Can you believe I’ve never learned Photoshop? Yes, it’s true. I bought Photoshop Elements for my old PC many years ago, but never got past using the Organizer and the Quick Fix tools. A few months ago I purchased the new Photoshop Elements 8 for the Mac, and while on vacation I’ve been reading a book about how to use it (Photoshop Elements 8 for Mac: The Missing Manual). After all these years of photography, I’m learning about Photoshop basics like selection brushes and layers. I applied some of what I learned to the photo below.
It was a cold, dreary, and overcast day- nothing but boring grey skies. So I fired off a sequence of shots for building an HDR image. The bright colors became eye-popping when the Photomatix dials were turned up to “surreal.” The image above is a composite:
- The temple and flags is a surreal HDR image
- The sky is a surreal HDR image, converted to black and white
- The background is a normal HDR image, converted to black and white
Technical Data: Canon Rebel XTi; Canon EF-S 17-85 f/4-5.6 IS USM at 60 mm; f/8 at 1/125, 1/500, and 1/200; ISO 200; Photomatix, Photoshop Elements.
By way of comparison, here is the original unaltered photo:
