Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Using Layers

Do you have a picture that you really like, but the color is slightly off and the picture is a little dark? I started with a picture taken at night of a fire crew training, because of the distance the camera flash was worthless and the truck flood lights made the color more yellow than normal.




Focal Length: 25mm
F-number: F/4.2
Shutter: 1/3 Sec
Iso: 100
Metering: Pattern
Exp Program: Creative Biased
Exp Comp: O Step


Using layers we can brighten the picture and adjust the 'white balance' of the picture slightly, and obtain a usable picture...




Layer 0: Original Image
Layer 1: Copy of Complete image with 100% Opacity Screen
Layer 2: Selective copy of Distance building up Sky with 100% Opacity Screen
Layer 3: New layer, blue filled with 20% Opacity
Layer 4: Signature Layer
We can apply the same steps I outline for sunsets to lighten and color correct any image. Just some of the tricks and tips I have learned, look forward to seeing what everyone else comes up with using layers to edit pictures.

Note:
It would be helpful to include a brief description of your layers along with a before picture....

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Carl-

I was reading your advice to Judy on her entry and I just gotta say,,,,,YOU MUST BE EMPLOYED BY THE GEEK SQUAD!!! (LOL)

You and CY crack me up, I could never even come close to your computer knowledge, I hit a wall and then send it to somebody else to fix it for me!

Keep the comments coming cause I had no idea you could do that with a digital pic!

Lineman

Judy said...

Thanks Carl for the tip. I'll try seeing if I can find it tmo when I get my camera out again. Now I am curious exactly what settings I did shoot that pix at!

Judy said...

Well Carl, you must be shaking your head in total amazement at me...DUH!!! You all will have to admit that I'm good for a laugh. I got a good one out of it myself! Be patient with this very handicapped person when it comes to this stuff.

Carin said...

I wanted to say that I love using the screen when it comes to underexposed pictures. I am still trying to figure out the gradient tool. I am not good with it and am struggling. I'm still trying though.

Carl said...

Gradients are tricky, I will admit. It seems every time that I create one I have to delete it and try again because I made exactly the opposite gradient that I was looking for.

A couple hints.

The transition from solid color to transparency (in a single color gradient) is related to the length of the line created by dragging during the gradient creation process.

Turning off layers or starting with the new layer being normal helps to see what exactly the full color gradient looks like, than edit the layer properties to soft light and approx 20%

Glad to hear you are playing around with the tools and layers; really gives additional depth to photo processing...