editing hazy day photo

[mom to 4]

Went down to Harpers Ferry, West Virginia today and took 113 pictures:D . I even got a bird building a nest that I may use in the challenge. It was, however, a very hazy day for most of the time we were there. What is the best way to get rid of the haze from the pictures? Levels? Brightness/Contrast??? Shadows/Highlights???? Or some other way?

Thanks!

[Daviskw]

Hi Colleen

There many ways that work in some situations and not in others. Here are two easy ones to try.

Filter>Sharpen>Unsharp Mask...set the amount to around 30 and the raduis to 60 or more and leave threshold at 0.

Another way to reduce haze in a particular area is to open a blank layer set to colorburn and fill the layer with white. Select a large black brush with the opacity set to 5%... slowly build the contrast in the haze area.

Butch

[mom to 4]

Butch:

Thanks for the info! I tried the second way very quickly and was amazed at the difference.

Can you tell me though, what exactly does UNSHARP MASK mean and do??????

[Daviskw]

Hi Colleen

Unsharp Mask is an old photography technique to increase apparent sharpness in a photo. Basically in Elements Unsharp Mask is a tool that searches your photograph for differences in color and luminance that represents an edge and increases the contrast on either side of the edge. It will make a picture appear sharper but over sharpening will produce artifacts in a picture. By using the settings I recommended to you however you will increase contrast without drastically increasing sharpness.

For sharpening a usual setting would be something like Amount 50 to 200 percent….Radius 0.5 to 5… and Threshold 0 to 4.

When the Amount is around 30 and the Radius is very large like 60 and threshold low then contrast is increased evenly throughout the image instead of just at edges.

Hope this makes things a little clearer.

Butch

[mom to 4]

Thanks Butch! So, it is exactly the opposite of what I would have thought it would do. I thought a sharpen mask and that a unsharp mask would make the edges softer more like a feathering. But the way you explain it I get it now. It is a mask that goes over an unsharp photo, right?

[Daviskw]

Hi Colleen

That is a good way to think of Unsharp Mask. In film photography a faint positive image was sandwiched with the original negative in a registration carrier then printed as a single print. The effect was sharpening of the original image. The use of the faint positive image was the reason it was called unsharp mask because it was faint and unsharp.

Now In Photoshop the final result of the filter “ Unsharp Mask” essentially does the same thing for digital photography as “ Unsharp Mask” did for film photography so they called it the same thing JUST TO CONFUSE US.:p

It can also be used to add contrast... in your case to help remove haze

Butch

[mel]

Hi Colleen

Another way of getting rid of haze is by using a light blue gradient. This photo was taken on a very hazy day and I replaced the haze by selecting the sky with the magic wand and using a light blue gradient.

http://img107.imageshack.us/img107/9775/img40646vf.th.jpg (http://img107.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img40646vf.jpg)

I don't know if this is what you're looking for but I hope it helps :)

[mom to 4]

Mel:

That looks great! I am trying each suggestion. As they say, there are always more than one way to do things in elements, so I figure what works well on one may not do the trick on the other.....so....I'm trying them all! Thanks for your hel!:)