Bathing Elephants

[swingcat]

This photo is not the greatest and should probably have been trashed, but I decided to try to save it. I'm new to photoshop, so maybe there's still something to be done and I just don't know what...

Anyway, first shot: the original



I used the stamp tool to take out the guy on the second elephant, cropped a bit and tried to ajust the colors. Can't seem to be able to fix the sky. Here's the result:



It still looks wrong to me. Any suggestions? And don't forget to tell me how!

Thanks!

[Seaton519]

I actually really like what you did. I mean if you are trying to go for a realistic kind of look, I don't think the way you went was the right way. I do however think that what you did added a little surrealistic kind of feel to it (I mean orange elephants!) and I really love that. If you selected the sky using either the Magic Wand, the Lasso, or a Quick Mask (depending on which one you know how to use) and then adjusted that separately, you may be able to bring more color back. Boosting the contrast on everything too might make it a little more surreal. Again, I'm not sure if that is the way you want to go, but if you did try that, you could come up with a really cool picture. Good job!

[alenz]

nice shot

unfortunetly I think your sky is blown out...
maybe crop tighter (removing most of sky) or maybe subtley airbrush some color
into the bright area...

[clockdoc]

I think you have a nice shot and did particularly well being new to Photoshop. Perhaps some of the PS experts can offer some "fix" advice for the sky.

[Goat Boy]

I tried what I could, but I couldn't do anything to the sky because of the water. I think you should just crop it and leave it at that. sorry

[swingcat]

Thanks for the advice, guys. I tried isolating the sky using the lasso and the wand, but couldn't do anything very significant, although I was able to bring my elephants back to a healthier color ! Oh well, although the sky still sucks, I got to try new tools in PS!

[alenz]

couldn't resist trying to see if I could even come close to fixing something
like this....when there are intricate objects and areas...it helps to have
a super magnifier in PS!

my attempt

[Tiberius]

I'd suggest converting to b/w (use the channel mixer!), and then dodge and burn subtly to ehance details like the elephants eyes etc.

[jiminyClickit]

swingcat,

The handler didn't seem too out of place, so mostly this is about the sky and spouting water. Adding a gradient layer, Overlay Mode, using colors from left and right portions of sky, and erasing elephants from it, gives a good base. If you also erase the lighter portions of the water drops, they will stand out. Patience is key, and use different strokes and pressure, varying the water tone. Copy of original layer needs some lightening and contrast, and some saturation.