Alisha L. Ekstrom |
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Help with this photo PLEASE!!!
Ok....I was just wondering if anyone can help me with this image. I shot this image on an overcast day in Goblin Valley so the sky is white. I know I've seen some people able to make there skies blue or bring some color to the sky through Photoshop. I have Photoshop 7.0 so could someone PLEASE instruct me on how to help the sky in this image. Thanks a bunch!!!
Alisha
July 12, 2005
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James C. Creegan |
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Goblin retouched
James C. Creegan
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Hi Alisha- it seems to be 100% white so there's no way you can get back the actual colour of the sky. However- you could create a new layer behind your photo with some sky taken from another source (I just used google images).Then you need to select the sky you want to replace- I drew a rectangle around the part where I thought the sky should go, then intersected that with the white area (using Select Regions By Colour). Then you can just clear the selected area, exposing the sky you have underneath.
The difficulty will be in getting the right colour sky and making sure your selection border isn't too obvious (use some feathering on the selection). Here's a rush job that I did:
July 12, 2005
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Alisha L. Ekstrom |
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Oh WOW THANK YOU James. I like what you've done. I will be out of the house all day so I will try this either this evening or tomorrow. So you did all this in Photoshop correct? I go to Layer>New Layer? What do you mean google images? Do a google search? Thanks again James!!!:)
July 12, 2005
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Kerry L. Walker |
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Good job, James. Alisha, I know you didn't ask for a critique but I am going to make a couple of suggestions anyway. If you get to shoot this scene again, try this. Switch to manual focus and, using a small aperature, set you focus at hyperfocal distance (if your camera permits this). Set the peak off to the right hand side of the frame. Also, crop out the foreground up to the flowers. I think you will like the results.
July 12, 2005
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Alisha L. Ekstrom |
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Thanks Kerry. Any critique is welcomed in my book. I don't mind. So how do you know I didn't use manual focus...& I DIDN'T..haha...so can you explain to me what the difference between manual focus & auto? I read the manual to my camera & I just leave it on auto cause then I feel I know it's focused. Is manual better? Just would like a little insight. I'm not quite sure my camera permits the hyperfocal distance. Didn't read that in the manual, but it may be there & I just don't know it. Thanks for your help Kerry:):)
July 12, 2005
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James C. Creegan |
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No problem- I was in a rush before so I'll try and go through it a bit more slowly this time. I used a program called GIMP which is basically like a freeware version of Photoshop. Anything I did should be possible on Photoshop, and probably easier too. Because the sky in your photo is basically just blank space, you're going to cut that bit of the photo out and throw it away.
You COULD then cut the same shape out of another photo of sky and paste that in, but instead it's much easier to have the new sky image underneath your original photo, so that whenever you throw something away, you see the new sky image underneath. To do this you need to create a new layer paste the image of the sky into it, then make sure they're stacked up in the right order i.e. your photo on top, the sky underneath. Cutting out the blank, white sky shouldn't be too difficult using one of the selection tools- this would actually be a good image to practise using a few different ones on in fact (since I don't know the names of them in Photoshop!). Once you've done this, just clear the selection, probably using CTRL+x, or a menu option called "Clear"! Hmm, I tried to give more info but am not doing very well since, like I keep saying, I've never really used Photoshop. Funnily enough though, I did just find something that might help
http://www.peachpit.com/articles/article.php?p=31732&seqNum=9
this article is about exactly what you're trying to do!
July 12, 2005
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Kerry L. Walker |
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LOL. I just assumed you were shooting in autofocus because most people do. There is nothing wrong with using it but it is not always the best - especially with landscapes. Hyperfocal shooting is probably not in your camera manual. I have never seen it in one but it is easy to do - if you have distance settings on your lens. Just set the infinity mark at the aperature you selected (probably on the right side of your lens). Then, look at the infinity mark on the left side of your lens. Everything between those marks (as read on the distance scale) would be in acceptable focus (greatest DOF), If you don't have distance markings on your lens, as many newer zoom lenses don't, just focus at infinity and then back off a little. You may have to bracket your focus a little to get it right but this method will give you the greatest DOF possible.
July 12, 2005
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