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This lesson demonstrates how to enliven dull-coloured photographs, and how to add clouds to a clear blue sky. The image I am working with can (Tynemouth Castle’s Dungeons), be found Here. Unzip the file and open it Photoshop’s workspace.
Undo and Navigation Steps
Two ways of undoing steps are from the top menu, Edit then Step Backwards. Alternatively, click a previous snapshot in the History Palette.
Navigate (zoom in and pan) your image using the Navigator Palette,
or the Zoom Tool. 
Activate The Hand Tool by tapping the Spacebar, keeping the Spacebar pressed, pan your image in the usual way. 
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Open your image onto Photoshop’s workspace.
The photograph (Tynemouth Castle) was taken during 2006’s heat wave, and most of the grass beneath the dungeons, has been completely dried out. Filters cannot restore the grass’s green lustre - only recreating the grass by hand will provide a natural look - however, there are steps that will improve the overall effect.
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Press Ctrl and L to display the Levels command, then move the Black point slightly to the right, as shown below. You are looking to darken the image by increasing the Black point’s Input Levels to around 16.
Then click OK.
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Now, activate the Burn Tool.  Lesson and explanation
And set the following attributes.
And with a large, soft brush, left-click and drag the Dodge Tool over the photograph, this darkens the highlights. Reapply the brush over the same areas to build the effect - being careful to acquire an even coverage. For different photographs, experiment with the Range settings. Important, always keep the Exposure to less than 6%, and build the effect, slowly.
I am happy with the amount of darkening so far.
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Now, from the bottom of the Layers palette, click the following icon, then choose Colour Balance from the drop-down list. You are looking to warm the colours, experiment with the settings, for personal results.
I altered the Highlights settings to the following, however, for personal results, experiment with the Cyan/Red, Magenta/Green and Yellow/Blue channels. Additionally, play with Shadows, Midtones, Highlights, and Preserve Luminosity. Click OK when you are happy with the result.
 
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From the top menu choose Layer then choose Flatten Image.
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Now, set the Foreground and Background colours to the following - or two colours you want your clouds to be.  Colour HTML here! Lesson.
Note
The Foreground Colour represents the sky colour, and the Background Colour represents the clouds. Experiment with different colour combinations and find a look you like.
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Now, isolate the sky with your choice of selection tool. I find the best tools to use are (either) the Magic Wand Tool (lesson) or the Polygonal Lasso Tool (lesson). I utilised the Magic Wand Tool. After you have isolated the sky, your image will resemble the following. Lesson, Lesson.
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From the top menu, choose Filter then choose Render then choose Clouds.
Tip
If you don’t like the way the clouds have rendered, reapply the filter.
Alternatively, for drama, apply the Difference Clouds filter.
Press Ctrl then D to remove the marquee.
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If necessary, activate the Blur Tool.
And set a Strength of around 10. Then gently soften the area between the dungeon and sky.
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Another excellent tool for enhancing colour is The Sponge Tool.
According to your needs, you can Saturate or Desaturate your photograph’s colours . However, be very sparing with Saturate, as images can become over saturated very quickly. For my dungeon image, I chose the following settings.
The size of my brush is larger than my image, enabling me to cover the full image with just one click. This guarantees an even coverage.
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When you are completely happy with the result, from the top menu choose Filter then choose Sharpen and choose a filter of your choice - my sharpening images lesson can be found Here. To finish, link Here to save your image.
Wendi E M Scarth. Top of Page - Home.
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