I posted an earlier version of this image a few weeks ago. Since then I have read up on curves adjustments and level adjustments in Photoshop CS3. This is my first attempt to use either. Basically, I adjusted the highlights with a curve adjustment which created a darker image but brought out the detail in the sky. To compensate for the darker image, I adjusted the midtones using a levels adjustment which helped to correct the all of the other tones but kept the detail in the sky. Once again, I appreciate any comments that you have. I will post the final version from my previous thread below for comparison.
***Note: I forgot to apply web sharpening. See corrected version below.
Oops...I forgot to apply web sharpening to the revised version. This is the final corrected version with the curves and levels adjustments.
Posted by Ken Wyatt on January 3, 2009 at 10:36 PM
What would it look like if you took #3 and boosted the saturation a bit to bring out the color? You might want to mask out the sky, so it's not affected.
Ken
Posted by John Mumaw on January 3, 2009 at 11:45 PM
You're on the right track.
However, the edits you chose affected the image globally (as a whole) rather than select portions. This is why you had to take two separate editing steps and why those steps affected each other.
For example, I like the lighter foreground of the first and the darker skies of the second.
Working on these areas separately will give you a bit more control and finesse with your editing.
The foreground strikes me as a bit flat through no fault of your own. You didn't have the best light to work with on this day.
I gave this a contrast boost, and then 'erased' that boost from the sky via layer masking.
Then I used a 'local contrast enhancement' or 'haze remover', which is the Unsharp Mask filter with these settings:
Amount-20
Radius-50
Threshold-0
This is a pretty cool tip to give any of your images more 'pop'.
I also 'erased' that effect from the skies here.
Note that most contrast/Levels/Curves adjustments always tend to saturate an image a bit more. There is a way to mitigate that, but I let it stand here to give the image a bit more life.
When you posted this originally, I remember someone recommending cropping much of the sky as it didn't really add much to the image and only served to detract from the foreground. I ageed, hence a cropped sky here.
Finally, I converted the image from AdobeRGB color space to sRGB color space, which is a bit more 'web-friendly' in rendering colors.
I think you have a good base image to work with that was hampered by overcast conditions. A perfect test case for digital darkroom corrections!
At the risk of beating a dead horse, here is one final attempt using Tony Kuyper's luminosity mask tutorial.
Posted by John Mumaw on January 5, 2009 at 10:06 AM
Well, it looks like you brightened the entire scene (there's that 'global' thing again), which could have been done by simply lifting the middle of the curve upwards.
A lack of contrast is what's hurting this image.
Discussion
6 replies***Note: I forgot to apply web sharpening. See corrected version below.
Canon 20d
17-40L @ 17
f18
1/125 sec.
Polarizer
Ken
However, the edits you chose affected the image globally (as a whole) rather than select portions. This is why you had to take two separate editing steps and why those steps affected each other.
For example, I like the lighter foreground of the first and the darker skies of the second.
Working on these areas separately will give you a bit more control and finesse with your editing.
The foreground strikes me as a bit flat through no fault of your own. You didn't have the best light to work with on this day.
I gave this a contrast boost, and then 'erased' that boost from the sky via layer masking.
Then I used a 'local contrast enhancement' or 'haze remover', which is the Unsharp Mask filter with these settings:
Amount-20
Radius-50
Threshold-0
This is a pretty cool tip to give any of your images more 'pop'.
I also 'erased' that effect from the skies here.
Note that most contrast/Levels/Curves adjustments always tend to saturate an image a bit more. There is a way to mitigate that, but I let it stand here to give the image a bit more life.
When you posted this originally, I remember someone recommending cropping much of the sky as it didn't really add much to the image and only served to detract from the foreground. I ageed, hence a cropped sky here.
Finally, I converted the image from AdobeRGB color space to sRGB color space, which is a bit more 'web-friendly' in rendering colors.
I think you have a good base image to work with that was hampered by overcast conditions. A perfect test case for digital darkroom corrections!
I'll remove this immediately if you wish.
A lack of contrast is what's hurting this image.