Tricky Lighting Landscape - What Would You Do?

[newmurph]

<p>So I have this series of photos from the beach last summer, and I want to process them so that the fine details of the rainbow are visible, but without disrupting the proper exposure. For instance, I want these barely visible rays of sunlight passing through the rainbow to be visible, but without destroying details and turning the seagulls into silhouettes.</p>

<p>What is the best way to go about this? In camera raw, and in regular PS I've tried messing with exposure, highlights, whites, blacks, shadows, contrast, clarity, etc. I have been getting varied results and I am getting very frustrated. What would you guys do?</p><div></div>

[newmurph]

<p>Here is an example of what I am trying to achieve, but without destroying the details of the seagulls and the ocean, and hopefully without making the image look like I vomited post-processing all over it, and then some. I want to have natural color, no blown out highlights, and no silhouettes. I am pretty new to standard landscapes. When I say standard, I mean I have been doing Infrared landscapes 99% of the time, and I don't need to emulate reality with those.</p>

<p>I am kicking myself for not knowing how to do this. It is so basic, and just like everything I seem to do, I jumped the gun.</p><div></div>

[ariel_s1]

<p>In Photoshop, make both the original and the edited photos a layer. Then, combine both layers into a single image, and use a layer mask to show through what you want. Type "Photoshop layer mask" into google, and you'll see what I mean. You're going to have to get selective about this photograph. One layer will be most of the image, and the other layer will be only to enhance the rainbow.</p>

[newmurph]

<p>I was thinking about masking, but again, I'm unsure about what order of operations to follow. I was also thinking about maybe editing the sky and the sea separately, by way of the "magic wand," but I'm not sure how that would look. I don't want it to look fake, or photoshopped, at least not indulgently so.</p>

[AlanKlein]

<p>I played with the contrast, levels, shadows, contrast etc. No Masks. I don't know how to use them. Don't know if this works for you.<br>

<img src="http://img.geocaching.com/cache/log/833f1e8f-8919-40b3-858a-0535e33177c8.jpg?rnd=0.1764233" alt="" width="700" height="469" /> </p>

[JamesFarabaugh]

<p>My first thought was also to do layers and a mask. It doesn't really matter which one you set as the background, but if you make the ocean/bird detail the background it looks like you will have less unmasking work to do.</p>

[newmurph]

<p>Alan, your version definitely looks better than the original for sure. Looks less flat and pops out, nice white balance. Unfortunately, it doesn't accentuate the rays of sunshine shining through the rainbow the way I see it in my head. Perhaps for that to be done, I DO have to nix the natural look and make the photo obviously post-processed. Yay or nay?</p>

<p>Also, and this might be a cop out, but does anyone think I should just crop out the ocean and the land? It could be easier, but I could also lose some needed context.</p>

[newmurph]

<p>James, are you saying I should separate the birds and the ocean from the sky? That could work, but I'm worried that the birds would stick out like a sore thumb. If you have any examples of your idea, your work or anyone's, I would love to see them to get a good idea of what I should go for.</p>

[lauralewis]

<p>This may be way off, but what about dodging/burning just the rainbow?</p>

[ariel_s1]

<p>Matt, just because you are using layer masks doesn't mean it has to look any more digital or processed. Just make sure to not have hard edges in your layer brush, and don't be afraid to zoom in and spend some time on it. If my laptop had CS5 on it, then I'd do a quick and dirty one for you to show you what I mean. James is NOT saying that you should separate the birds and the ocean from the sky. He is telling you which way he prefers to mask. Again, PLEASE go just research layer masks for 15 minutes, and play with them for 5-10 minutes. It is far and away the best solution to achieve what you want from a photo. Here, I even found a good first few pages for you to read. After that, if you still have questions, use a combination of searching google and youtube. When I get to my desktop, I will show you what a layer mask can do for your photo.<br>

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/digital-blending.shtml<br>

And looky looky here, at photo.net's own learning link, there's a wonderful description of it:<br>

http://www.photo.net/learn/digital-photography-workflow/advanced-photoshop-tutorials/layer-masks/<br>

And the third page of the tutorial even has you work with a photo including a rainbow, how fortuitous!<br>

http://www.photo.net/learn/digital-photography-workflow/advanced-photoshop-tutorials/advanced-masking/<br>

</p>

[AlanKlein]

I don't like to saturate beyond what looks

natural. If the viewer thinks the colors aren't normal, then I've gone to far. On my version i took it as far as I thought could saturate. However,you could saturate further using a brush with saturate selected and just brush the rainbow.

[dan_south]

My suggested recipe:

 

1. Boost exposure a bit. Try to make the blue portion of the sky look like a blue sky.

 

2. Adjust white balance. Again, once that blue sky looks accurate, you'll probably be at the correct value.

 

3. Boost contrast until it looks unnatural, then back off a bit.

 

4. Boost saturation to taste, but realize that this control is really easy to overdo,

 

I don't think and masks or layers are required in this instance, but that's my personal opinion.

 

Good shooting!

[newmurph]

<p>Alright, I followed everyone's advice and this is my first product. 2 Image layers (one light, one dark), vector masked with a gradient, hi pass sharpening, and tweaking of contrast, white, blacks, lights, darks, saturation, etc.</p>

<p>Hows it look? Too over saturated? The rays are not as pronounced as I would like, but so far this is better than nothing. Also, please note that I sharpened before downsizing, so the sharping is a bit off...and I gotta go to work.</p><div></div>

[dan_south]

It looks nice.

[AlanKlein]

<p>Interesting. The heavier saturation brought out a second rainbow just above the bird on the right that I hadn't noticed. Nice.</p>

[sam_clay]

<p>loads better matt ....have you thought to post process through photomatix ?? you can get a free trial and see what the results are like. Its HDR software and I love it.</p>

[jenkins]

<p>There is an obvious difficulty here as the birds are in the sky limiting any real global adjustments, this is the direction I would take it as per your requests.</p><div></div>

[JamesFarabaugh]

<p>Matt, your masked one looks very nice, but I'm with you on liking more dramatic light rays. How does it look if you combine the very dramatic sky and rainbow that you like with the ocean, beach and birds of the masked version?</p>

<p>Basically, I'm thinking keep the ocean and birds that you have on the masked image, and keep adding drama to the sky until you either get what you are after, or until it looks like they don't go together anymore, then back it off a hair.</p>

[gregoryl]

<p>Hello Matt<br />Here's another version with slightly lighter foreground. There are literally hundreds of ways to alter it, just depends on what you want it to look like in the end.<br>

Greg</p>

[gregoryl]

<p>Hello Matt<br>

(Trying this again as I messed up on the original post. Posting two versions together.)<br>

It's hard to describe what it is you want exactly because everyone has a different interpretation of your words. That's why a picture is worth a thousand words. If you shot it in RAW you have much more you can do with the image regards to manipulation. With a screen capture of a low res jpeg there isn't too much you can do. Here is my take on it and a version with a lighter foreground.<br>

Regards<br />Greg </p><div></div>

[scottknudsen]

<p>Have you tried playing with this in Lightroom? You may or may not have more luck with it that in Photoshop with layers and masks.<br>

<br />ScottK</p>

[newmurph]

<p>Scott, I have not. I've used Lightroom before with other photos, but it just seems like a watered down version of Photoshop to me, with less options and control. Maybe I need to get really nitty gritty with it?</p>

<p>To reclarify (word?) what I want to achieve out of this photo, I want a properly exposed and balanced sky, a properly exposed and balanced ocean / land, and I want the finer details of the rainbow (rays of light, lesser second rainbow) to be more pronounced than they otherwise would be, so that you can see them without looking for them. Also, I would like to try an avoid making the birds into silhouettes.</p>