Before & After - PSE 9.0

Our nephew Buddy recently had the opportunity 

to compete at the National level of the Junior Olympics 

which was held in North Carolina. 

His event is the steeplechase, wherein competitors run a 

3000m race whilst jumping over several

high hurdles (steeples) and then immediately over (or through) 

a water trap on the other side.

I had never paid much attention to this event until 

Buddy started competing in it.  

Now, I'm a fan!  

My brother, Andy, captured this moment of Buddy 

pushing off the steeple to propel

himself over the water trap with his camera phone.  

I'll certainly give him credit for stopping the action!

He sent me the photo and asked me to work with it to see if I could 

improve it as he is hoping to enlarge a copy for his office.

Andy suggested removing a good portion of the track and the two men serving as water sweepers.

I did so using the crop tool and the clone tool in Photoshop Elements 9.0

I removed the backpack that was sitting on the track as well.

I also increased the contrast, lightened the exposure and increased the saturation slightly.

Once I was done with those edits, 

I followed this tutorial to enhance the sky using the 

gradient tool to make the sky more properly exposed and a layer mask to make sure

that the reporters booth building wasn't too dark.

Always fun to learn a new trick!

Aren't the colorful shade tents in the stands so festive?