The stadium in winter

Nikon D7000, 18mm (18-55), 1/60, f/10, ISO 250, adjusted

There’s nothing like cloudy winter light to grab what little color might be found in your shot and leech it right out. Add a brisk wind and you’ve got some exposure challenges.

I started this shot by concentrating on the proper exposure for the people. The detail and colors of the clothes are accurate. But the rest of the scene looks highly washed out. What to do?

Photoshop to the rescue. By using the magnetic lasso and doing some correction in quick mask mode, I was able to generate a layer mask to keep my subjects safe from the edits I needed to do on the rest of the photo. After that, a simple level adjustment brought out the color a bit, making the scene look more natural.

Here’s what it looked like to start:

Nikon D7000, 18mm (18-55), 1/60, f/10, ISO 250