Some evenings...

... you need to be outside

[finished image over on my [url=http://www.blipfoto.com/entry/1315969]Kinda Horrigans[/url] journal]

Details of editing as follows...

To be honest, this looks like I've barely done anything, but if you look closely at the finished image, it's slightly wider than this one. Which doesn't seem possible, but it's actually two images stitched together because there wasn't enough of the tree to the right hand side in this one, and in the one with more tree to the right, there wasn't enough of the reeds in the left hand corner for balance. It didn't start out as a panorama, so a bit of Photoshopping was needed.

First, opened both images, then selected one and copied it onto the other as a new layer. Then, making sure both layers were selected (you just hold down shift and click on both layers) I selected Edit > Auto Auto-Align layers. With both layers aligned I used a layer mask on the top layer to reveal the bit of the right hand side that I wanted. Then, a bit of cloning to the left hand side with the sky to make sure that I didn't have to crop anything from that side (auto-align tends to leave you with blank bits around the edges where your layers have been moved). Then, I flattened the layers and cropped out any other bits of white.

Next thing to do was to bring out the reflection a little more. Using the polygonal lasso, I selected the area under the trees in the middle, feathered the selection by about 50 pixels and created a new levels adjustment layer. Bringing the slider in from the right and the middle one to the left slightly this gives more contrast. I then used the layer mask (which is automatically added with a levels adjustment layer) and used a black brush on about 85% opacity to remove the effect from the reflected trees. Bit of dodging on the tree line where the trees were in shadow (using a 50% grey layer set to overlay blend mode and using a white brush for dodging, a black brush for burning - this is a non-destructive method of dodging and burning and gives you plenty of control by adjusting the opacity of your brush)

Flattened the layers. Sharpened the edges. And saved.

Sounds complicated, but it actually doesn't take too long - again, it's back to 'stuff you know about how layers work' which helps!

Tip of the Day:

Saw this little page about composition tips for landscapes and if, like me, you're looking to improve your landscape shots, then these simple ideas are a good start!