How can I make sand look pearl white like in a virgin island

[fiuOY]

Hello,

Does anybody have any tricks for making sand look white instead of yellowish as it is where I live (Miami). Take a look at the attached picture. I want to make that sand look like if it was taken in Cancun or some where like that where the sand is much cleaner and whiter.

Thank you very much

[Tao O'Boogie]

Open the photograph in Photoshop. Then with your favourite selection tool (I prefer the pen tool but the magnetic lasso Tool will do if you are careful) select all the sand that you would like to lighten. Then go to Curves Ctrl>M and tweak till you like what you see.
I'd upload an example but I'm reorganising my web space at the moment.

[kevinf]

Also you can mask out your sand and use selective color... Image->Adjustments->Selective Color... then neutrals and reduce black.

Curves will work better/faster for some, selective color better/faster for others.

Also in this case Image->Adjusments->Auto Color will work for you (also Image->Adjustments->Levels... then options)
You will still need to mask out the sand.

[Clo@k]

Kevin is your logo done with illustrator? If so how do you get that plastic look?

[kevinf]

No, I created it in PhotoshopCS sometime mid last year. It's actually a pretty shoddy piece of work, I was simply experimenting with png 8-bit alpha transparency at the time and mocked up a "smiley face" on which to experiment. The results were humorous so I kept it around ;)

I believe I used the lighting effects filter to create shadow and highlight and then ran a plastic wrap filter on it... or maybe it was a bevel and emboss layer style... probably both. Shouldn't be hard to duplicate.

[lasa]

FiuOY..use the rectangle tool to make a selection that takes up from the horizon down. Copy the selected area to the layer above. (Ctrl + J)
change the layer mode to Screen or color dodge then reduct opacity.
Then simply erase the color change on the bench tree etc.

Very white sand,

Lasa

[Kevin Connery]

Yet Another Way

Use a Hue/Saturation/Brightness adjustment layer, and sample the sand. Adjust the hue range slightly to cover all the sand. Increase luminosity and decreate saturation (+33 Lightness, -33 Saturation worked well to give 'white' sand).

Paint in the layer mask the areas you don't want affected, such as the tree.

[Klatu Baradda Nekto]

All the methods mentioned above are good.

One extra tool we'd add to your arsenal would be the CS2 Spot Healing Brush to eliminate the scattered debris on the sand. This tool was made for a job like this. It's quick and simple to use and is nearly magical in its results.

While you're working on this, changing the sky, the water color and adding color to the palm fronds might help to give it a pristine look as well.
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[Eyepaint]

I think KBN nailed it but I would not think a bench painted dark green would attract anyone to sit. That tropical sun would have it branding your backside. Maybe some bright [lighter] color?

[Scott20015]

Hello,

Does anybody have any tricks for making sand look white instead of yellowish as it is where I live (Miami). Take a look at the attached picture. I want to make that sand look like if it was taken in Cancun or some where like that where the sand is much cleaner and whiter.

Thank you very much


Made a mask of sand and used curves to adjust. Took 2 mins. Ideally I would have run a hi-pass or something more to bring out the detail of the sand.

[theGuest]

Yeah nice ideas guys.
I like the way that turns out. %/

Good thoughts about using the Spot Healing Brush too.
The normal Healing Brush in CS works fine also. Just needs to be switched to "Replace" in the Options Bar.