Early Morning

f/11, 1/100 sec., 50 mm, ISO-400


f/11, 1/250 sec., 50 mm, ISO-400


f/1.4, 1/640 sec., 50 mm, ISO-400


f/22, 1/200 sec., 50 mm, ISO-400

Date: 01.06.2008
Location: a fluffy-clouded, winter's day in the neighborhood.

I finally got the layering to work, not like the fiasco of this shot, and was able to copy everything but the sky to a new layer and lighten it. Same technique, but with feathering (2 px), and a much better result.


f/6.3, 1/250 SEC, 44 MM, ISO-400

Post-Processing: Sky layer - auto levels, slight boost in midtone contrast and saturation. Grass and trees layer - lighten shadows, slight boost in saturation.

Here's the original.

f/11, 1/250 SEC, 28 MM, ISO-100

Post-processing: this was my first effort at separating the sky from the foreground in photoshop, and giving them separate treatments. The sky was at a good exposure, but the foreground was very dark and you could not see the fence or the stalks of grass. I selected the field and trees with the magic wand and copied it into a new layer. Then, on that layer, I lightened the shadows, dodged the trees, and boosted the saturation. I forgot to feather the selection before copying into a new layer, and as a result it does not look as good as it could.

Here's another one, where the lack of feathering creates an even worse result, not to mention that the lightening looks fake and hazy. Lots to learn about how to do this better.


I do love that sky, though.