Manual GND filter

[i speak in math]

I had this picture of a nice lake but the exposure up close was way too dark.

before:


after:

From Herrick Lake ...

Model: PENTAX K200D
ISO: 100
Exposure: 1/125 sec
Aperture: f/11.0
Focal Length: 18mm
Flash Used: No

What I did: separated the raw file into 2 exposures. I for the sky and water (a darker pic) and one for the green up close (a lighter pic). Used a gradient to mask off the sky in the lighter picture and hide it, exposing the sky in the darker picture. Then I used a blue filter to bring up some of the blues in the sky. That's about it. I though it came out very nice.

[Itanium]

After definitely look much more balanced. Great work with a simple fix!

[Vash]

I like the new look of the water but the horizon seems too bright to me.

[mrpolitics]

Made a -2 and +2 exposure in PS, and used Qtpfsgui to make this. Settings used are below.



_pregamma_1_mantiuk_contrast_mapping_0.1_saturatio n_factor_1.4

[i speak in math]

Originally Posted by mrpolitics

Made a -2 and +2 exposure in PS, and used Qtpfsgui to make this. Settings used are below.

_pregamma_1_mantiuk_contrast_mapping_0.1_saturatio n_factor_1.4

I don't really like how that came out. The reflections in the water don't match the colors in the sky. And the foreground right at the bottom just seems underexposed.

The green swirls in the middle look awesome though. I might try to bring those out a little more in mine.

What part of the horizon looks too bright? Above the trees or below?

[HockeyFan]

I prefer the original poster's work. That looks closer to the water and sky I see in my area. Thanks for sharing the technique, as I'm not real experienced with post processing.

[mrpolitics]

Well with some masking in photoshop he could take the best form his and mine (like the green) and put it all together. I know the water came out weird, technology is fickle.

[kencaleno]

add adjustment layer>levels

Drag right slider to left
Drag middle slider to left (these moves enable you to get the ground right)
Make black the foreground color
Press G for gradient
Choose linear gradient Black to transparent
Click, hold and drag curser from top of image to horizon
Release,flatten and save.

[i speak in math]

Great tip. I didn't know you could gradient out the levels like that. I love photoshop...this program could be a college major