Out of my window!

Out of my window!, originally uploaded by mandus.

I am running a "Out of my window" series over at OutOfWindow and think this one is particular interesting. Not for the looks of it, which is not that interesting, but from the gimp'ing.

Based on a suggestion in a post in the Canon300D/350D forum over at dpReview, I played some tricks to remove haze from the far away parts of the picture, as the kit-lens of the 350D isn't particulary sharp far away. I think this turned out not that bad! The steps are basically:

1. Duplicate layer, add layer mask, make it selected.
   
2. Create a black to white gradient in the layer mask, such that near stuff are blacked out
   
3. Apply layer mask
   
4. Layers->Colors->Curves and play with the curve for the Value-channel (add a couple of control points, drag it down) in order to make the distant stuff more haze-less.
   
5. Merge layers, and do whatever more you want/need. For instance USM.
   

That's about it, judge for your self the result. By the way, don't you think thats a nice place to live - very refreshing view!