Today's Image: "Backlighted Hills"

Good morning and welcome to Impacted Images. Today's image overview features one of my images, "Backlighted Hills."

 This is the original, unprocessed image. I took this photograph with a Canon Powershot A630 using 1/200th shutter speed and f-5.6. I used ISO 80 for less noise. As you can see, the picture was taken on an overcast day and therefore has almost no detail in the sky and is washed out in the lower part of the image, with no contrast at all.

In Photoshop CS5, I first used the Shadows/Highlights adjustment layer. This lightened the shadows and darkened the sky. Next, I applied Tonal Contrast from the Nik Color Efex Pro 3.0 filter. This revealed much more detail than a regular Brightness/Contrast layer could do.

For better detail and for a more impacting image, I used Exposure 3's Color Film filter and chose Polachrome - Higher Contrast. I modified the contrast and saturation inside Exposure for a more detailed photo.




Finally, I selected the hillside with the Quick Selection tool and tuned it with the Refine Edge command. I painted with white on a separate layer to create the backlight and added a mask to make the light appear from behind the mountains.

Here is the final photograph:

"Backlighted Hills"

Thank you for visiting Impacted Images. I will continue to post new images everyday.