Making something more visible

[renée damstra]

We tried to make a photo of a horrible road we took on a hiking walk in

Iceland. However, the sun was against us and we couldn't try it from another

position, so on the picture you can hardly see where we had to go. Maybe some

of you have got some ideas how to make the road more visible on the photo?

 

It's this one:

<img src="http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7d804b3127cce85a5b16c4c7c00000026108AaMWjZ

o1btR">

[tommyinca]

Create a mask where the flare are and adjust luminance curve with the mask. You may need a few masks and adjustments to optimize it. Here is a quick try.<div></div>

[rob_sronce]

What you see is lens flare. I'm not an optics expert but I know that you need to use a hood on the lens or shade the lens with your hand to prevent it. You should be able to see the lens flare in viewfinder the if you are using an SLR camera, as well as see the effect of your hand shading the lens and/or your hand entering the frame. If you are not using an SLR, you can be pretty sure you are getting flare if the angle of the light source is small relative to the perpendicular axis of the focal plane. (Facing the sun, sun low in the sky.) In this case, shade the lens from the light source.

 

There is some but not much you can do post-production. Prevention is the best cure.

 

BTW, flare is not always objectionable. It can be used artistically.

[geoff_foale]

Hello Renee. This is certainly a challenge. You have 2 problems here, as well as the sun in the top right corner the left side and bottom right corner are too dark. There are a number of possible answers but this is my suggestion:-

 

Duplicate the original and hide the new layer.

 

Put a curves adjustment layer on top of the original (but under the duplicate) and adjust to get the left edge correct.

 

Hide the original image and show the duplicate layer. Create a gradient mask on this layer running from the bottom left corner towards the top right. It may take several attempts to get the angle and length correct. The bottom corner should become transparent and the top right will gradually become visible. The dark bottom right corner will need to become slightly transparent so paint with a soft low opacity brush set to black (to create a little partial transparency). Around 10-20% should do. It's a bit of a knack so just work slowly.

 

Add a new curves adjustment layer above the current (duplicate) layer and darken. When it looks about right merge this curves layer with the duplicate layer (not the original).

 

Show the original image (everything visible) and readjust its curves layer if necessary. You may need to return to the duplicate layer and slightly vary the transparency using the 'black' brush to suit. I added a little to some of the cliffs which were too dark, using 10% opacity.

 

Finally merge all the layers, add one more curves adjustment layer for a final tweak and a little unsharp mask.

 

Working with the original and taking more time you should be able to do better than this.

 

Hope you can follow this. Geoff.<div></div>

[renée damstra]

Thank you for all the advice, especially you Geoff for giving such an extensive reply. I will try it all out and if I don't understand something I will get back to you.