help with rainbows - DPChallenge Forums

04/11/2007 09:15:29 AM · #1

I took all these photos over the easter weekend, funnily enough on the same day! The weather was acting very strange and had 2 different rainbows during the day. At least it provided me with a good opportunity to practice, but now I have downloaded them i am not particularily happy with the contrast and wondered if anyone had any tips on how to make the rainbows stand out a bit more?

Nikon AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR

04/12/2007 11:37:27 PM · #2

*nudge*

RainMotorsports

Nikon D60

04/12/2007 11:47:02 PM · #3

I think this could be cropped wide and touched up into something nice. Shadow being the only distracting element.

Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM

04/12/2007 11:51:33 PM · #4

I left the shadow on there as I thought it may add some interest to the foreground but perhaps i should try what you said and crop it higher up.... hmmm thanks :o)
Do you know of any way of selecting only the rainbow in photoshop and boosting the colour?

Krystle

Canon EOS-7D

04/12/2007 11:58:55 PM · #5

you can use the free selecting lasso to do it. i did that very sloppily, then raised the saturation of those selected areas, adn did them together so the lighter one could stay lighter. i then used a bit of smudge up near the tops to hide a bit of the area where i was sloppy, and voila!

Message edited by author 2007-04-13 00:00:26.

Pentax SMC DA 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 AL WR

04/13/2007 12:02:32 AM · #6

hey that's a massive improvement!
I'm gonna try that out on the others when i get home.
Thanks Krystle :o)

Prism

Pentax K-30

04/13/2007 12:06:12 AM · #7

I kinda went over the top on this but you can pump up the rainbow and other colours using a levels adjustment layer. Combine that with masking and you can adjust the sky and foreground separately.

04/13/2007 12:09:23 AM · #8

haha over the top is good! I like the reds in the foreground
What does the masking do? I've never seen the masking command in PS

Pentax SMC DA 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 AL WR

04/13/2007 12:11:34 AM · #9

i'd be interested to see if anyone could boost the last one as that is probably my favourite as I like the sky. I just wish the rainbow was more symetrical, now i can see why a true wide angle lens would come in handy!

Prism

Pentax K-30

04/13/2007 12:16:04 AM · #10

Contrast masking is something I learned from Bear_Music in the landscape learning threads. If you hit ctrl;alt;~ at the same time, it selects the brighter portions of your shot, then when you make the adjustment layer, you click the box to use the clipping mask from the previous layer. I would suggest that you save the selection once it is made so that you can re-use it and get the inverse for the darker portions.

Pentax SMC DA 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 AL WR

04/13/2007 12:24:10 AM · #11

cool, thanks prism. I might have to go and read up on that landscape learning thread.....

Prism

Pentax K-30

04/13/2007 12:34:03 AM · #12

It may take a while to go through the whole thread but that thread is definitely worth a read...lots of great tips for shooting and PP.

link to thread

Edit to add: try that technique on your last shot and see what you get. If you have CS2, you can also use the quick mask, found under Select->Color Range.

Message edited by author 2007-04-13 00:35:57.

owen

Canon EOS-40D

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM

04/13/2007 01:01:36 AM · #13

shooting with a polarizer makes a huge difference

Mr_Pants

SiPix Blink

04/13/2007 01:04:13 AM · #14

I had a quick play, as I couldn't sleep.