Light Rays/Sunlight

[Kitacat3]

Yes you are right. I had overlooked that white cloud. Oh well, us Aussies make boo boos here and there...LOL.

I also agree with your comment on the outside rays overstepping the mark. Will keep that in mind for the next one.

But glad you liked the storminess. I love clouds and what they can interpret. They can be calm and yet intimidating. Oh well, thanks for letting me have a go anyhow..

Judi

[gina]

Hiya,

Nice subject
Very nice examples and explanations too.
I hope I'm not digressing from the subject here and should start a new thread
My problem is this : a few days ago I shot some seaside skies and sunrays at the beach : you can see what I made of it here :
http://www.pbase.com/gina_dl/seaside
I'll attach the two starter pics because I'm not feeling completely satisfied in getting the effect I want and would like to ask you guys and girls if you know some better way-not painting in some more rays- but how to bring out the most dramatic rays without losing the details of the sand and people.
I'll attach one pic here and one in the next post. If this is not the appropriate thread I sincerely apologize.

gina

[gina]

As you can see the rays are quite faint-tips on capturing this sort of thing better in camera are also appreciated - in one picture they are practically all in the same slant direction, in the other they fan out more.
I mostly did a levels-saturation adjustment and then tried with blending modes to bring out the rays more-mostly hard light I think-
Thx in advance for your replies

gina

[Gary Richardson]

Hi Gina, had a play with your second image. What I did is as follows.

1. Duplicate layer.
2. Desaturate Dupl. layer.
3. Set blend mode to Overlay.
4. Adjust Opacity to about 80%.
5. Add graduated layer mask (black/clear) from bottom to waterline.

[gina]

Hi Gary,

thx for giving it a go!
With this method the rays are certainly more distinctive!


gina

[T Paul]

Well done Gary! Thanks for sharing your technique.


~T

[gamo]

As some others inhere did, i just entered the quickmask and painted the rays i wanted - added a adjustmentslayer and lightned the rays in curves.

After i made the "main rays" i exited the quickmask and adjusted with brust in the mask. Opacity is a good function for this....

Perhaps it could be more powerfull but i choose this edition ´inspired by the danish weather :-( ´... just nice and smooth!

hope you like...

[WideAngle]

Hi,
I tried something simple that seems to work.....

-On a new layer...Made a grey to white, grey to white, grey to white, etc. gradient and drew it about a 1/4 across the page.

-changed the layer mode to lighten and opacity about 17%.

-Use free transform to skew and shape the rays adding some perspective.




My original gradient before transform is also here to view. PS...make sure the NON gradient areas are transparent and NOT WHITE as viewed here....

Let me know if this works for anyone...
Thanks
WideAngle

[gamo]

Hi!

I think its looks nice, but, as i see it, it gets too monotome. By that i mean that the rays have the same distance - i need some more random (or what it called in english)

But besides that i think that the power looks very nice and got the "gloss".

thats all...

Originally Posted by WideAngle

Hi,
I tried something simple that seems to work.....

-On a new layer...Made a grey to white, grey to white, grey to white, etc. gradient and drew it about a 1/4 across the page.

-changed the layer mode to lighten and opacity about 17%.

-Use free transform to skew and shape the rays adding some perspective.




My original gradient before transform is also here to view. PS...make sure the NON gradient areas are transparent and NOT WHITE as viewed here....

Let me know if this works for anyone...
Thanks
WideAngle

[WideAngle]

Thanks for the advice gamo...I agree.

I took what I had and copied the rays layer...scaled it smaller and used a warming filter on it for randomness.

Is there another way to improve this look?
Thanks

Wide Angle

[T Paul]

Nice work Gamo!

WideAngle, I like your gradient approach and really like your second attempt. The few warm rays really add a realistic touch to the photo. The only other thing I might do is blur the edges of the rays. Some of the rays have very distinct hard outlines that appear unnatural. This is especially evident in the bottom of the ray on the right of the image. Overall, nicely done. Thanks for sharing your technique.


~T

[gamo]

I agree with T Paul.
Let the rays fade out down in the trees, so it gets weaker infront of,- or simply goes behind the trees.

Perhaps the rays shouldnt have the exact same source.

Nice with the "warm" touch...

[WideAngle]

Thank you so much for your feedback...taking your advice...I've faded the rays blurred them a bit and added a second set of them at a new angle hopefully showing another source...or bounce off the clouds.



Wideangle

[T Paul]

Very nicely done, and bonus points for continuing to master your technique. The only other thing I might try is to experiment with the Foreground to Transparent setting in the Gradient Options window. This way you can make the rays appear brighter at the light source and then subtly fade away. There are many other ways to do this including layers and opacity modes, curves, burning and so on. So try them all and see which one you like best.

Great job!

~T

[gamo]

cant be much better... nice job!