New Too

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Hi everyone. I have recently added my gallery to the site and would look some feedback. I have not used elements much other than to adjust levels and color. The photo I have of the Pyramids needs work and I am at a loss. If anyone has ideas please let me know. The sky is really brown and hazy and I am having a heck of a time cleaning it up.

Thanks for all your wise advice and support.

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I forgot to add my gallery link..... http://www.photoshopelementsuser.com/gallery/view_img.php?id=6298

Thanks again.

[Wendy]

Hi there ...

Oh you have some really nice images in there ... I especially like the jelly fish and the Morning Rays :)

I did take a quick look at your Pyramids and had a little sucess with Enhance>Adjust Colour>Colour cast but I don't think that its going to be possible to clear all of that haze. :(

Wendy

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Thats what I was afraid of :( ... thought of replacing the sky, but could not seem to blend it well enough to be belivable.

[jwhitten]

I tried a few layers - screen, saturation, multiply and got this.

[Daviskw]

Hi

Like Wendy I removed the cast, then just dropped a blue sky over the whole picture. I used a large soft easier to blend the sky into the haze background. You could use any sky in this manner.

Then I used a levels adjustment layer to increase the contrast on the overall picture. Then another levels adjustment layer to drastically increase contrast on the pyramids. I inverted the mask then with a small soft brush I painted the contrast back on the pyramids.

It does help some.

Butch


http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/1267/63131or.th.jpg (http://img149.imageshack.us/my.php?image=63131or.jpg)

[Daviskw]

We must have been working at the same time Joe... very dramatic version yours.

Butch

[jo]

You fellas are amazing!

[jwhitten]

Butch,

I think your version looks much better than the 1 minute job I did. hahahahaha

I bow to your masterful restoration techniques. :D

Joe

[Norm F]

Bad,

Maybe I'm all wet here, but I kind of like this effect. It needs more work and this was a pretty puney image to work on. Butch's suggestion of a new sky is a must, I think.

I made a new layer with the background image and set the blend mode to multiply. I erased everything except for the pyramids and copied it a second time. Then I used Chuck's old haze removal trick with unsharp mask set to 30-60-1. Erase everything but the pyramids again. You could even leave the golden hue created by the multiply layers on the buildings in the foreground. The second link shows that effect.

http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1HzosPtdgzX79MRrDP7Rq4P222QC1

http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=12JEdyoEJ81IfZTMjDRKNSsEtEBBD0

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Absolutely Amazing! I have been trying to get a sky to look like that for months. I realize I know nothing of the power of elements. So in order to up the contrast on the pyramids, did you just use a standard layer mask? Using the erase to select the parts of the photo?

You all have given me a new surge of energy to fix this picture. If there is anymore advice please let me know. In the meantime I am going to work on fixing it up and will post the finished photo :D

[Daviskw]

Hi there

I just opened a Levels adjustment layer. I moved the white point and black point sliders a little towards the center this increases contrast. The whole picture is affected but all you need to do is click on the attached mask then press Ctrl I. This completely removes the adjustment you just made.
Now just make sure the default colors are selected, black and white. Choose a small soft brush and set the color to white. Now when you paint the contrast is applied. If you apply too much change the brush color to black and paint the contrast off

Butch