Jodhpur Landscape

This landscape from Jodhpur comes to us from S. N. Venugopal from Chennai. Shot from Mehrangad Fort, it shows the landscape surrounding the fort. IfIwereyou, I would have used either a higher shutter speed, or used a tripod, or as a last resort, rested the camera on some ledge. The image is a bit soft, probably due to handshake at the low shutter speed. Now let’s see how we can improve the overall tonality. In Photoshop, create an ‘adjustment layer’ for Levels, but don’t adjust the sliders. ( You create an ‘adjustment layer’ by clicking on the half-black, half-white circle at the bottom of the Layers palette and select the required adjustment). Just go to the Blending Mode and select Multiply ( you get to the Blending Mode by clicking on the double-headed arrow where it says ‘Normal’). The entire image will darken. Now simply adjust the Opacity (in the Layers palette) till you are happy with the foreground tonality. You may now flatten the layers (Layer > Flatten Image). The next step is to get finer tonality in the sky area. Again create an ‘adjustment layer’ for Levels and select the Multiply Blending Mode. This time we want to darken only the sky and not the foreground. With the white mask in the Layers palette activated, click Ctrl + I to invert the mask (It will turn black and hide the edit). Now, with white as the Foreground colour (at the bottom of the toolbox, the white square should be in the front) and a soft-edged Brush, simply paint over the sky area at 100% opacity (Opacity is controlled from the Tools Option Bar at the top). Sharpen the image as required and save the file. Enjoy the creation.