photo processing help

[Pilotcrabby]

I am trying to bring out the foreground in the following photo while maintaining the sunset while still making the photo looking real. The only photo editing program I have is photoshop elements 4.0. I am wondering if I am able to do what I want in elements, or if I need full blown photo shop. If I am able to accomplish this in elements how do I do it?

[Venturi]

I hope you don't mind, I took the liberty of playing with it in Lightroom2. I used the Graduated Filter tool to bump the exposure of the bottom half of the shot and added some vibrance (mid tones).

[dylansalt]

Elements 4

Shadow/Highlights

Lighten Shadows = 10%
Darken Highlights = 11
Midtone Contrast = +6

Hue/Saturation

Saturation = +10

Brightness/Contrast

Contrast = +10

5 mins work

[FA5]

I dont have Elements 4, but its possible to pull out quite a bit with photoshop. Have a look:

[Pilotcrabby]

Originally Posted by FA5

I dont have Elements 4, but its possible to pull out quite a bit with photoshop. Have a look:

I know you can with photoshop, but with photoshop elements you are quite limited to what you can do. Can you list the steps on how you got from the original photo to that? That is exactly what I am looking for. I can get a hold of a friend and use his photoshop.

[Pilotcrabby]

Originally Posted by dylansalt

Elements 4

Shadow/Highlights

Lighten Shadows = 10%
Darken Highlights = 11
Midtone Contrast = +6

Hue/Saturation

Saturation = +10

Brightness/Contrast

Contrast = +10

5 mins work

Than alot I am going to try it out today. The picture on the forum is already much lighter than the photo I have. So I think with what you did it will look awesome!

[Clicker]

Curves then levels you could play around with the colours afterwards selecting high,mid or low tones to isolate each area you want some more punch.

[deejjjaaaa]

photoshopped to get some pseudoHDR look (w/ the original raw it could be done much better of course)

[Marc Sabatella]

I liked what I saw in the graduated filter example, but also wished the sky could have been made a bit deeper in the process. I have ACDSee Pro and I used "Light EQ" tool (a form of local contrast enhancement). It's like a multi-band equalizer that you'd see in audio gear, but for light instead of sound. I added light to the low and low-mid sliders (the darks) but also pulled back some of the mid-to-high range so the sky has a little more "drama" to it. I liked it rather better when I tried that, but since you liked the sky as it was, I didn't actually change much about it:

[graphicgr8s]

If you really want to bring out the colors in PhotoShop start using masks on adjustment layers. You can really intensify the sky while bringing out the foreground. And still have total control of the image and readjust as needed. Can't do that with out layers.

[Quension]

Well, if other software is fair game, here's what I did with Lightbox Image Editor:


That's with Fill Light at 41, then Brightness at -21 to put a bit more depth in the sunset.

You can add contrast to give the foreground a bit more punch, but I thought the soft light went better with the pastel sunset.

[EricT]

Originally Posted by FA5

I dont have Elements 4, but its possible to pull out quite a bit with photoshop. Have a look:

I think this one is the best attempt, it really pops! Did you just use adjustment layers, and sharpening?

[MrEspie]

I don't exactly have photoshop with me at the moment, but I imagine that you could get a little bit more pop by darkening the sky portion and playing with the vibrance/saturation a bit. I'll have a crack at it this evening.

[Clicker]

...normal where it looks too "surreal"

[mithrandir]

30 seconds in DPHDR as a Pseudo HDR shot: