Hi Leandro, my first impression is that you could really improve this image by adding a greater sense of drama. Where’s that sense of scale and the threatening storm you mention? Part of the problem is that sky. You might see a storm but all I see is too much empty space.
Start off by cropping that sky by about a third. As a Photoshop user take advantage of the Auto Tone control (Image > Auto Tone) to get more whites and grays appearing in the image. Auto Tone should never be used one stop solution for levels though. One useful trick to apply after using the Auto Tone control is Fade Auto Tone (Edit > Fade Auto Tone). Adjust the slider so that you get the best balance between the original look (0%) and the Auto setting (100%). I think 60% works well in this instance.
Now, lets make this image a little more intimidating. There are many ways you could do this but I am going to suggest two. First, create a Curves adjustment layer in Photoshop (click the Create new fill or adjustment layer icon in the Layers panel and select Curves from the drop-down menu). Pull the centre of the Curves line to the side so that the image gets darker. If you look in the Layers panel you will see that the Curves layer will have a mask next to it. Select this mask and use the paintbrush tool to paint black over the central region of the mask. Be sure to use a moderately large soft brush and set the flow to about 10-20% so that you have some control. One of the great things about using masks is that you can easily refine the layer mask simply by using the X key on your keyboard to swap between black and white. If you tap on the backslash key “\” you will also get to see the mask on the image. Once you have the image looking good, use the Unsharp Mask command (Filter > Sharpen > Unsharp Mask) to sharpen the image. Try Amount 20, Radius 20, Threshold 0 to add some more definition to the edges.
Now, there is a second option that you can try to add impact to this photograph, assuming that you are using Photoshop CS5. Again, start with a crop and the Auto Tone and Fade Auto Tone adjustments but then go to HDR Toning (Image > Adjustments > HDR Toning). This mode will allow you to create the look of a High Dynamic Range (HDR) photo. There are some preset options that you can explore but I would be inclined to start with either the default setting or the Photorealistic High Contrast option and then start adjusting the sliders from there. You will probably spend a day exploring all the options in the HDR Toning dialogue but you should find it fun and it will add some drama to this image.
Just be sure to make a duplicate of the image before you start making big changes. Good luck.
Perito Moreno Glacier, Southern Argentina
