Selective Exposure Correction

Intermediate

In the previous tutorial we corrected under exposure for the total image this burned out the sky losing sky detail. To compensate for this what is required is that the foreground only needs lightening. To do this make a selection of the foreground only using either Lasso or Magic wand, there are alternatives which will be added later.  

Open Photo

Make selection  (marching ants around foreground)

Set feather to about 15

CTRL+J    (only the selection you have made is copied)

Selection of foreground made               Only your selection is copied

Only the foreground has been lightened   Change blending mode for layer to Screen

Repeat CTRL+J to lighten foreground more, adjust "Opacity:" to suit if needed.

The difficult part is making the selection, only practice can improve the results, that comes with time. The results achievable make the practice and work worthwhile!

Sometimes it is easier select the opposite of what you want and invert the selection... 

Tip: Make selection of the sky and then invert what you have done CTRL+SHIFT+I 

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