Another great feature to be found in Photoshop Elements is the Haze Removal tool. It's really a tool that's designed to boost the midtone contrast in your images, and it works incredibly well on hazy, misty, steamy pictures where the clarity is suffering. You'll note that, in the examples shown here, that, once processed using Haze Removal, the finished images look sharper. This is because sharpening is all about the contrast differences along subject edges, so it might not only fix the climatic conditions, but it will also make it appear sharper.

However, you might not know that it's also great to use on some black and white images, low contrast images, and sometimes it's just good to add to a picture to add a bit of punch.

Elements features two of these filters: one is the Auto Haze Removal tool, which does a good job, but it if it's control you need, it's best to go for the regular Haze Removal tool of the Enhance menu and use its sliders to perfect the effect on each image, one at a time:

The following is more of a snowy image than a hazy image. The sky is indistinct due to slight overexposure and the low cloud. Select Enhance | Haze Removal from the Enhance menu:

This is the easiest filter to play with. Use the sliders at the base of the filter panel to make adjustments. For some reason, this doesn't update your slider changes in the main window until the OK button is pressed, then it's too late. If you don't like the result, undo then redo it again.

The finished product looks 100% better than the slightly overexposed, light, and indistinct features of the original.

Here's another use of the Haze Removal tool, where we are enhancing a slightly low contrast (but not hazy) image. Because this feature adds mid-tone contrast, it's perfect for adding a bit of punch to the image. Of course, this doesn't work for all images, but when it does work, it's impressive.

This feature keeps on giving. In this example, I have an old print that has been scanned and retouched, but its tones are still flat. It's an ideal image to test the Haze Removal tool on.

As is clearly visible in this before and after illustration, Haze Removal is also a good bet when it comes to adding a bit more contrast punch into your scanned images. It doesn't work with all images, but it's certainly effective in this example.