Best way to clarify falling raindrops in an image with Photoshop?

[narikin]

I have an interesting cityscape image when a cloud burst and thousands of raindrop (as small streaks) are coming down from above (against office building background).  I'd love to find a way to enhance the raindrops - to pick them out and lighten them a bit.

Is there an filter suggestion or other way to do this. Like a reverse 'dust and scratches' filter?

I could do it by hand, put a lightening curve layer with 'hide all' mask and white brush out each drop's mask, but... there must be 10,000 of them, so I'd like to find a way to make it a bit less arduous!

any suggestions welcome!

[narikin]

Edit: was wondering if it was possible using a layer with Hi-Pass sharpening filter on it, or similar, then blending options on that to narrow the effect to a particular band of light grey that the raindrop-streaks currently are? I'm not very experienced with blending modes etc though, so its confusing me.

(fyi these are not glowingsunlight illuminated drops, most of a light grey drop/streak, against dark grey buildings)

[Martin Kristiansen]

Without seeing the image it’s hard to say. Constructing a curve that adds contrast between the drops and the building would be my starting point. Measure the values of the drops and building and see where they fall on the curve then move those points on the curve, the lighter points lighter and the darker ones darker. Next see if you can create a luminosity mask that would select mostly the drops. That allows a lot of control.

A simple movement of the clarity slider could also help as could dehaze but the latter will come with all sorts of consequences. Even a simple bump with the contrast slider in LR could help.

[john beardsworth]

My first thoughts were to suggest Clarity or maybe the newer Texture, and probably applied to selected areas of the image. Even if the image is no longer raw, you can save the layers as a smart object and apply ACR through PS's Filter menu.

Since you mentioned High Pass, I have occasionally used this action which I originally set up to mimic Clarity.

[shadowblade]

I find that the best way to highlight raindrops and snowflakes is actually in-camera, using a flash.

A typical landscape exposure time is going to reduce raindrops to blurred streaks and snowflakes/falling clumps of snow to blurred lumps. Expose to freeze the raindrops and the rest of the scene (including the raindrops) is going to be underexposed, or you'll have to increase your ISO to the point where noise becomes an issue. With a flash on low power, however, you can freeze the motion of raindrops or falling snow, while keeping the rest of the scene properly expose. Just hold the flash unit in hand and activate it several times during the exposure - you don't even need to control it from the camera.

[MichaelEzra]

Try Topaz Sharpen AI in the Stabilize mode.

[David Eckels]

If you have NIK Silver Efex Pro, you can select one of the presets or just start moving the structure and contrast sliders until the raindrops are emphasized to your liking, then click OK and go back to PS and set the new black and white SEP layer to luminosity blend rather than normal mode. If you have Tony Kuper's TK7 Action Panel and you want more control, you can set a very tight mask in the SEP layer, Zone 5.5 for example, and limit the structural adjustments to the luminosity range of the rain drops. Finish with a Curve adjustment Clipping Mask to adjust contrast of the raindrops to your liking.

[narikin]

My first thoughts were to suggest Clarity or maybe the newer Texture, and probably applied to selected areas of the image. Even if the image is no longer raw, you can save the layers as a smart object and apply ACR through PS's Filter menu.

Since you mentioned High Pass, I have occasionally used this action which I originally set up to mimic Clarity.

Thanks for this, kind of you, and I'll give it a try.

[narikin]

Try Topaz Sharpen AI in the Stabilize mode.

Topaz Sharpen seems very good, thanks Michael for suggesting.
My issue is not the motion blur of the raindrops though, its really about selectively contrasting them out against the backdrop. If there was a negative setting to the 'dust and scratches filter', that picked them out and enhanced, that would be great!

I find that the best way to highlight raindrops and snowflakes is actually in-camera, using a flash.

Very true, but the image is already taken and I have to work with it!

If you have NIK Silver Efex Pro, you can select one of the presets or just start moving the structure and contrast sliders until the raindrops are emphasized to your liking, then click OK and go back to PS and set the new black and white SEP layer to luminosity blend rather than normal mode. If you have Tony Kuper's TK7 Action Panel and you want more control, you can set a very tight mask in the SEP layer, Zone 5.5 for example, and limit the structural adjustments to the luminosity range of the rain drops. Finish with a Curve adjustment Clipping Mask to adjust contrast of the raindrops to your liking.

Thanks, but I forgot to specify this is a color images, and unless I'm mistaken that NIK Silver Efex is for b/w?

I also should say it's a 100mp Phase One image, so quality is very high, and that means I use Capture One (v20), not Lightroom, as Phase color in their own RAW convertor is better.

Wish I understood blend layers and layer styles better - feel that's likely closest answer.

Thanks all - kind of people to take time to suggest answers

[kers]

Wish I understood blend layers and layer styles better - feel that's likely closest answer....

Nowadays you can just try it in photoshop and get directly a pre-image on the fly when changing a blendmode...
In other words you can just see what happens.

Just duplicate the layer and try the blend mode on it...

[Rand47]

If your rain drops are tonally brighter than your background “already” and if you’re using LR, try using the paintbrush to paint an entire mask on the image, then zoom way in and try using luminosity range masking to “select” the rain drops.  Then tweak clarity, whites, sharpness, etc. in tiny amounts and see what you get.  I know this sounds goofy, but I’ve used this method to add more depth to what looks like uniform snow on the ground.

Rand

[Peter McLennan]

I vote extensive experimenting with masking and the Texture slider in ACR.

[stockjock]

I have an interesting cityscape image when a cloud burst and thousands of raindrop (as small streaks) are coming down from above (against office building background).  I'd love to find a way to enhance the raindrops - to pick them out and lighten them a bit.

Is there an filter suggestion or other way to do this. Like a reverse 'dust and scratches' filter?

I could do it by hand, put a lightening curve layer with 'hide all' mask and white brush out each drop's mask, but... there must be 10,000 of them, so I'd like to find a way to make it a bit less arduous!

any suggestions welcome!

You might try running that image through Luminar or Aurora.  The programs have slightly different options and I haven't used Luminar 4 yet, but in general they offer a number of "structure" and "details" tools that often give much more of that defined, 3 dimensional look that I think you are looking for.  I have used them with good success to bring out raindrops on glass.  No idea if they would work as well for falling drops.  And Topaz Sharpen is also a good suggestion though it wouldn't do much for blurred drops.

[Peano]

I have an interesting cityscape image when a cloud burst and thousands of raindrop (as small streaks) are coming down from above (against office building background).  I'd love to find a way to enhance the raindrops - to pick them out and lighten them a bit.
***
any suggestions welcome!

I've done that a variety of ways, but it always depended on the specific image. They're not all created equal. Can you post it, please?

[PeterAit]

Use Lightroom. Try the "Whites" and "Highlights" sliders.

[Doug Gray]

One way is to take two pictures a fraction of a second apart on a tripod.

Subtract the images and you will have the raindrop differences. Clip the negative values, magnify and add them back in.  I know how to do this in Matlab  but I think it can be done in Photoshop.