Dull colours in photo

[bwelsher]

Hello all,
I took this photo recently but the colours (especially of the rapeseed and trees) came out rather dull.
I have played with it in GIMP, adjusting curves, levels, all sorts but I can't seem to get the yellows and greens to really pop out without making the sky look worse.
Can anyone offer any guidance on how I should go about it?
Any advice greatly appreciated!

[oldwolf]

You have to work in layers. One layer for the foreground/background and one for the sky.

Let's say your sky is the top layer. Then on that sky layer you'd erase the ground so it shows through from the background layer.

[bwelsher]

Originally Posted by oldwolf

You have to work in layers. One layer for the foreground/background and one for the sky.

Let's say your sky is the top layer. Then on that sky layer you'd erase the ground so it shows through from the background layer.

Right i'm with you, only difficulty is erasing the edges of the trees given their irregularity. Is there an easier way to do this without losing detail?

[Japaslavian]

If you make a duplicate layer, and adjust your trees and what not, you could use a mask, and brush away the sky. Then use a very soft brush when you get close to the trees. You don't have to be perfect, just close. You should be able to get away with it if the adjustments aren't really over-the-top.

[OsmosisStudios]

I'd actually just increase exposure about 2/3 of a stop and call it a day, but that's me

[PrimeTime]

Is this the kind of pop you are looking for..............processed with gimp........










Great shot by the way, i like it alot.

[kencaleno]

I think one of these two what is wanted here:

Photoshop

Image>Adjustments>match Color

Luminance 119
Color Intensity 126

Image>Adjustments>Shadow/highlight-default setting

regards, Ken

[PrimeTime]

If you go to www.meetthegimp.org , there are about 100 tutorials on all kinds of stuff for gimp and ufraw.

As for your picture.....

You can make a layer mask and use the threshold tool to make the sky white and land black. (You'll have a couple black spots in the clouds, just use the brush and paint them white.) After you make the mask, add about 5% gaussian blur, to the mask so it blends in. Then go to mode> multiply and it will double the sky layer and the colors will come out> then use the opacity slider to adjust it to the amount you like.

For the land, make another mask the same way and click on colors> invert, and then the land will be white and the sky will be black. On this layer all your adjustments will only affect the land (don't forget to apply about 5% gaussian blur to the mask to hide the harsh edges.) You can use the curves tool to adjust the colors of the land and trees.

[bwelsher]

Great, thanks for the advice guys, I think separating the land and sky as suggested is the best solution. The layer mask and threshold tool does easily isolate the two elements but I am not experienced in the use of layer masks so am struggling to follow your suggestion Primetime (at least the bit where you initally create the layer mask and apply the threshold)

Edit: I'm most grateful for all the help offered and I've managed to get the picture looking how I want it, in case anyone is interested in the final result its on Flickr here