Damien Symonds

Gosh, this is never easy. Did you take this crop from the SOOR, or have you done some Photoshop work to the photo?

Ok, first, can you do this for me? http://www.damiensymonds.net/2013/10/how-to-properly-re-install-spyder.html

No, really, which one? Which Spyder do you have, and what screen?

Such as, hypothetically, the one with the umbrellas ...

Nobody would ever do this, of course, but let's say ... hypothetically ... if you were to google "rich blue sky photos", then open some of them into Photoshop, and check the red channel as I described earlier, you'd (hypothetically) see what I mean. Hypothetically ....

Hell no, not a red filter!!!!!!! And hell no, never put your camera in monochrome mode. I just checked with Lara, and she said yes, it's a polarising filter you need. She said it works best in the middle of the day, when the sun is highest. It's not about "trying". I can do this, very easily, once you give me the right photo.

When you're browsing your photos, and you find one with a sky that you think might work (a really rich blue one), open it in Photoshop and go to your Channels panel. Click on the Red channel to see how it looks. You'll quickly know if it's a good candidate for IR.

Well, with some fiddling you could make something a bit IR-ish, but it's nowhere near as good as really nailing that blue sky. I'm out of my depth here, but isn't there a filter you can put on your lens for that sky? A polarising filter, maybe?

Now, can you tell me, on this page, which instructions you're following?

Posting in the wrong section, for starters. I'm going to move this post to the Calibration section.

The trick to this - in digital as in "real" IR - is to find seriously blue skies to photograph. We need that strong red channel component of a rich cyan/blue sky. The photo you've provided doesn't have that blue we need. What else have you got?

You must have taken some outdoor photos in your entire life??

Hi Tina, please help me help you by giving me everything I need.

Please, Mariann, don't do a speck of editing until you've finished the class.

Because you forgot the tiny but very important step in my tutorial about clicking on the layer icon, not the mask thumbnail, in the layers panel.

Nor will you, until you use them.

If this is genuinely the only shot you have of this pose, you could just get away with it. But I urge you to look for a better one. Without the motion blur. I know it's only a tiny bit, but motion blur is a b*tch. Unlike focal plane blur, sharpening will make it worse, not better.

Thanks Kathy!

It's really important to examine my files carefully, and look where I've masked. Especially on that "Color Fill 2" layer on your photo.

Have you used the Levels layer on Harry's, and the bottom Solid Color layer (on Multiply mode) on yours? Exactly the same as my files?

Your own?

On whose photo?

Oh, great!! Then let's talk about your raw edit in the Raw Class please.

From the wording of your original question, I assume you didn't take this photo? If so, were you given the SOOC, or an already-edited file?

Hi Tania, I've just moved this into the Focus Checks section. Please include a 100% crop, ta.