CS5 - Saturation help...

Steelo

Steelo

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Martin
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Hi guys and gals...

This is probably a simple one for you experts out there....

I've taken a few shots today, in the snow, with blueish skies, now i'm in the middle of processing them at the minute....

The snow has a hint of blue in it, but obviously when I use the saturation slider to remove the blues, it takes it from the sky too...

How would I go about keeping the blue in the sky, but desaturating the blue out of the snow?

Probably a simple one, and i'm being thick....any help?

Thanks :)
 
Duplicate the layer and make a selection around the sky. Feather the selection (maybe 30-60 pixels or so if on a high res image) and then you can increase the blue in the sky. THe selected area will be the only area affected. You can press Control-I if you want to inverse the selection to work on the area that is not the sky.

Increasing the saturation is probably not the best way to do what you want. Did you shoot RAW?
 
Duplicate the layer and apply your saturation adjustment for the snow to the level you are happy with.

Apply a layer mask and using a brush with black, paint on the mask in the sky area so that the saturation adjustment you have made is not visible. If you make a mistake with the brush and inadvertently paint on the snow area, just change the colour to white to paint the effect back.

Once happy, merge the two layers.
 
A layer mask is the best way (and the way I do it) - I just tried to keep things simple. Best way to add the layer mask is once you have made your selection add the mask and it will automatically add the black around the area you selected.
 
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Have you tried auto contrast, auto tone, auto colour, that sometimes sorts it out, if you do it on a duplicate layer you can always add a mask to bring back the blue of the sky using a soft brush,

Saturation will affect all the image so if theres something in the foreground, eg grasses,stones, that would be change as well,

really it would be better to see the image rather than guessing
 
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Those Auto contrast settings generally adjust the whole image - a bad thing - It's best to set the options in your Auto settings to adjust Monochromatic only.

As with most things you can select the area you want affected - or not.
 
Thanks for the advice guys.

Jim - Yeah I shoot in RAW (only just started to use RAW this past week, i'm pretty new to SLR photography as a whole, and very new to PP)

Derek - That is a way i've heard about before, using the brushes, but wasn't exactly sure how to do it, but you've explained it enough that I think I understand, thanks.

Dave - I've tried the auto colour/tone/contrast and whilst it does help, it doesn't do it to a level where i'm happy with it.

Thanks for the advice again guys.
 
Steelo said:
Thanks for the advice guys.

Jim - Yeah I shoot in RAW (only just started to use RAW this past week, i'm pretty new to SLR photography as a whole, and very new to PP)

Derek - That is a way i've heard about before, using the brushes, but wasn't exactly sure how to do it, but you've explained it enough that I think I understand, thanks.

Dave - I've tried the auto colour/tone/contrast and whilst it does help, it doesn't do it to a level where i'm happy with it.

Thanks for the advice again guys.
Click to expand...

Forget the saturation then.

What software do you use? In Lr or ACR use the adjustment brush and paint in the colour you want to enhance.
 
EOS_JD said:
Those Auto contrast settings generally adjust the whole image - a bad thing - It's best to set the options in your Auto settings to adjust Monochromatic only.

As with most things you can select the area you want affected - or not.
Click to expand...

yeah but with a mask all the details can be brought back, same way a also further levels or curves, saturation layers can be had Auto stuff was just a starting point,

Simalar to Dericks method but using autos instead of saturation layer,

The saturation will also alter everything, that the mask selection isnt applied to

think different people prefer their own ways,

its easier if we see the image instead of keep guessing at what to do
 
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EOS_JD said:
Forget the saturation then.

What software do you use? In Lr or ACR use the adjustment brush and paint in the colour you want to enhance.
Click to expand...

I have either Camera RAW 6 within CS5 or Canon's DPP.

As I say, i'm new to all of this, sorry if it's basic knowledge. I shall take a look at/for an adjustment brush and see if I can figure it out.
 
Martin if your shooting raw better still you can make all the alterations n Camera raw, before it goes into photoshop, using targeted adjustment tool or adjustment brush and or a combination of both of those
 
Hi Martin

targeted adjustment tool tutorial

[YOUTUBE]dLo69e38NvY[/YOUTUBE]

targeted adjustment Brush tutorial

[YOUTUBE]swsBAvdke5g[/YOUTUBE]

HTH

Dave
 
I'm surprised that no one's mentioned White Balance yet, especially as you're shooting RAW.

What have you got it set to at the moment?

If it's Auto or Daylight that may well be causing a blue colour cast. Try Cloudy for preference or manually adjust to about 6500k or so and then play with the tinting.

In that sort of environment snow is going to have a slightly bluish hue anyway.
 
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