Frank, this is just a taste of what you can do with layers. I don't profess to be an expert but hope this helps.
If the layers and/or Adjustment palette is not visible on the right, press F7 or enable it in the "Window" menu drop down as shown.
1. Drag the "Background" layer onto the new layer icon. This just duplicates it in case we need it.
2. Click on the Create new "Levels" adjustment layer.
3. Drag the "Midpoint" right up the scale to darken the whole image.
4. Make sure Black is the foreground colour.
5. Choose a soft edge brush.
6. Click in the Layer mask (this was created automatically in step 2)
7. Paint on the image with the black brush. This erases the "Adjustment" revealing the underneath layer. The layer mask shows what's happening. If you go too far you can toggle to a "white brush" and paint the mask back on. I've just roughly "painted" the House and water back in leaving the sky but you can do do as much as you like. Use the Left/Right "Square Bracket" to alter the brush size as you go and change the brush opacity to smooth the transitions.
If you're happy with the darkened sky you can Right Click on the adjustment layer and choose "Merge Down" to fix it into the copied layer and maybe rename the layer.
For a bit of practice you can repeat the process but instead of adjusting the levels choose to apply a cooling "Photo Filter Adjustment layer" and turn the sky a shade of blue. (The Photo Filters are on the second row next to last)
Thanks this is great. I did some reading but got confused on some of the steps. This cleared it up. I will have to give it a try. One more thing for me to overdue.LOL
Thanks again for taking the time to put this together.
Frank
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Good illustration work, Peter ... makes life a little easier ...
Don Schap - BFA, Digital Photography A Photographer Is Forever
Look, I did not create the optical laws of the Universe ... I simply learned to deal with them.
Remember: It is usually the GLASS, not the camera (except for moving to Full Frame), that gives you the most improvement in your photography. flickr® & Sdi
Simple Layer Lesson
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