Darken limited areas?

pleucl · Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2012 3:15 am Post subject: Darken limited areas?

Hi all,

I got my hands on photoshop for the sole purpose of trying to sort this photo out but as yet can't find tutorials showing how to do it

i'm trying to darken the area in the clouds where the sun is, without darkening the remainder too much

any help mucho appreciated
Big Grin

p

pleucl · Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2012 3:18 am Post subject:

ps
couldn't find any guidance on upload file sizes
apologies

thehermit · Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2012 6:31 am Post subject:

Welcome to the forum.

Firstly image upload size limit is 200k unless you link from your own webspace.

I can think of a few ways off the top of my head, but I haven't tried so its a case of guessing until trying.

First way is to put a layer sampled with colours from your clouds and add either a solid colour a gradient fill or a render clouds with a lateral motion blur, I went for a linear gradient and left to right. Put this layer beneath the layer with your photo on it. It is probably better to duplicate your background layer and then add a new layer with your gradient underneath the duplicated layer.

On the top layer double click the thumbnail of the image in the layer palette or click the fx button in the layer palette and choose blending options. If you look at my image I have moved the sliders to the right to eliminate anything that is white, you can split the sliders by hovering over it and pressing Alt to separate.

Duplicate this new top layer and working on the second from top layer add a filter>blur>motion blur 100. Now add a layer mask by holding Alt and clicking on the add layer mask icon in the layer palette (Black mask) now get a white brush and making sure you are painting on the mask paint in white as I have done.

I have only done a quick and dirty job and it could be improved with a little time and effort.

Another way is to make a selection of the area or smaller parts of the area and press Ctrl+F5 and choose content aware fill.

Netaddict · Posted: Fri Jun 22, 2012 12:30 am Post subject:

There is a piece of logic here that I can't work out:

The sun is the sole light source in this pic, darkening the sun will logically mean the whole pic has to be darkened.

thehermit the image you posted has become a "sea" of gray with nothing to draw the viewers eyes to.

What I'm trying to say is that no matter how much darkening we do to this pic, the sun, being the sole light source, will always be much brighter or else how could it have lit up this scene?

Frank1263 · Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2012 12:30 am Post subject:

I agree with Netaddict. A good way to darken an image which I use often is this:
Open your channels panel.
ctrl/command click on the RGB composite channel to select the highlights.
Press ctrl/command j to copy the selection onto a new layer.
Set the layer's blend mode to multiply.
You can duplicate the layer to enhance the effect and play with the opacity to get the desired effect.
Add a layer mask by pressing alt/option while clicking on the add layer mask icon to add a black mask.
paint with white to reveal the darkening effect around the sun.

pleucl · Posted: Mon Jun 25, 2012 4:44 am Post subject:

Hey fellas,

thanks for all your advice and input.

hermit - think once i got what i wanted i.e. saw your pic, i realised it probably isn't a good idea(not that your workmanship is to blame, just my flawed idea). Like the others say(i think), the light source is an extra 'dimension' to the photo, without which the picture seems dull and lifeless

Ultimately the photo is poorly shot, too much for ps to make any improvement,
guess I should focus more on taking a good picture in future then trying to sort it afterwards
thanks for your time guys
p Big Grin

thehermit · Posted: Mon Jun 25, 2012 6:02 am Post subject:

I agree

Photo is not poorly shot. It captures the dynamic, it may not be colour corrected etc, but it is far from a poor shot. I believe I (or most PS savvy folk) could make a decent hash of this image.

It would transpire that everyone has a different version of the image, but per se I think it has potential. A colour correction here and a selective sharpen there and Bob's your uncle...

I am sure others will pitch in with examples/suggestions

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