Ps Tips 2: Polarising Blue Skies

[david.tan]

As promised, a simple tutor for how to make the sky more blue.

Before we start, let us understand more about wat it is and how useful of this function, its something that u KENOT do it on ur camera like C-PL, wat u need is a filter which call gradual neutral grey filter, how it is looks like ?
http://www.cokin.com/cokin-data/composants2/icones-filtres/120.jpg
its looks like gradient from black to white.

how to use this filter ? normally we headup the dark part to the sky and the light part to the land or object. There are many type of grade for this filter, like ND2, ND4, ND8 and etc, the more number of value the darker on the dark part. And there are two type of ND filter use for lens which is screw filter, and square filter, for square filter u may need a holder, COKIN system is one of the example.

okie, no more crap, so let us start on how to USE it on PHOTOSHOP, y photoshop ? because it save lotsa ur $ :P
PS: This is my own way of making ND like effect, i have no 100% promise that it can be use for every photo, use it on ur own RISK ! :peace:

Its how it looks like, before and after
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a313/DavidNikon/gray/bee4after.jpg

1. Duplicate Background (layer)
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a313/DavidNikon/gray/01.jpg
Choose an image by open, copy the background layer (Ctrl + J) or click and drag it into new layer.

2. Desaturate and Invert
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a313/DavidNikon/gray/2.jpg
Desaturate first and follow by invert in the same layer which had duplicate, Desaturate it via Enhance-Adjust Colour-Remove Colour(CTRL + SHIFT + U), then go to Filter-Adjustments-Invert(CTRL + I).

3. Blending mode
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a313/DavidNikon/gray/3.jpg
Select OVERLAY on the bleding mode.

4. Intensify the sky colour
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a313/DavidNikon/gray/4.jpg
At Filter - Blur - Gaussian Blur, choose a Radius of 50 or more pixels to intensify the sky colour. U can play around with the radius till ur taste.

5. Level to enhance the color
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a313/DavidNikon/gray/5.jpg
Play around with level, go to Enhance - Adjust Lighting - Levels(CTRL + L). In the Input Levels boxes, normally i will use the same setting by enter 35, 0.95, 236 from left to right and save the level adjustment, it can be done by ur own taste too.

~ END ~

PS: Sometime it may makes ur pix looks abnormal, use on ur own risk
PS2 : U always can have ur own idea, maybe u can try with other way which is more effective, all the best ! enjoy ~ !

;)

[david.tan]

oh ya, feel free to point out my mistake, if i made any... :ph34r:

[palie]

wahh... good ones..... remind me of one of the method to correct underexposed subject... :D

[wooncherk]

good one..... learnt new thing......

[sean eng]

the pix from Langkawi? i missed some memories there with friends.

very good tutor. i have other way do enchance landscape photo. either way can do the trick. just mine more simple and more control :P

still, i prefer shot them in proper if i could at the 1st place.

(QUOTE) btw "its looks like gradient from black to white. " i think put into "from darken to transparent" may better.


again, thanks! i have learn new thing from you again. may be i can use some part of it to make new on other technic.

[david.tan]

the pix from Langkawi? i missed some memories there with friends.

yup :)

[d60dslr]

hiii, thanks for the techniques. did try it and really work.

original file
http://manzpictures.zoto.com/img/24/b87f2b7cd39fa194d2c96c4ca29e9064-.jpg

after edited yr tech.
http://manzpictures.zoto.com/img/24/9c299f70205115d9b8c4f0eb3ef00045-.jpg

[ganjohan]

:thumbsup: :thumbsup: for davidnikon....

[koon2]

Previously I use step 1 to 3 to open up the shadow area in PS, don't know by adding step 4 can create such effect, good tips :thumbsup:

[mknace]

its really work!..thanks for the tutorial..save me Rm180..:)

[terry.tan]

Thanks for the tips. Really works !!!

:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

;) ;) ;)

[prompter46]

:) :thumbsup: thanks..

[tsechien]

Thanks a lot David! Now everyday can be a blue sky day!

chien

[brahym]

thanks for the tips...more tips pleaseee..

[didifion]

Thanks David! :thumbsup:

[digitalartist]

Good one David !!

:thumbsup:

Lets share more of these tips so that all of us without hangups can make better pictures. Some people tend to ridicule the use of PS enhancements and of course its always better to get it right straight out of the camera, but Photoshop is there to help on those occassions where some of us cant get it right all the time straight out of the camera. Sometimes I cant help thinking that those who ridicule the use of PS as a useful tool in modern digital photography, are maybe trying to say between the lines, "Hey look at me. I'm a fantastic photographer and I dont need PS !! You shoot crappy pictures, therefore you have to rely on PS to bail you out !!".
I say good for them. I'm only a mere mortal trying my best to shoot acceptable pictures. Photoshop has been a godsend for me. And I say, keep more of those tips coming. There's so much in PS that the more we use the package, the more we discover how little we actually know...

:D

[seethoe]

DA: :thumbsup:

David: :thumbsup: add-it as one of my action in PS CS2.... thanks man.

[david.tan]

welcome guys ;)

my next PS should be the portrait soft, but kenny had done his one under here (http://www.photomalaysia.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=6429), my method is a bit diff, but almost da same lo :rolleyes:

[david.tan]

Originally posted by digitalartist@Sep 10 2005, 12:15 PM
Good one David !!

:thumbsup:

Lets share more of these tips so that all of us without hangups can make better pictures. Some people tend to ridicule the use of PS enhancements and of course its always better to get it right straight out of the camera, but Photoshop is there to help on those occassions where some of us cant get it right all the time straight out of the camera. Sometimes I cant help thinking that those who ridicule the use of PS as a useful tool in modern digital photography, are maybe trying to say between the lines, "Hey look at me. I'm a fantastic photographer and I dont need PS !! You shoot crappy pictures, therefore you have to rely on PS to bail you out !!".
I say good for them. I'm only a mere mortal trying my best to shoot acceptable pictures. Photoshop has been a godsend for me. And I say, keep more of those tips coming. There's so much in PS that the more we use the package, the more we discover how little we actually know...

:D
true ! very true indeed !

photoshop is a "photo rescue" tool or "photo enhance" tool, but then, is a very helpful stuff ! to save those ppl like me :lol:

[lanatir]

very educational article and most helpful. thanks!

[ted]

..i still keep on returning to this thread, oh yea :D

[xmenla]

Any tips to make the sky blue for hazy days?

[jochee]

:icon_supe :026: :icon_supe Thanks a lot for the tutorial.. I just did it on one of my pic and it was much better looking... thanks again... and keep them coming..

[sean eng]

Any tips to make the sky blue for hazy days?

tweak in curve, can color up the haze.

best is replace the sky

[digitalartist]

Any tips to make the sky blue for hazy days?

Easy.
Everytime you see nice blue skies or nice sunset skies with beautiful cloud formations, shoot them and store them on a CD or in your HDDs. Build a library of a few hundred pictures of skies of all sorts. When your landscape pictures have awful skies, simply transplant and blend an appropriate sky from your clouds library into your image. The trick to make the transplant look natural is to play around with gradient masks to ensure that any global directional lighting in your foreground matches the lighting supposed to be generated by your transplanted sky.

[khoking]

hmm...do we still need Polarizer, Graduate filter...etc. with all these PS techniques?

[lurker]

haha, nothing beats getting it correct out of the cam

[khoking]

haha, nothing beats getting it correct out of the cam

Hahaaa...great! I thought the C-PL that I bought recently has become useless... :p

[sean eng]

hmm...do we still need Polarizer, Graduate filter...etc. with all these PS techniques?


yes we need them. shot them well in the first place rather than rely on PS.

polariser can achieve something PS cannnot do. reduse reflection and add contrast to color tones(without adding noise).
graduate filter save your job to do double exposure.
ND filter (+2,+4,+8) something you cannot simply done with +EL/EV + PS.

just my 2sen

[david.tan]

i would prefer to use filter rather than PS, unless u hav no best way to cure the photo :)

[digitalartist]

hmm...do we still need Polarizer, Graduate filter...etc. with all these PS techniques?

The Polariser is a useful gizmo and I carry one in my camera bag, but those graduated filters are redundent in digital photography. I have a whole set of Cokin filters and filter holders in my cupboard somewhere and I used to have great fun fooling around with them in those cumbersome days of film photography. I dont use them anymore because there's nothing in terms of filter effects that you cannot do digitally...
People who actually use a Graduated filter on their digital cameras are like some motorists nostalgically clinging on to their Morris Minors and Volkswagen Beetles when they have a BMW in their garage.
Besides the unnecessary expenditure of buying the Cokin System (and they are expensive), and the bother of carrying them around, just imagine how cumbersome it is to attach the Cokin Filter holder to the front of your lens, insert the graduated filter, and then fiddling around to get the horizon positioning right. If you have a subject in the foreground, your subject will also have a graduated face. And thats not all - you are also adding another uneccessary piece of plastic in front of your finely engineered and coated glass. Just take the MTF readings with and without the Cokins in front of your L glass and watch the curves for contrast and resolving power fall right through the floor .....
The graduated filter is a means to an end. The means is irrelevant. The end is what we are after. Whether you achieve the end digitally, or physically, should'nt be an issue. It's the same unproductive argument about whether film or digital is better....

[shadow_dweller]

photoshop noobs here. been reading it 3 times but still dont quite get it. guess i better go back and try it hands on before i know what's going on. lol :P

[chunglern]

...the more we discover how little we actually know...

Very true... I so agree with you! :038: :038: :038:

[djspinnet]

hmm...do we still need Polarizer, Graduate filter...etc. with all these PS techniques?

Hehe. I got no polarizer yet.. but I have sunglasses :) Just hold it in front of my lense. It'll have to make do for now, I'm just a poor student trying to fund her own hobby.

Besides, I have clear, good, expensive lenses... Nikon lens. No I'm not kidding, I'm using Nikon optical lenses. Never knew it existed till my optician recommended it. So no scratch marks, no dust marks, no finger prints on the lenses, safe to hold over a shot.

[sean eng]

i had my polarize sunglasses used as well on P&s DC. quite a fun when i first time seeing the effect (without knowing the polarize can do that).

[simedarby]

good article David! PS is advance version of traditional dark room.. haha..

who said film photographer dont do PS? they do it in dark room! haha..

[david.tan]

good article David! PS is advance version of traditional dark room.. haha..

who said film photographer dont do PS? they do it in dark room! haha..

film ? i still using Pchop after get scan :laugh:

[noordin]

Thanks David. Any PS2 tips is most welcomed. :)

[david.tan]

bumps up

weird i cant find it from the forum Articles & Reviews, doesnt seems have the next page to browse...