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Ever take a landscape picture on a rainy, dreary day? Did it come out dark, flat, and dull looking?
If you look at the histogram, what you’re likely to see is two clumps of pixels. One up around the highlights and three-quarter tones and the other down around the shadows and quarter tones. The middle tones will be as flat as your image!
The trick is to increase those middle tones. But Curves and Levels won’t usually do the trick. Wholesale Curves/Levels adjustments invite problems with posterization.
One solution is to use a tripod, bracket your shots, and make a composite image. Another solution is to use a graduated neutral density filter in front of your lens. Both solutions are a pain.
As long as you shoot for the midtones and do not burn out your highlights or stop up your shadows, you can get lots of color and brightness back in your image *AND* still have lots of interesting sky detail, too.
I’ve posted a new tutorial on my Web site that shows you how to restore your midtones without posterizing the image with a big Curves or Levels adjustment. And all you need is one image, too.
I spent two weeks in Scotland last May/June and it was dreary the whole time. That didn;t stop me from taking some wonderful shots. My tutorial shows you how I took one from a dark, dull image to a really nice seaside landscape.
Interested? Take a look at my new tutorial, "Restore Those Midtones."
<http://www.thelightsright.com/DigitalDarkroom/Tutorials.htm>
Cheers,
Mitch
If you look at the histogram, what you’re likely to see is two clumps of pixels. One up around the highlights and three-quarter tones and the other down around the shadows and quarter tones. The middle tones will be as flat as your image!
The trick is to increase those middle tones. But Curves and Levels won’t usually do the trick. Wholesale Curves/Levels adjustments invite problems with posterization.
One solution is to use a tripod, bracket your shots, and make a composite image. Another solution is to use a graduated neutral density filter in front of your lens. Both solutions are a pain.
As long as you shoot for the midtones and do not burn out your highlights or stop up your shadows, you can get lots of color and brightness back in your image *AND* still have lots of interesting sky detail, too.
I’ve posted a new tutorial on my Web site that shows you how to restore your midtones without posterizing the image with a big Curves or Levels adjustment. And all you need is one image, too.
I spent two weeks in Scotland last May/June and it was dreary the whole time. That didn;t stop me from taking some wonderful shots. My tutorial shows you how I took one from a dark, dull image to a really nice seaside landscape.
Interested? Take a look at my new tutorial, "Restore Those Midtones."
<http://www.thelightsright.com/DigitalDarkroom/Tutorials.htm>
Cheers,
Mitch
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