PP, how do I...??

[rickp1]

Hey guys and gals,
Here's my question. I was doing some research on Singh Ray Gold and Blue filters and came across an image that was taken with the Gold & Blue filter and was modified with Photoshop and I need to know how it was done.
The picture has a mountain with blue sky and clouds in the background and a field with a stream and small rocks in the foreground. So what this artist did was darken the sky and lightened the stream and rocks independently as well as making everything look it's normal color. The image isn't all gold or all blue if you know what I mean.
I sent the photographer an email asking him how he did it and he said he used a quick mask with a gradient selection to darken and lighten respectively and independently.
I've used the gradient tool but the problem I've come across is that if there's clouds in the sky the gradient will apply whatever color you choose to everything in the image, not just the sky.
So how is that done, how can you darken the sky independently of everything else in the image.
I included the image in question and the link of the before so you can see the before and after.
Since I can only post one image, I added the link to the before image

Before image link
http://i357.photobucket.com/albums/o.../Mountain2.jpg

Thank you for your info.
R.
After

[sedetweiler]

I would instantly reach for the LAB mode for this photo and work with the A and B channels until you get the look you desire. Since LAB keeps the luminescence on the L channel, the colors will shift easily without the image getting darker or lighter as you curve A & B. LAB is very powerful when it comes to color shifting and replacement.

I hope that was a helpful hint. I can go more into it if you need me to do so.

[CiiVii]

FWIW, I dislike the treatment given to the image. The warm golds in the stream come from... where?? Whatever was applied to the top half of the image has significantly cooled the temperature of the mountains so that they no longer match the rest of the photograph.

As sedetweiler sad, the original is a candidate for correction in the LAB colorspace. There is a distinct magenta cast which wouldn't be difficult to remove, and the blues in the sky could be improved as well with a much more natural-looking result.

But I guess that's neither here nor there, as you are looking to learn how to use a gradient mask in order to make changes to only one part of a photo at a time

[edbayani]

as the photographer told you, he used quickmask to select the sky and used the gradient to render the quickmask as a gradient selection. that is, after you have brushed the sky with black on quickmask mode, you will have a color over the area you have brushed. now if your idea is to darken the sky gradually, dark to light, then apply a black to white or gray to white gradient on the quickmask and all with the black will not be erased, only the grays and white will be erased thus you have a gradient quick mask. when you exit quickmask, you will have a gradien selection of the sky and when you adjust this either with levels, curves or hue and saturation, the adjustment will be applied gradually to the sky only. you can do this with other areas. the photographer is using the quick mask as a selection tool. the trick here is in painting the quick mask specially in the edges.

[LeeR]

Asking a landscape photographer for his PP tricks is like asking a fisherman for directions to his favorite fishing hole; you are not likely to get a straight answer. It is true enough that applying a gradient layer in overlay mode will help you with the sky but there is a lot more than that being adjusted here.

As others suggested, I switched to LAB mode to make my color corrections. Contrary to what some have said, the gold color in the stream is very pronounced and the photographer has not enhanced but muted its effect. Normally it is not wise to allow an unexplained hue into an image like this, which is why he has done his best to tone it down. My guess is that this was taken very late in the day and a cloud overhead is beginning to catch some of the golden rays just prior to sunset.

[rickp1]

Hey guys,
thank you for the replies. The photographer used a singh Ray Gold Blue filter to take the image, hence the gold stream. I agree the painting with the mask would be one of the most challenging part of this.

I'm not familiar with the LAB mode so I'll ahve to research it more and educate myself with it, so thank for the tip.

As for asking about how a landscape photgrapher PP's and a fishermans favorite fishing hole commnet, I had NO idea about that, but I guess it makes sense.

Again thanks
R.

[rickp1]

Thanks for the reply.

I'm not familiar with the LAB mode so I'll have to educate myself on the subject, so thanks for that tip.

I had no idea about asking a photographer about his PPs techniques, but I guess it makes sense.

Again thanks for the feedback.

R.

[sedetweiler]

LAB is an awesome mode for adjusting color. It is much more predictable than RGB as the "lightness" of the image is stored on it's own channel. There are some great books on the subject by Dan Margulis.

[CiiVii]

Originally Posted by sedetweiler

LAB is an awesome mode for adjusting color. It is much more predictable than RGB as the "lightness" of the image is stored on it's own channel. There are some great books on the subject by Dan Margulis.

I'm halfway through The Canyon Conundrum and I just love it. Thought it would be difficult to understand because it was described as such in reviews. So far- awesome!

[sedetweiler]

make sure you do the exercises and practice as you go. otherwise you will forget a lot of the little details. glad you like the book!