dumb question...but isn't 'faking HDR' sort of redundant? great tutorial in any event.

think of it more as a preferred method for the couch potato photographer rather than the ones equipped with a tripod, filters and RAW processor.

Great tutorial Phil Thanks for sharing must try this out right away :D
-Phil

I don't have photoshop. LMAO Thanks Phil.

What! No Photoshop? Are you mad?

:-)

I'm sure one of any of its imitators will have similar functions to those that are described here that you can use in the same fashion....

Hello Phil, I have PSE 5 and can't locate the areas you mention (e.g. Edit > Fade Shadow/Saturation)or any of the other. What Photoshop did you use and can it be extrapolated to PSE 5?
Thanks, Hilma

I'm not sure - I will get hold of a copy of Elements and see what needs to be done to adapt it to that and will get back to you on that.

Great tutorial. Thanks for taking the time to put it together and posting it. :)PJ

Yeah!! Sumpin' for us "couch potato photographers"...that's me!! Give me an easy out any day, I'll take it!! I is LAZY!! I still try, just am not prolific...naw, pronoun...naw, pornno...naw, well I'm just not 2 good at PS yet. It does seem as though I learn new tricks every day or 8.

Thanks for this one bub!!

~thinks to self...is it any day or anyday~

I isn't to good on gramatiq...naw, gramatiqu...naw, well let's just say Englush and be done with it!! 8~O

I want to thank you so much. Only because of this I was able to post a pic today, that I thought would never work - to much shadow, which I was not able to remove in a good way. But after your hints it looks so nice. Thank you so much. It is that nice from you, sharing your knowledge with us.

Ok – the method for doing this in Elements 5 is virtually identical so it isn’t worth creating a whole new tutorial so instead, you simply replace the fade function (not available in Elements) with layers – here’s how to do it:

1.) Duplicate your original image background layer (Layer>>Duplicate Layer)
2.) On the uppermost duplicated layer, apply the Shadow/Highlight adjustment as the tutorial by going to Enhance>>Adjust Lighting>>Shadows/Highlights. If the preset is fine – which it should be – just hit ok.

3.) Set the adjusted layers blending mode in the Layer palette to Luminosity instead of normal and then flatten the layers (Layer>>Flatten Image).

4.) Duplicate the layer again and saturate it by using Variations – Enhance>>Adjust Colour>>Colour Variations. Select saturation in variations and hit More Saturation just the once.

5.) Set the adjusted saturated layers blending mode to Colour instead of normal and flatten the image.

6.) To finish the image reintroduce its snap by going to Enhance>>Auto Contrast and that’s it – you’re all done!

Excellent!

Lovely tutorial dear - Thanks a lot :)