making a cloudy day look sunny

Wow Terri I think you've created a miracle! both versions look good. Both actually look like they were taken on a sunny day. I'll give them a shot and check out the link to the tools.
Thanks so much!
gm

Good work Terri a vast improvement I'd say!
Don

If you also want some green grass...



Add a Hue Saturation Adjustment layer; select yellows from drop down menu...use droppers to get all shades; then move Hue/Saturation/and Lighteness sliders to get desired color.

Have you tried letting blend modes do the trick?<br /><br /><a href="http://img170.imageshack.us/my.php?image=blendedsunshineyv9.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img170.imageshack.us/img170/9658/blendedsunshineyv9.th.jpg" border="0" alt="Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us" /></a><br /><br />Click image to enlarge<br /><br />Layers...<br /><br /><a href="http://img170.imageshack.us/my.php?image=blendedsunshinelayersfh3.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img170.imageshack.us/img170/9598/blendedsunshinelayersfh3.th.jpg" border="0" alt="Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us" /></a><br /><br />Click image to enlarge<br /><br />I just duplicated the background layer and set the duplicate layer's blend mode to Linear Light blend mode; Opacity 100%. If this is too strong, you can turn down the layer's opacity or maybe try Vivid Light blend mode as it also gives a nice bright sunny day look to the image. Hard Light; Overlay; and Soft Light may also be options depending on how each looks on your high res. image.<br /><br />I made the Blue sky with clouds by using the Clouds filter Render<Clouds with the color chips set to blue and white. I used Free Transform to give the clouds some perspective. The cloud layer is in Multiply blend mode; 100% Opacity. This overpowers and replaces the original gray sky. I used Grant's Masks Layer tool to add a layer mask to the clouds layer. On this mask, I dragged a black to transparent gradient to hide the clouds effect in the foreground. Tip: Hold the shift key as you pull the gradient to get an even horizontal edge.<br /><br />The Lighting effects filter that the previous posters mention is located Filter<Render...<br /><br />Link to Grant's free tool set:<br /><br />http://www.cavesofice.org/~grant/Challenge/Tools/index.html<br /><br />I should mention that there's also a Hidden Elements set that includes layer masking in the free set. The HE free set is on the Adobe Exchange...if you can stand combing through the Frozen Fusion mess....er...Cold Fusion.<br /><br />HTH,<br /><br />Terri

Sorry about the quality -I had to upload from a very slow dial up connection so I had to keep the file small. Thanks for all the ideas. I had looked for the Lighting Effects before but I couldn't find it anywhere and I couldn't find it in the help either as I didn't know what it was called. You all have given me some ideas to play around with. thanks again
gm

Apply a Warming Photo Filter:

Filter > Adjustments > Photofilter

This is available in PSE5. It was not in PSE2 and I don't know about the intervening versions.

What would you do with the fore and middle ground to give it that sunny day look?

You could substitute a different sky, like this:

http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=13GLUidYIqGgIGFm9ufbZ4MZ6JDks0

Thanks, here's the url to a shot from that day. I'm assuming this will post as a link (?) If not you'll have to instruct me on how to do that. Thanks for taking the time to help me out.

http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=13UNrY7MeU0ZMaM1hP53kFLOvurK7M0

g morgan

It would be helpful if you posted the image here, so we could see what you're up against.

http://www.pixentral.com/index.php