- Applying "Looks" Using Creative Profiles
- Virtual Copies- The "No Risk" Way to Experiment
- Using Presets for One-Click Looks
- Creating Your Own Presets
- Creating Presets That Automatically Adapt to Your Image's ISO
- Other Places to Apply Presets
- Changing Individual Colors
- How to Add Edge Darkening (Vignette) Effects
- The "Gritty City" Look
- Creating a Matte Look
- Making Great Duotones
- Creating Black- and-White Images
- Sun Flare Effect
- Painting Beams of Light
- Making Streets Look Wet
- Quick and Easy Spotlight Effect
- Adding a Light to the Background
- Getting the "Orange and Teal" Look
- Creating Panoramas
- Creating HDR Images
- Creating HDR Panos
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Making Streets Look Wet
This is a trick I’ve been using for a while to make streets look wet in my travel photos, and what I love about it is that it’s so simple (you just use two sliders) and yet it’s amazingly effective (especially on cobblestone streets, where it looks especially good, but also on just regular ol’ asphalt streets, too).
Step One:
Here’s the original image, taken in the Montmartre section of Paris. The cobblestone street in the foreground looks very dry and while it’s reflecting some of the colors from the surrounding buildings, if we make those cobblestones look wet, those reflections will be enhanced.
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Step Two:
Click on the Masking icon (seen circled here) in the toolbox beneath the histogram, and then in the panel that appears, click on Brush (K). If the sliders aren’t already set to zero, double-click on the word “Effect” to reset them. You only have two sliders to adjust here: (1) drag the Contrast slider to 100, and then (2) drag the Clarity slider to 100, as well. That’s it—that’s the recipe. Now, paint over the surface you want to appear wet (here, I’m painting over the street in the foreground). As you paint, the area begins to look wet and reflections are added just like an actual wet street.
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Step Three:
If you paint over the street and it doesn’t look wet enough, Right-click directly on the Edit Pin (brush icon) the Brush created when you started painting, and from the pop-up menu that appears, choose Duplicate “Brush 1” (as shown here). This has a doubling-up effect as you stack another adjustment on top of the first one (you’ll see Brush 1 Copy in the Masks panel), painting over the exact same area you did the first time, so it looks twice as wet. If it gets a little too bright looking, you can lower the Exposure slider for this brush copy (that’s what I did here, lowering it to –0.26, so about 1/4 of a stop). Now it has the same approximate brightness, but the streets look wetter (more wet?).
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Step Four:
A before and after of our wet street effect is below. This technique looks particularly great on cobblestone streets, but it also works for most regular paved streets, as well. Okay, that’s it. Instant wet streets.
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