Virgin River Zion

[pegasman]

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/23215458@N05/2227232504/" title="virgin river by pegasman, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2215/2227232504_8254960942.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="virgin river" /></a>

WHAT IS THE BEST WAY TO LIGHTEN THE FOREGROUND WITHOUT LOSING THE COLOR IN THE SKY. ALSO I WOULD LIKE SOME OPINIONS ON THE BEST SOFTWARE TO EDIT MY PHOTOS WITHOUT BRAKING THE BANK. THANK YOU

[Matthew James Norman]

Hi, pegasman,

The best way to lighten the foreground is to use the selection tool in your post processing software to select it then adjust the levels/curves. It will allow the sky to remain untouched while changing the foreground.

GIMP (http://www.gimp.org/) is a free photo processing piece of software, although the likes of Photoshop Elements is quite affordable too.