Help with a photo I like please

[Guy Fawkes]

Hi everyone,

I took this photo in Menorca in October last year, I really liked it but until now have not had the photoshop skills to attempt to alter it. (i'm still a newbiw but my Pshop skills have improved immeasurably).

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3187/2431043570_4ac84e709d.jpg

I'd love to bring the pink foreground colours on the flowers out, make the sky a moody monstrosity (doesnt look too bad now??????) and do somethign with with white house.

If anyone can offer any advice/tips, i'd greatly appreciate it.

:)

Lee

[Guy Fawkes]

P.s. it was taken with my old point and shoot canon a60. :(

[fletch5]

is this the biggest copy you have of it? perhaps getting it up to 800 pixels on the longest side would give people something to work with

[moomike]

If you duplicate your image onto a new layer in Photoshop & set the blending mode to screen then that will lighten the image a massive amount - use masking to apply this only to the flowers & building & not the sky.
Some dodging & burning would increase the moodiness of the sky too :thumbs:

You'd be much better working on the original image as the web quality version shown here will not show all of the recoverable shadow detail in the flowers imho - it also looks like you could do with altering the colour temperature/WB as it's looking a tad blue to me :thumbs:

Edit: Beaten to it by Fletch :lol:

[pearce_jj]

this sort of thing:
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a199/pearce_jj/sample-1.jpg

literally 2 second job, sorry about the dodgy line joining the two halves!

[Guy Fawkes]

is this the biggest copy you have of it? perhaps getting it up to 800 pixels on the longest side would give people something to work with

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2187/2430383337_a5f2088ae1_o.jpg

Is this any better? the original can be found here (http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3187/2431043570_1719cc5a6c_o.jpg) though

[fletch5]

that will help people lots, since there is more detail in it now

[Guy Fawkes]

Thank you, Fletch. :)

[Ajophotog]

Here you go, I used shadows and highlights and a couple of gradient selected layers. A quick fix, nice picture too btw. ;)

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2105/2430405833_411b331ebb_o.jpg

[Grendel]

Here you go, a version from me too....

http://www.psdale.com/PSD/menorca.jpg

Hope you like :)

[Guy Fawkes]

Ajophotog, Grendel, they are great, many thanks. :)

If you don't mind me asking, how did you do them?

[a1ex2001]

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/gallery/data/1696/2430383337_a5f2088ae1_o_V2.jpg

Thought I'd have a go not a great effort but always enjoy playing

[Guy Fawkes]

alex2001, thats really lovely. :)

[Grendel]

Ajophotog, Grendel, they are great, many thanks. :)

If you don't mind me asking, how did you do them?

First I duplicated the background layer and set the blending mode to Screen. This works wonders to brighten a dull or underexposed image. I then used the select colour range command to select the pink flowers then used a colour balance adjustment layer to make them richer and pinker. For the sky I simply made a rough selection and used a curves adjustment layer to increase contrast (a gentle "S" curve) and a levels adjustment layer to darken it down a bit. I then made a selection of the buildings and used a brightness/contrast adjustment layer to brighten them up a bit. I think that's about it! HTH :)

[a1ex2001]

alex2001, thats really lovely. :)

Thanks, I'm no more than a rank amature at this post porcessing job. Using GiMP I simply duplicated the origional photo twice to new layers and then adjusted the levels on one copy to bring out the foreground and the other copy to bring out the sky. I then added blended layer masks to only show the lightened forground and the darkened sky in the duplicate layers before combining them back together as a single layer. Finally I added a thin black border (neat trick always looks nice on the TP forums) and ran a quick unsharp mask (lost a bit of quality as I jpeg saved it at 75% without realising!)

I just stick to what I know I'm only just getting into selective Sharpening and levels adjustment there is a whole world of sneaky tricks out there!

[Guy Fawkes]

Thanks very much chaps, goign to give this a crack myself, later.

Much obliged, thanks again.

Lee

[a1ex2001]

Thanks very much chaps, goign to give this a crack myself, later.

Much obliged, thanks again.

Lee

I've got a step by step guide for GiMP somewhere I'll see if I can dig it out for you later.

[fletch5]

i wont even attempt it after seeing everyone elses, but it looks like a bit more contrast on the buildings might improve it a bit(?)

[Guy Fawkes]

Thanks again for all your comments and help, chaps, I really do appreciate it. :)

After taking on board your thoughts, I have come up with this, and I am pretty happy with it.

Thanks again.

Lee

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2129/2432144728_99b63b45ab.jpg

[fletch5]

looks good, well done:thumbs:

[Grendel]

Top job Lee :thumbs:

[xoutofnothingx]

Thanks again for all your comments and help, chaps, I really do appreciate it. :)

After taking on board your thoughts, I have come up with this, and I am pretty happy with it.

Thanks again.

Lee

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2129/2432144728_99b63b45ab.jpg

That's brilliant.