Step 5: Drag Out A Gradient Inside The Photo

With the Foreground to Transparent gradient selected, we're going to create our own version of a neutral density filter by simply dragging out a black-to-transparent gradient inside the photo. Make sure you have "Layer 1" selected in the Layers palette, then click somewhere in the sky portion of the photo and drag straight down until you're below the sky. Hold down your Shift key as you drag if you want to make sure you're dragging straight down and not on an angle. The area between where you started dragging and where you stopped dragging will become the visible transition area between the darker areas at the top of the photo and the lighter areas on the bottom. I want a fairly narrow transition area, so I'm going to click just above the trees to begin my gradient and then drag a short ways down until I'm just below the trees:

If you want a larger transition area with your image, simply drag the gradient across a larger area. A common practice is to start the gradient at the very top of the image and then drag down to the horizon line. This leaves the darkest area of sky at the top of the photo and gradually lightens it towards the horizon, a very nice effect.

When I release my mouse button, Photoshop draws the gradient, filling most of my sky with black and then quickly fading it away as it crosses the trees (my transition area):

The sky is definitely darker now than it was before. Of course, it also looks quite horrible at the moment, but we're not done yet! Hold your horses! (Sorry, I had to say that at some point).

Step 6: Change The Blend Mode Of "Layer 1" To "Overlay"

With "Layer 1" still selected, go up to the Blend Mode option in the top left corner of the Layers palette (where it currently says "Normal"). Click on the small, down-pointing arrow to the right of the word "Normal" and select Overlay from the list:

With the gradient set to the Overlay blend mode, the black area from the gradient blends in with the photo in a way that makes a huge improvement to the sky. The contrast has been increased, we've brought out all the details in the clouds, and the sky is now a deeper, richer blue:

The sky now looks a whole lot better, but by solving one problem, we've created another. The gradient I dragged out covered not only the sky but also part of the horses, and now they look like they've been roasting in the sun too long. I need to prevent the gradient from affecting the horses, and I can do that easily using a layer mask.

Step 7: Add A Layer Mask To "Layer 1"

To add a layer mask, again make sure you still have "Layer 1" selected, then click on the Layer Mask icon at the bottom of the Layers palette:

This adds a layer mask to the gradient layer. Nothing seems to have happened in the document window, but if we look at the Layers palette, we can see that a layer mask thumbnail has been added to "Layer 1":

Step 8: Select The Brush Tool

We're going to hide the effects of the gradient by painting with black on the layer mask over the areas we want to protect. First, we need the Brush Tool, so either grab it from the Tools palette or press B on your keyboard:

Step 9: Set Your Foreground Color To Black

Since we want to paint with black, we need to set our Foreground color to black. By default when you have a layer mask selected (which we currently do), Photoshop sets your Foreground color to white and your Background color to black. All we need to do here is swap them, and we can do that by pressing the letter X on the keyboard. If we look at the Foreground and Background color swatches again in the Tools palette, we can see that black is now our Foreground color:

Step 10: Paint Over The Areas You Want To Protect

With the Brush Tool selected and black as our Foreground color, all we need to do now is paint over the areas that we want to protect from the effects of the gradient. In my case, I want to paint over the horses. You'll most likely need to change the size of your brush, and you can do that by pressing the left and right bracket keys on the keyboard (located to the right of the letter P). The left bracket key makes the brush smaller, and the right bracket key makes the brush larger. You'll probably want to use a soft-edge brush, and you can control the hardness of the brush by holding down the Shift key and pressing the left and right bracket keys. Holding Shift and pressing the left bracket key makes the brush softer. Holding Shift and pressing the right bracket key makes the brush harder.

Simply paint over any areas where you need to hide the effects of the gradient. Here, I'm painting over the backs of the horses. Since I'm painting on the layer mask, not on the photo itself, the black color of the brush is not visible. Instead, we see the effects of the gradient being hidden from view:

If you make a mistake and accidentally paint over an area you didn't mean to, just press X on your keyboard to swap your Foreground and Background colors again so white becomes your Foreground color. Paint over the mistake with white to bring back the effects of the gradient, then press X again to set your Foreground color back to black and continue painting.

I'm going to finish painting over the areas that I want to protect from the gradient. As I mentioned a moment ago, since we're painting on the layer mask rather than on the image itself, we can't see the color we're painting with, but if we look at the layer mask thumbnail in the Layers palette, we can see all the areas where we've painted with black:

And here, after painting away the effects of the gradient over the horses, bringing back their original color and brightness, is my final "enhanced sky" result:

And there we have it!

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