rpavich Loc: West Virginia

I gave it a try.

I replaced the sky..took out the two trees in the middle and left side and enhanced the colors a bit.

This might not be an improvement...I don't know. It was difficult due to it being a low res jpg and blocky when zoomed.

Spyder Loc: Pennsylvania

Indi - this one is great - super detail and cool (literally) sky!

Indi Loc: L. I., NY, Palm Beach Cty when it's cold.

You are talking about the Project 1 HDR shot? Someone here at UHH turned me on to Redynamix HDR. It's a plugin for PS & PSE. Well worth it. One click. A teak, or two, and voila.

Indi Loc: L. I., NY, Palm Beach Cty when it's cold.

I like the treatment you gave it, too. The sky is...appropriate, for lack of a better description.

rdbroman

Interesting project. First, we must recognize that what we see in a picture is SUBJECTIVE. What I like someone else dislikes or doesn't give a hoot.
The sky does not bother me. It looks like a real sky.
The wagon does not bother me a lot. Others will say it is underexposed. Valid opinions.
Indi's correction looks better to me (subjective remember)
There are corrections in which the foreground rock becomes too obvious in my opinion.
There may be an approach that can be satisfying, but I am not
an expert. This is an approach that may work at least in theory.
Using elements, use the magic lasso and separate sky from wagon. In the sky portion use settings in enhance, light areas to darken the sky, and use the same enhance light choices to lighten the foreground. Someone who knows more about this may be able to shed some light on this.

rdbroman

An important question for those of us who are just learning:
How did you do this, at least in general terms, so that us novices can at least have an idea as to where to start in our efforts?

Jambulee Loc: San Antonio del Mar,Tijuana,Mex

Deanerniker: A Great technique to learn is Burning and Dodging most people today depend to much on quick fixes but don't give you much control. Here is how to do non-destructive burning and dodging in PS using layers.

Ctrl>N [the new layer dialogue comes up] under blending modes scroll down and choose "soft light". Click the little button under blending modes to fill it with 50% grey hit enter. [If you forget to check the little box don't worry you can hit Shift>F5 which brings up the fill dialogue and then fill with 50% grey] Now hit "B" to bring up your brush. Make sure it is set to soft; Right Click and the Brush Dialogue comes up and slide the slider all the way to the left. Next up in the tool bar choose an opacity of 20% to 30%. Make sure your foreground color is set to Black then begin to paint the areas you what darker. You can also dodge areas that are to dark by hitting the "X" key which switches your foreground colors back and forth.

You can change the brush size by using the "[" "]" keys.

Doing this you can keep your original sky and really control the density of your image.

Good luck

David

docrob Loc: Durango, Colorado

I agree. The original sky was fine. The wheels are the subject not the sky...and i don't hear anyone complaining about the foreground......

there seems this idea that if the sky is washed out or if this or if that is not exactly how we want it then the solution is some sort of software fix. It ain't. If the sky is a problem frame it out as best you can or go back at another time. Or just accept that it is what it is and do the best you can.

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

No problem..I used Topaz' masking tool but you can do it in PSE by creating a layer mask.

To know what a layer mask is just think about it like this:

When you create a layer mask you (in effect) cover it up with a white blanket. Then when you paint black over the parts that you want gone...it's sort of like cutting holes in the blanket to allow things underneath to show through.

If you understand that...you understand how layers work and why they are so great.

Even though it looks like I'm erasing part of the picture, the original picture is still intact.

If you REALLY hose it up...just drag the mask to the trash and start over...or paint it over with white and start over.


Play with this and you'll find that this is the way to do a lot of things in PSE.

Here is a pic to explain.

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

?

If you've got some sort of bias against massaging the exposure then that's fine...but it's not "wrong" to improve a picture...it's been done since the start of photography in various ways....the dark room....dodging, burning...etc..

Even flash is a way to change what you see to something more acceptable. (instead of saying "go back when there's more light")

I only changed the sky because it was "blown out"..pure white with no detail at all in a few areas and trying to tone it down didn't work.

rdbroman

Remember that this picture in all of its variations remains a SUBJECTIVE experience. What one likes and another does not like is merely SUBJECTIVE opinion. Nothing more nor less.
Before this thread degenerates into an argument, let's agree that each opinion is valid and that we can all agree to disagree and remain pleasant about it.

Jambulee Loc: San Antonio del Mar,Tijuana,Mex

If you want to save yourself the trouble of layer masks get a copy of NIKs Viveza 2 other wise your original sky was wonderful and with some old fashioned dodging and burning you would have a great shot.

David

docrob Loc: Durango, Colorado

ahhh my friend, you read me wrong or maybe i didn't say it right. i have nothing against manipulating images in fact i religiously use photoshop. What I was railing against is the tendency I see in this forum to believe that there is a software solution for any and every "problem." Sometimes a photo is just bad (this isn't one) and no amount of Topaz, NiK, photoshop will help. Then again getting into the mental habit of thinking "well I can just change the sky, remove the tree, put more snow on the mountain.....etc etc is, in my opinion lazy photography.

Sure Ansel Adams burned and dodged his prints out the yazoo....that ain't the point. The point is in order to get the image he visualized I would bet you a Mitt Romney 10K that he did so NOT by burning in or out the sky BUT by going back repeatedly........ till he got something that 1) moved him 2) pulled his heart strings 3) did not need hours and hours of darkroom work because he carefully framed what he wanted and figured he could crop out the rest.

Got a problem with underexposure - no problem just go into photoshop dupe the same image a couple of times changing the exposure for each, put them in the blender and woola! HDR Instant fix.

That is my problem my friend - the attitude that there is an instant fix out there just waiting........

If you wish you may PM me

sscooper38 Loc: Southwest Georgia

Will this plug in work with PSE8? How do I get it and how much does it cost? can you do the HDR with just one photo or do you need several?

Itpurs Loc: Carson City, NV

Great job. Love this version best of all.