As part of the ongoing Friday Freebies, as promised I will share some of my photography / processing tips that I use.  Hopefully you will find them of use.

As part of my Fine Art processing in mono, I usually try to beef up the drama of the sky.  We all like to see the brilliant whites of clouds , against the near balck skies.  So how is it best done ?

Well here is a quick & easy 2 step process in Photoshop to help you get that dramatic sky.  The results can be seen below

Before & After

Read on by clicking below

2 Step Process

1. Add a gradient layer.  Ensuring you are using the default black foreground & white background in your pallet, click on the “create gradient layer” at the bottom of your layer pallete, as below

You should see a black gradient added to your shot.  Click “reverse” to ensure the gradient starts black from top of shot.

2: Now highlight your gradient layer, in the layers pallet & then change the “blend mode” (at top left) to “Overlay”.

You will now find all the white areas of the sky remain unchanged from original shot, yet the greys of skies become much darker.  Remember you can change the opacity of the gradient layer to get the effect you want & if need be use a layer mask to bring back some detail from original shot.

Anyway, have a play & let me know how you get on    Here’s saying ciao until the next Friday Freebie

(Read more Photography Tutorials here )

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3. Friday Freebie #4 – Use shallow DOF for Portrait impact
4. Friday Freebie #2 – Shallow DOF for Couples Portrait
5. Friday Freebie #6 – Child Portraits – How to get eye contact