Waikiki rainbow, made to pop

How it was made

1. 1

   Cropped out the pool crowd

   Trimmed to 16:9 from the top, keeping the full sky and rainbow and dropping the people at the pool.

   1 tool call

   1. Cropped the photo· to 4032 x 2268

      crop · height 2268 · left 0 · top 0 · width 4032
2. 2

   Tried to select the rainbow

   AI selection caught the left arc but not the right. A semi-transparent band over sky is a hard target, so this route was dropped.

   4 tool calls

   1. Selected “object” with AI· 0.8% of the photo

      select_with_ai · target object · word rainbow

   2. Selected “object” with AI· 22.0% of the photo

      select_with_ai · box 9,818,3734,1766 · target object

   3. Selected “object” with AI· 0.8% of the photo

      select_with_ai · box 2,829,1480,1345 · target object

   4. Selected “object” with AI· 10.6% of the photo

      select_with_ai · box 2551,1019,3703,1761 · target object
3. 3

   Selected the sky instead

   The sky selection came out clean, palm fronds included, and its inverse became the ground mask.

   2 tool calls

   1. Selected “sky” with AI· 59.1% of the photo

      select_with_ai · target sky

   2. Refined the selection

      modify_selection · channel Sky · op invert · output Ground
4. 4

   A selective-color detour

   Tested black and white with color only in the sky, then removed it all to go a different direction.

   10 tool calls

   1. Added an effect· Mono ground

      add_effect · blue weight 0.15 · green weight 0.4 · mask Ground · red weight 0.45 · type black_white

   2. Adjusted the color and light· Strip sky blue

      add_adjustment · mask Sky · range blue · saturation -85 · type hue_saturation

   3. Adjusted the color and light· Strip sky cyan

      add_adjustment · mask Sky · range cyan · saturation -85 · type hue_saturation

   4. Adjusted the color and light· Rainbow boost

      add_adjustment · mask Sky · range all · saturation 55 · type hue_saturation

   5. Adjusted the color and light· Moody contrast

      add_adjustment · points 5 points · type curves

   6. Removed an adjustment

      manage_filters · op delete

   7. Removed an adjustment

      manage_filters · op delete

   8. Removed an adjustment

      manage_filters · op delete

   9. Removed an adjustment

      manage_filters · op delete

   10. Removed an adjustment

       manage_filters · op delete
5. 5

   Gave the sky weight

   A sky-only curve darkened the clouds so the rainbow glows against them, with a light saturation lift.

   2 tool calls

   1. Adjusted the color and light· Storm sky

      add_adjustment · mask Sky · points 5 points · type curves

   2. Adjusted the color and light· Rainbow pop

      add_adjustment · mask Sky · range all · saturation 45 · type hue_saturation
6. 6

   Warmed the ground

   Warmed and opened up the hotel and palms. Checked that red clipping came from the sun-hit walls in the original, not the edit.

   6 tool calls

   1. Adjusted the color and light· Warm ground

      add_adjustment · from kelvin 6500 · mask Ground · to kelvin 7600 · type color_temperature

   2. Adjusted the color and light· Ground lift

      add_adjustment · mask Ground · shadows 20 · shadows ccorrect 60 · type shadows_highlights

   3. Turned an adjustment off

      manage_filters · op set_visibility · visible off

   4. Turned an adjustment off

      manage_filters · op set_visibility · visible off

   5. Turned an adjustment on

      manage_filters · op set_visibility · visible on

   6. Turned an adjustment on

      manage_filters · op set_visibility · visible on
7. 7

   Made the rainbow pop

   Boosted only the rainbow's reds, yellows and greens inside the sky, which avoided clipping the blue sky, then added overall vibrance.

   4 tool calls

   1. Adjusted the color and light· Rainbow yellows

      add_adjustment · mask Sky · range yellow · saturation 45 · type hue_saturation

   2. Adjusted the color and light· Rainbow reds

      add_adjustment · mask Sky · range red · saturation 40 · type hue_saturation

   3. Adjusted the color and light· Rainbow greens

      add_adjustment · mask Sky · range green · saturation 40 · type hue_saturation

   4. Adjusted the color and light· Overall vibrance

      add_adjustment · type vibrance · vibrance 14

29 steps in one conversation with Claude.