First attempt at PP'ing an image - Lichfield Cathedral

[DwainDibley]

I've had my first go at post-processing an image using Photoshop today, it took me about half an hour, will post 'before' and 'after' images!

Before I had a go at lightening the image in Photoshop, as you can see the sky's exposed fine but the catedral is far too dark:

This is my first real attempt at post-processing an image using Photoshop, I used the magnetic lasso tool to select the cathedral, altered the levels and slightly reduced the green in the colour levels dialog box, and this is the result.
I also had to manually go round the edge of the cathedral as there were some white parts (sky that had been lightened as well) where the lasso tool had just caught some of the sky as well (I though it'd missed it!). Probably not perfect and the composition's a bit off (missed the tops of the two spires) but I'm quite pleased with my first attempt with Photoshop!

I'm after some C & C, I know it's not perfect - there's still the odd white bit I think - any suggestions on how I could improve this process, and avoid those white parts that I had to manually remove using the clone stamp would be welcome! Could I have used layers or something to do this better?

 

[batonrougeart]

When I do something like that. I lasso the object, take it out and place it on another layer. Once its there I clean up the edges really good and then edit colors and the like.

 

[batonrougeart]

.....and not bad for your first try either. That left steeple could use a little clean up around the edges. The green is a little neon in the pic, so you could g ointo Hue/Saturation and probally tone it down a touch.

 

[DwainDibley]

Do you use the normal lasso tool or the magnetic one? I haven't investigated layers yet, but that'll be next on my 'to-do' list! :greenpbl:

I guess I'd need to spend a bit longer cleaning up the edges in the future, and the bit on the far left spire I'm not sure if that's a lightning conductor or if it is a bit I've missed!

btw is there an easier way of selecting a large area like the cathedral to lighten, I imagine if I was trying to lighten a scene with trees in the lasso tool would be tricky to use, and you'd end up lightening any bits of sky that show through tree branches/leaves?