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Looking for Photoshop tool/technique to clear haze


Synmora

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Greetings,

I'm working on an old piece of mine, and noticed I left it with a strip of haze stretching across the image from left-right, near the subject's thighs/waist:

Brinya2.jpg

It's slight but noticeable, and I want it gone. I'm using Photoshop CC 2014. Tried Camera Raw Filter with the Adjustment Brush, but its reduction of the haze was too minimal.
Thus I'm looking for advice on a technique or set of tools to clear a haze. Please note that this is a flattened image - no layers.
 
Haze can sometimes mean reduced contrast and lack of sharpness, so here's one suggestion that increases both:

1. Duplicate your layer and convert it to Black & White.
2. Go to Filter>Other>HighPass and set the radius fairly high (I used 19 pixels). Change the layer blend mode to Soft Light. Your entire image will now be more contrasty and sharper.
3. Add a layer mask and fill it entirely with black. Choose a soft brush, set the Flow to 10%-15%, and gradually brush over the hazy areas with White (within the mask) until it's to your liking.
4. For a more extreme version of this, use Hard Light instead of Soft Light, and then tone it down, as needed, by reducing the layer opacity.

In your image, the skin tones are lighter across the woman's hips and wrists. I'm not sure if it's supposed to be that way due to the lighting, or if that's part of the 'haze' that's bothering you. If the latter, you may also want to darken the skin in that area.
1. Add an adjustment layer above the image and change the blend mode to Multiply. (It doesn't matter which adjustment layer you use... I used Curves).
2. Fill the layer mask entirely with black. Then, with the same soft brush set to 10% Flow, brush with white onto the lighter skin areas to gradually darken them and blend them in with the rest of the image.
 

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