Photo Enhancement Problem

SA
Posted By
Steve Almond
Jun 30, 2004
Views
276
Replies
7
Status
Closed
I’m a beginner trying to improve a landscape photo which is about 1/3 sky, 2/3 land using Photoshop 7.
I selected the land using the Magic wand tool and did some work to improve it.
Then I inverted the selection and improved the sky. So far so good. Problem is that the interface line between sky and land seems to be exaggerated.
How should I have avoided this? Is it to do with feathering? Anti-aliasing?

Steve
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MR
Mike Russell
Jul 1, 2004
Steve Almond wrote:
I’m a beginner trying to improve a landscape photo which is about 1/3 sky, 2/3 land using Photoshop 7.
I selected the land using the Magic wand tool and did some work to improve it.
Then I inverted the selection and improved the sky. So far so good. Problem is that the interface line between sky and land seems to be exaggerated.
How should I have avoided this? Is it to do with feathering? Anti-aliasing?

Masking is seldom necessary, and is relied on too much by beginners. You have correctly pointed out the big problem: it doesn’t look natural. Even if you cover up the fringe at the horizon, it will still look strange.

I’d recommend using curves, with a subtle S shape so that you bring out detail in both the sky and land. Experiment. If you want, put your image up on a web page somewhere, or email it to me, and I’ll make a tutorial out of it.
—

Mike Russell
www.curvemeister.com
www.geigy.2y.net
S
shumski
Jul 1, 2004
Or to play with quick mask
–
shumsk
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S
shumski
Jul 1, 2004
Mike Russell wrote:
I’d recommend using curves, with a subtle S shape so that you brin out
detail in both the sky and land.

And he has to feather the selection
–
shumsk
———————————————————— ———– Posted via http://www.forum4designers.co
———————————————————— ———– View this thread: http://www.forum4designers.com/message92090.htm
SA
Steve Almond
Jul 1, 2004
"Mike Russell" wrote in message
Steve Almond wrote:
I’m a beginner trying to improve a landscape photo which is about 1/3 sky, 2/3 land using Photoshop 7.
I selected the land using the Magic wand tool and did some work to improve it.
Then I inverted the selection and improved the sky. So far so good. Problem is that the interface line between sky and land seems to be exaggerated.
How should I have avoided this? Is it to do with feathering? Anti-aliasing?

Masking is seldom necessary, and is relied on too much by beginners. You have correctly pointed out the big problem: it doesn’t look natural. Even if you cover up the fringe at the horizon, it will still look strange.
I’d recommend using curves, with a subtle S shape so that you bring out detail in both the sky and land. Experiment. If you want, put your image up on a web page somewhere, or email it to me, and I’ll make a tutorial
out
of it.
—

Mike Russell
www.curvemeister.com
www.geigy.2y.net

Mike, thanks for the reply. I don’t have a website, so will email the file to you.
I used the image I’m sending as one of several spliced together into a panorama. No point sending the whole thing, so I’m sending a representative part.
Excuse the quality and lack of artistry.

Thanks for your help. I also look forward to exploring your website.

Steve
SA
Steve Almond
Jul 1, 2004
"shumski" wrote in message
Mike Russell wrote:
I’d recommend using curves, with a subtle S shape so that you bring out
detail in both the sky and land.

And he has to feather the selection.
—
shumski

You are suggesting an alternative to Mike.
How do I choose how many pixels to feather (on a 2000 x 1500 sized image, for example)? Do I also select anti-aliasing?

Steve
R
Ron
Jul 1, 2004
"shumski" wrote in message
Mike Russell wrote:
I’d recommend using curves, with a subtle S shape so that you bring out
detail in both the sky and land.

And he has to feather the selection.
—
shumski
———————————————————— ———— Posted via http://www.forum4designers.com
———————————————————— ———— View this thread: http://www.forum4designers.com/message92090.html

Why not use the gradient tool?
PP
Philip Procter
Jul 2, 2004
After you select the area you want to work with, copy it to a new layer. In the end, you’ll have three layers: the sky, the land and the background (the original image). If you still see a transition, you can nudge one layer , blend or feather.

Philip

On Thu, 1 Jul 2004 00:23:28 +0100, "Steve Almond" wrote:

I’m a beginner trying to improve a landscape photo which is about 1/3 sky, 2/3 land using Photoshop 7.
I selected the land using the Magic wand tool and did some work to improve it.
Then I inverted the selection and improved the sky. So far so good. Problem is that the interface line between sky and land seems to be exaggerated.
How should I have avoided this? Is it to do with feathering? Anti-aliasing?
Steve

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