Before making any necessary corrections it's always a good idea to duplicate the background layer. Then if we are not happy with the results we will not have damaged the original image. Working in our Layer palette click onto the thumbnail and drag it over the Create a New Layer icon to duplicate our original background (see above). You can rename the new layer by right clicking and selecting Layer Properties (below). We can then type in the name of our new layer, in this case 'Layer1'

Don't worry if you are using Photoshop 5, choose Layer Options to rename the layer.

Tip. …Holding down the Alt key whilst clicking the icon will enable us to rename our layer as it is being added.

A good starting point with any image is to call up the Levels palette Image>Adjust >Levels or shortcut Ctrl L on our keyboards. In this case the Auto command is found to be sufficient so we apply it to our image, but if this doesn't work don't worry, by just pressing the Alt key the Cancel button becomes Reset and allows us to return to our original settings.

Even with the levels applied the sky was still looking a little light and with such dramatic clouds we need to give it some more punch. Using Quick Mask we can select the area of the sky we need to darken. Click on the Quick Mask icon to the right of the two shown above and select your Gradient tool. Drag the gradient tool half way over your image and when you release the cursor a colour mask overlay will show you the area you are covering.

If this is the first time you have used this tool take a few minutes to play with it. Try dragging the gradient tool to different lengths before releasing it, this will select larger or smaller amounts of the Quick Mask.

Once you have applied the quick mask, click the icon to the left and your mask will be changed to a selection as shown above. This now becomes the live area of the image.

The Dodge and Burn Tools (shortcut O) perform a similar function to their darkroom namesake and are ideal for localised tonal control. You can use these tools to lighten (Dodge) shown above or darken (Burn) shown below. Select an area of your image, in this case the hay bales, and start with the Exposure set at around 10% in the Options Palette and slowly build up the effect.

Click on the red channel in the Channels palette which will turn your image black and white. Now call up your Unsharp Mask found under the Filter >Sharpen>Menu and set the Threshold to 0 and the Radius to1.0 you can now adjust the sharpening using the slider on the Amount range. The values of the Amount will vary depending on your image so it's worth experimenting and getting to know this tool.

Tip ......Clicking inside the window will show you the amount of sharpening effect being applied. See below.

Repeat this process to the Green Channel but do not sharpen the Blue Channel as this is where all the noise is and sharpening will increase this affecting the quality of the image.