This is another excellent effort, but I still think the eyes could be better. They still look a bit funny, and on zooming in there seem to be a few pixels in the irises that have gone to white or very close. If it was mine I'd clone out those specular highlights and do something to give the eyes properly black, round pupils.

Those might sound like minor points, but the eyes are central to how the picture is perceived.

You're welcome, Tom. This looks like a negative, and a bit spooky to boot, so full marks for the "mysterious" bit, and it does seem to be standing clear and proud. Your experimenting has paid off handsomely.

Yikes lol. It's fair to say you might have overdone the HDR a touch, Buddah. Definitely one for pushing the envelope :-) .

Ah.... if only I'd had a sunset like that to photograph (sigh). Thanks for joining in Shakey.

You're welcome.

Sorry - can't advise. Not familiar with Apple stuff. Perhaps somebody else can advise.......

Thank you abc. two excellent edits. #1 is going straight to my Favourites folder (Linda's is already there).

Thanks for the explanation. I'll go away and give some thought to what "dynamic presence" is :-) . In both shots I was aware of the backgrounds and wanted a continuous and consistent background in each case. In the previous one the castle is backdropped by hillside and in this one it's the sky.

Just read this after posting last response. I don't know your level so suggested possibilities but was willing to back up my suggestions with pointers.

I do that whenever I can because lots of other people read these threads and it's a good way to learn. I learned a lot myself from reading similar posts.

Either you can back off with the adjustments that caused it, or you can try to get it to blend in.

It was probably, Clarity (or some equivalent) or Contrast (or both), or possibly some HDR processing that caused it. You might find that reversing the Clarity adjustment (maybe even going a bit negative with it) and compensating with more Contrast and perhaps a touch more Vibrance or Saturation might get rid of it. In Lightroom, Clarity would be the main culprit, but I've seen Contrast on its own do the same thing to a lesser extent, and HDR processing is notorious for it.

If you want to get the halo to blend in you could use a well-feathered adjustments brush (or equivalent) set to auto mask and with size set to take the feathering to the edge of the halo. If you can get the feathering to match the halo's drop-off rate, you should be able to pretty much eliminate the halo or reduce it to the point of insignificance (it's not an exact science... ).

If the adjustments overspill into the adjacent area you should be able to erase the overspill by setting the brush to erase and auto mask, with either no feathering or a little.

For the adjustments to get rid of the haloing you could try going negative with the Clarity slider and dropping the highlights. If that isn't enough you can (tentatively) go negative with Brightness and if necessary lift the shadows slightly as you go.

Thanks very much Neil. Glad you liked. So picturesque isn't everything then.....

Thanks for joining in, Buddah. Both very eye-catching and reminiscent of illustrations in story books. If you could do something about the diffuse halos in #2 it would be a knock-out.

Thank you JN. Going from misty and morose to sunshine and smiles is a bit too much of a stretch for my PP skills. I hope you enjoy your kayaking, and I hope you're not intending to use the kayak for getting there :-) .

Thanks for looking in, Graham. I know your preference for shooting "as seen". There was some debris on the beach that I was happy to lose, but the floats say "maritime living" as much as the boat and lobster pots.

Thank you Billy. Still can't understand why it's getting better comments than the other one from the other side. Unless it's that it looks more castle-like and a bit grim.....