post-production editing
- In an attempt to isolate the trees from the background we will darken and desaturate the foliage
in amongst the trees. Select a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer and from the Edit options choose
Yellows. Drag both the Saturation and Lightness sliders to a value of -50. Look at the two ramps
at the base of the Hue/Saturation dialog box. The top ramp indicates the range of colors that you
are adjusting whilst the bottom ramp indicates the results of the color adjustment, i.e. darker and
less saturated. - The contrast has already signifi cantly improved but we can change the mood to extract the
maximum impact from these battered and wind-swept gum trees by lowering the overall brightness.
Use a levels adjustment layer and move the central gamma slider to the right or use the following
blend mode technique. Merge the visible layers to a new layer using the technique outlined in
Step 7 of part a. Set the blend mode of this layer to Multiply. This is a darkening blend mode that
affects predominantly the midtones and shadows. Adjust the Opacity of this layer to strike the right
balance of mood that you are looking to create.