Here's a toughie (Page 3): I simply used PS (Levels) to do this...

Jwilliams0469 Loc: Topeka, Ks.

Cameraman wrote:

I hope you don't mind, I made a small change... br... (show quote)

I simply used PS (Levels) to do this...

Before

After

WxGuesser Loc: Portland OR

Hey, hey, hey! Set the white point in levels, decreased the brightness and contrast a little, and then in the highlights upped the red a bit, decreased the green and blue just a little, and viola! A decently colored picture. I know the sky is still blown out but there isn't anything that can be done about that.

Thanks all for the tips!!

suntomoon Loc: Virginia Beach, Va.

Can't wait!!

WxGuesser wrote:

quote=sinatraman also rember to not trust your ca... (show quote)

:-D

bobrock111565 Loc: Leesburg, VA (near D.C.)

Just to be clear and avoid further confusion, your white balance was set too WARM, not too cool. In this instance, if the white balance were set to a warm incandesent light setting, for example, the image would appear very blue like this image. If it were set to a much cooler setting, like daylight or cloudy, then it would appear more natural and balanced. Always the best is to do a custom white balance, or shoot RAW.

Bobber Loc: Fredericksburg, Texas

PS4. Started with curves raising red and green, dropping blue, then lots of work with replace color, and selections. Also did some brightness and contrast.

sinatraman Loc: Vero Beach Florida, Earth,alpha quaudrant

to avoiid blown out sky get a circular polarizer, it willhelp . also rember snow affects exposure as well as white balance both. if you set your wb to snow, you will still have problems unless you use exposure compensation or use a gray card.

pfredd

pfredd wrote:

It's not a toughie at all. There are 3 different w... (show quote)

Levels alone doesn't seem to be working for you. The white point is too high and blowing out the distant trees. Working with the small image I used #3 (above) leaving a little blue and dirt in the gutter cause snow in shade is blued.
The sky is not totally blown. there is enough saying it was partly cloudy with sun well overhead and to the right. Thus a polarizer would have been of no value. Then the devil made me add sky. Done with inverse alpha layer then dropping in a winter sky.

WxGuesser Loc: Portland OR

sinatraman wrote:

to avoiid blown out sky get a circular polarizer, it willhelp . also rember snow affects exposure as well as white balance both. if you set your wb to snow, you will still have problems unless you use exposure compensation or use a gray card.

Got one for Christmas (Polarizing filter that is). I can set the white balance on something that is truly white but how do you set the gray?

pfredd

Know that a polarize filter is good only at filtering out polarized light such as founed reflecting from water surface and from atmospheric moisture in the air when looking at 90* to the sun. Otherwise the filter costs you about 2 to 3 stops less for a circular because
digital cams can't accept as much filtration.
A grey card is mostly useless in landscape shoots. certainly till you master white level and the histogram. You have control of both in the shoot. Leave grey or midtowns till processing if needed, that's where you have control.
50% and 35% greys serve a purpose in studio work, but it seems any discussion of those light levels would only confuse you now.
Lacking some good reason not to Always shoot RAW because you have editing control of about all aspects of the image, except where there were no pixels captured, and in duplicating what a polorizer can do.

WxGuesser Loc: Portland OR

pfredd wrote:

quote=pfredd It's not a toughie at all. There are... (show quote)

Way cool! Well I'm leaving in a few hours down that road again and before I get back it should be all snowy again, so I'll try the white balance on my camera and see what happens.

francesca3 Loc: Sausalito, CA

WxGuesser wrote:

Taken with a Cannon A40 f2.8 1/80th sec. Don't know what the white balance was.

I've tried and tried in PS to get the blue out but have been unsuccessful. (not that it's a great shot, I just thought if I could figure out how to fix it I would have another tool for when I have a picture I really do want.)

Any snow in the shadows is blue.

Your photos interested me because many of my snow photos had that blue tint---> I took the liberty of downloading your first photo to see if what I usually tend to do in Photoshop to try to remove that blueness. You may not like the result I got, but here is what i did: 1.) I used the "remove color cast" dropper several times until the blue was replaced with some green foliage and white (snow?), then 2.) I went to "Enhance color" and clicked on the "auto" setting, and voila...the photo seems to look more like it may have actually looked.
Not knowing what the real scene looked like, this may not be it.
This is simply what I might have done.
Nice photo, btw ---> I liked the scene because it is almost iconic for drivers in winter.
NOTE: See below for my response with photo attached, sorry.

francesca3 Loc: Sausalito, CA

I messed up this entry...pls. see below for my corrected response. Sorry!

francesca3 Loc: Sausalito, CA

WxGuesser wrote:

Taken with a Cannon A40 f2.8 1/80th sec. Don't know what the white balance was.

I've tried and tried in PS to get the blue out but have been unsuccessful. (not that it's a great shot, I just thought if I could figure out how to fix it I would have another tool for when I have a picture I really do want.)

Any snow in the shadows is blue.

Your photos interested me because many of my snow photos had that blue tint---> I took the liberty of downloading your first photo to see if what I usually tend to do in Photoshop to try to remove that blueness. You may not like the result I got, but here is what i did: 1.) I used the "remove color cast" dropper several times until the blue was replaced with some green foliage and white (snow?), then 2.) I went to "Enhance color" and clicked on the "auto" setting, and voila...the photo seems to look more like it may have actually looked.
Not knowing what the real scene looked like, this may not be it.
This is simply what I might have done.
Nice photo, btw ---> I liked the scene because it is an iconic scene for drivers in winter at this time in history.
Note: THe after photo from JWilliams looks great to me.

pfredd

francesca3 wrote:

quote=WxGuesser Taken with a Cannon A40 f2.8 1/80... (show quote)

Your approach rather unique and interesting, but seems to go too far. The blue cast is replaced by a definite red cast as seen in the gutter snow ans sky haze. While red cast is common morn and eve when the sun is near the horizon. Shot lighting says this taken right around noon. Also the tree's green faded to grey because of the red.
Perhaps you can try halting your technique while the sky is still winter day grey that is close to neutral with R,G & B values equal.

francesca3 Loc: Sausalito, CA

pfredd wrote:

quote=francesca3 quote=WxGuesser Taken with a Ca... (show quote)

Ah...yes, your comments are right on, thank you. The reds definitely do not belong. I 'ppreciate the input.
Bootstrap self-teaching photoshop elements 7.0 ---> does not allow me to work with RAW/NEF that I can find, so I work with JPEG. (Maybe need to learn layering, I suppose, but not knowing what I don't know, it seems superfluous to me because I am never going to want to go back and "unlayer.") Actually, when I work w/jpeg, I save changes in TIFF, then if I like pics to share, I go back and "save as" jpegs again.

Oops, here I am talking about myself when this thread is not about me. Another thread, perhaps. But tx for the observations.