>>3187140For those who don't know about how to work with an image like this, it's a great chance to talk about multiple raw conversions. Kind of like poor man's HDR. Obviously it's much better to take multiple exposures of a scene like this in-camera, but even if you didn't do that it's possible to have a somewhat cohesive final image. This is a mini-guide on how:
- process the first raw conversion just looking at the sky, open in Photoshop as a smart object
- right click on the smart object layer and select "create new smart object via copy" - this not only duplicates the layer but allows separate editing of the second layer.
- double click the thumbnail of the second raw conversion, then process it this time to expose for the land
- now it's time to composite the two together. I like going through the channels and making a duplicate of the one that has the most contrast where the transition between the exposures should go. On the duplicate, run curves to make it close to black and white, while still preserving the detail in the leaves. Paint with a white or black brush where you need to clean up the mask
- control+click this channel, then select the top layer and create a new layer mask. If the wrong area is showing, control+i to invert the mask.
- from there it's just fine tuning. Paint on the mask with an overlay brush with black or white to further refine the mask edge until the two exposures composite together seamlessly.
