrolling through the photos of their recent adventure. And then there are the two men on the far right, possibly planning their next water experience. Exploring the photo up close reveals a man walking his dog, another couple relaxing under the palm trees, and numerous tourists scattered around the base of the cathedral.

I chose not to edit out any people, the distant birds in the sky, or the ominous torso of a man walking up towards the young couple, all of which add to the numerous stories contained in the image.