Demisting II. in Photoshop

Before deleting a photo covered in mist or fog, think again. It is the second time that we have come together for a little slider shifting in order to save misty photos. If it doesn’t help, you can get rid of the picture because it cannot be saved, but if the method works, the photo thought to be dead may come to life.

Load the photo in Photoshop

The symptoms speak for themselves. Through such a veil of mist we didn’t have the slightest chance to get the right contrasts whatever lens we use. If you have a similar photo, load it in and let’s begin the work.

You wouldn’t think…

… that Shadow/Highlight command can be of use with increasing contrast. But yes, this time we will turn to this tool for help, which is to be found under Image/Adjusments menu.

The bottom section of the setup dialog should be inspected first. It is important to set Black Clip option at a higher value. It should be, let’s say, 2. You can increase Midtone Contrast a bit, but while doing so, keep an eye on the original photo, because a high increase may virtually “wash away” the picture. We added a bit of colors as well on Color Correction slider. Mist decreases saturation, so it was necessary.

A game of shadows

We now continue in the same dialog but with the tools shown above, which serve for setting lightness of the Shadows.

We don’t need a great deal of shadow lightness, so the Amount can be decreased. A 26% value works best in our photo, but it can vary. Tone Width, on the other hand, should be a high value so that almost the whole picture be affected. Radius does not necessarily have to be changed at all. We pulled it down a bit, but the change is hardly conceivable.

Again, it is important to remember to keep the Review option checked, and everything should be modified in steps. In the meantime, you should continuously check the result in the original picture. It is not evident that the values indicated here work best in your photo as well. The keyword is again: Experiment.

Colors of mist

We have practically finished, but the perfectionists may be disturbed by the blue that remained in the shadows, so they can do one more thing. We recommend Image/Adjustments/Replace Color for this.

Click on a bluish, shady part of the photo, decrease Fuzziness slightly, and then pull down Saturation into the minus range. If you long for even darker shadows, adjust the value of Lightness.

Unveiled

This is the photo when we don’t have to look at it through white stockings. If you would like to check the changes, just bring the mouse pointe over the photo and the original state will show.