Dulling down a sunny landscape?

[terrypin]

Odd sort of requirement I suppose, but using PaintShop Pro 8 does anyone know of a script or technique that would:
- Replace a clear blue sky with a grey one
- Generally 'dull down' the greenery
- Take the edge of the sunny brightness of any roads or paths

In short, make a sunny day in the country look like a greyish one?

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK

[LeviFiction]

You could lower the saturation using the Hue/Saturation/Lightness command. That tends to grey things out.

[df]

I'd also lower the contrast as well, that dulls things up quite a bit. Actually most "sharpening" routines are actually contrast adjustments from what I've read in various forums.

[wds937]

Odd sort of requirement I suppose, but using PaintShop Pro 8 does anyone know of a script or technique that would:
- Replace a clear blue sky with a grey one
- Generally 'dull down' the greenery
- Take the edge of the sunny brightness of any roads or paths

In short, make a sunny day in the country look like a greyish one?

There are many ways you can approach this. I'll suggest two approaches, one easier and the other less easy (but more flexible). The actual values you use will depend upon the particular image you are editing and just how dull or gray you want the final result. Note that these steps are for PSP 8; later versions will have additional tools available and some minor differences, but the concepts should still apply.

The first approach uses the Aged Newspaper effect.

1. Layers > Duplicate
2. Be sure the new layer is highlighted in the Layers palette
3. Selections > Select All
4. Effects > Artistic Effects > Aged Newspaper...; use 10 for Amount to age
5. Selections > Select None
6. Right-click the new layer in the Layers palette; choose Properties; use 70 for Opacity

The second approach will tackle, in order, the sky (Steps 1 through 3), the greenery (Steps 4 through 8), the sunny brightness (Step 9), and overall color saturation (Steps 10 through 15).

1. Select the sky. Use the Magic Wand tool, with Mode=Add, Match mode=Color, and Tolerance=20. This may require multiple clicks. If any click causes the selection to include anything other than the sky, click Undo, then reselect using a smaller Tolerance value.
2. Adjust > Hue and Saturation > Hue/Saturation/Lightness...; use -70 for Saturation and -20 for Lightness
3. Selections > Select None
4. Select the greenery. Use the Magic Wand with similar settings and a similar approach to what was used for selecting the sky.
5. Adjust > Brightness and Contrast > Gamma Correction...; be sure the Link checkbox is checked, and use 0.8 as the correction value
6. Adjust > Brightness and Contrast > Brightness/Contrast...; use 0 for Brightness and -20 for Contrast
7. Adjust > Color Balance > Manual Color Correction...; locate a representative, bright color of greenery; left-click and then right-click this location on the image, to set the Source and Target values; note the value displayed for Saturation, and reduce it by half
8. Selections > Select None
9. Adjust > Brightness and Contrast > Curves...; select RGB for Channel; drag the upper-right corner of the graph so that Input is 255 and Output is 235
10. Layers > Duplicate
11. Be sure the new layer is highlighted in the Layers palette
12. Selections > Select All
13. Adjust > Hue and Saturation > Hue/Saturation/Lightness...; use -100 for Saturation and 0 for Lightness
14. Selections > Select None
15. Right-click the new layer in the Layers palette; choose Properties; use 20 for Opacity

Use these steps as suggestions and guidelines, rather than as an exact procedure. As you choose specific values, observe the actual changes in the image, and re-adjust accordingly. It is also likely that some of these steps will give you other ideas.