Lightening and Brightening (especially the eyes)

This tutorial doesn't have a clear defined action set in mind. Really, it's taking a picture with potential and doing just minor adjustments to get a desired result. So, there's a few tips in this one. Let's start:

Pick a picture: I have a wonderfully cute picture of baby HB. I love it because she has a little mohawk going there and she's actually looking at the camera.

Downfalls: There's something not quite interesting about the composition, it may not be following the rule of thirds. Her mohawk is cute but it creates white space at the top, too little to be artistic, and too much to be subtle. The picture is also a little dark and grayish.

Open up picture in photoshop.

1. Press "control" and "j" simultaneously. This will duplicate the picture into a new layer over your first layer. I always like to do this so that if I mess up on the layer, I can delete it and still have the original pre-mistake layer to do over.

Brightening Whites and Darkening Darks

2. Go to the main menu above and hit the drop-down menu below "IMAGE." Select "ADJUSTMENTS" and click on "AUTO LEVELS."

*Auto levels adjusts the levels of blacks, whites, and gray colors in your image. Notice how my original photo doesn't have enough bright whites, making it look dingy. The background behind baby HB should be a lot lighter and brighter. If you have anything white, like a T-shirt or sheet in your image, it should look white, not gray. If not, then auto levels can help adjust that.


3. Adjust (optional) by changing the opacity (aka transparency) of layer until desired image. My auto levels gave the background a yellowish tint I didn't like so I dropped it down to merge it with the original photo.


Adjusting Skin Color
4.Take redness out of the skin by going to main menu in the toolbar and selecting "IMAGE", then "ADJUSTMENTS" and then "HUE/SATURATION"

There is a drop down box and three sliders.
-Drop down box, you can either adjust everything "MASTER" or select each color individually. For skin tones, I like to select "red" and nudge the hue.
-HUE slider, once you select a color, ex. red. Moving the slide will change the color.
-SATURATION-refers to how much white light is mixed with color. Increasing saturation will give it a brighter color that pops, but may start to look neon cartoony. Decreasing saturation will get you to look more antique, more black and white. Depends on photo's look.
-LIGHTNESS-makes the color lighter or darker

To bring down red tones in the skin, I select red in the drop down box. Nudge the hue slide to the right. To the left will make the skin a fuschia color, all the way to the right, it becomes yellow. Don't go too far to the right, my hubby says people start to look dead. So depressing huh? And then I nudge the saturation to the right to pop the colors a little more vivid. Press ok when done.


During your project, you can keep everything as the layers. You are building cake layers from the bottom up. Or, if you're happy with your image and want to preserve it, you can merge your current layers to make one layer, one happy photo.

5. Merge Layers. Go to "Layers" in the main menu/main toolbar, and drop down to select "MERGE DOWN." This takes my top layer which I've adjusted the skin color and melded my photo into one layer. If you have multiple layers, you can also select "MERGE VISIBLE"



Lightening the entire photo

6. Create a duplicate layer of your photo so far by pressing "control" and "j."

7. Go to the "layers" window/toolbox, and change the mode from "normal" to "SCREEN."

8. Change the opacity of the "SCREEN" layer to taste. I am mainly looking at her face and deciding whether I like the lightness/darkness balance of her face.

Using Layer Masks to undo Layer action

Unlighten/Darken desired areas of photo. Her shirt and other areas may have gotten washed out too much, so I just want to darken those areas. Since I lightened the whole photo, I'm just going to undo that lightening action on the parts I think are too light. I'm going to use a "MASK." Basically, you create a mask attached to the layer you want to reverse. Wherever you paint with black color, will undo the action of the layer. Confused, let's see it in action.

9. Create an mask attached to the lightening "SCREEN" layer by clicking on the mask icon. It's located in the 'layers' window/toolbar. When you click on it, there should be a white square that will appear in the selected layer...in this case, the "Screen" layer in your layer window.

10. Click on the paintbrush icon and make sure that black is your foreground picture.

11. Paint over areas you want to darken. Whatever areas you paint black will negate the action (screen) of that layer and reveal the layer beneath. In our case, the mask we are painting black is erasing the light areas created by the screen layer and revealing the original darker photo of the layer beneath. You can also change the opactiy/strength of your paintbrush found up near the main menu toolbar.

Brightening Areas with less finesse

Baby HB looks great but I want to brighten the background and lose distracting details and shadows. I'm going to create a screen layer which will brighten the background, and then cut baby HB so she's not washed out.

12. Merge Layers together.

13. Duplicate layer. Control +j.

14. Change top layer from "normal" to "SCREEN."

15. Select the selection icon in your tool toolbar. It allows you to select areas of your photo. Click on it and draw around your main subject. ex. baby HB

16. Erase the selected area by pressing "control" and "x" to cut it out.

17. Adjust the opacity of the top "SCREEN" layer to taste.

Brightening the eyes

18. Merge Layers

19. Use selective icon to draw around eyes...like a zorro mask.

20. In the right-click menu, select "COPY AS NEW LAYER"

21. Select that new layer's mode to "SCREEN" (whoa, way bright eyes. now she looks like she was wearing sunglasses before she got a tan.

21. Use step 9 to create a mask and paint the area around the eyes, only leaving the eyes itself. The gray area represents how you paint around the eyes, it won't look gray when you do it.

22. Change the opacity of your brighter eyes to taste. Watch out for fake looking eyes.

Adding a Vignette-a great finishing touch

23. Create a new blank layer by clicking on the "create new layer" icon

24. Select your "selective icon." At the top, change it from 0 px to 50 px. It will give a nice faded burnt edge to your look

25. Select around your frame, just cutting the corners a little.

26. In the right-click menu, click on "SELECT INVERSE."

27. Choose black as your foreground picture and click on the 'paintbucket" icon.

28. Fill in your frame with black color.

29. Change opacity of layer to taste. I love this look. But for this picture, I'll fade it so it's not a huge contrast with the light feel of the pic.

Adding a White Border to Image

30. Change the image size by going to the main menu and finding "IMAGE" and clicking on "IMAGE SIZE." Change image size to 6 x 4 inches and make your resolution anything you want.

31. Press OK.

32. To zoom in or zoom out of image, press "control" and "=" to zoom in. "Control" and "-" will zoom out.

33. Go to "IMAGE" drop down menu in the main menu and select "CANVAS SIZE."

34. Change canvas size to 4.15 by 6.3 and make sure that the extension area color is white so you get a white border.

35. Press ok.

36. ALL PAU. Sheesh, That was like 6 tutorials in one. Sorry, I prefer if it is smaller simpler tutorials that cover one thing at a time.

Cropping (the Rule of Thirds)

Composition:
The fundamental rule in composition of photographs is termed "the rule of thirds." If you divide your photo by a grid with two horizontal lines and two vertical lines, your points of interest are best balanced when they are placed along those lines or at the points of intersection. It also forces you to have your photo be mostly content and takes out extraneous empty space. The following is not the best example because I thought I was using the rule when I took the picture in the first place. So, warning, as I crop in, it's going to get grainy.

Here I've used a grid to divide up my photo: It brings two faults to my awareness.
(1) The bride's eyes are closed
(2) Only the pocket of the officiant is anywhere near the "thirds"

Sadly, after all this work, I think if I'd like it better if I had cropped it to look exactly like the center square in the grid. Note how the flower girl's face would be in the top left intersection point of "that" picture.


Here's a boring crop. I just centered the little girl:

It might look better because now she is clearly the focus of the picture and she takes up more of the photo. But, composition-wise, it lacks interest and seems flat.

There are multiple ways to crop the photo, usually I just use the crop tool and then just ("control" and "z") to undo the action if I don't like. Repeat until I get what I want. The following is a tool of Photoshop that makes it a little easier to double check your composition.

Step 1: Open your picture in Photoshop.
Step 2: To get this wonderful grid, right click on the icon in the tool bar that shows a "rectangle tool" and select "custom shape tool."
-at the top bar, in the "shape" pull-down menu, look for the "grid" icon and click on it
-Drag it over your photo



Now you're going to manipulate the grid to choose a better composition.

Step 3: Go back to the tools toolbar and look for the arrow icon "path selection tool."
Look at the top of the screen to the menu toolbar and make sure that the "bounding box" square is checked.

Step 4: Left click on your photo. This will bring up the bounding box/grid on your photo. Make sure you hold shift down whil you drag the grid around and drag the corners to change the size.

Step 5: When it is where you want it, double left click on the picture.



Step 6: There's multiple ways to crop or compose your photo. You can have more artsy or out there images...I could have had both points of interest be the flower girl...but for this one, I chose to make the bridal bouquet one point of interest and the flower girl face the other.

Step 7: Choose your "crop" icon and crop around your grid.



Step 8: You can now delete the grid layer to get rid of the grid.

(again, please excuse the graininess...not the best example..i'm in to close so it's grainy)



Using other methods: Darkening and deepening colors
Here I create multiple layers and change mode of layers to "multiply" to darken the photo





To try and detract from the graininess...I converted to black and white and increased the contrast.

Vivid Colors with a Soft Light Layer

How do you achieve vivid colors in your photographs?

Using Photoshop's "Soft Light" layers really enhances the contrast in your photos. Your dark areas will appear darker and more intense. Your lighter areas will be lighter and seem to glow.
We will be
1. creating a layer
2. applying "soft light"
3. playing with the opacity

This is a simple trick to play with vivid colors. The intensity of colors decreases with the amount of white light. That's why some photographers prefer to photograph in the early morning or late afternoon. Soft light filters mimic that effect.

Step 1: Open your photo in Adobe Photoshop

Step 2: Create a new layer with a copy of your image
Shortcut: "Control" and "J"

Step 3: Change your new layer's description from "normal" to "soft light"
You should see an immediate change in your image. To compare the before and after, in your layer's window, click on the "eye" icon to hide and unhide the new layer. Sometimes, it will create parts that are too dark (don't go too overboard). Adjust by changing the opacity of your "soft light" layer or you can use the eraser tool to erase areas(it might appear too drastic) or you can create a mask and use black to paint out areas(little more advanced).


Play-with-it Options: Repeat the steps to see what happens. Create a third layer and "soft light it." I did it with this photo and then lowered the opacity of the top layer just a notch.



Before and After: Notice the change in colors...they go from "eh" to "vavoom."

Fixing Underwater Pictures In Photoshop with "Curves"

How do you fix the color in underwater pictures?

There are various ways to fix underwater pictures in photoshop. Picassa does a pretty great job with the "lucky button." The first thing you have to understand is that as you dive down deeper, the first color to go is "red." This will give all your photos a bluish/greenish cast. One quick tip is to add a layer, fill it with red, and then change it to overlay.

Another method is a simple method of using the "Curves" function. Here, I will walk you through it step by step. And I mean Step by step.

Step 1. Open your picture in Photoshop. (Hey, I told you I was going to walk you step by step)
Copy the layer that has your picture by pressing "control" and "j." I always like to work off a copy layer so if I screw up, then I can just delete that layer and start over. You can also see if your improvements are pleasing by clicking the "eye" icon to the left of the layer and you should only see your original background layer.

Here we have a cute little picture of turtles having a morning snack on the sandy reef. Not a lot of things of color so we can't drastically change it, but we can add slight improvements.



Step 2: Go to "Image" in the main toolbar---> "Adjustments" ---> "Curves

A popup window should now appear. Good, we're going to play with the levels of red, green, and blue in our picture. Those are our primary colors. Remember, the main problem is we don't have enough red.

Step 3: Select "auto" in the Curves Pop Up Window. Don't press okay or close the window yet.

-Hopefully, you should see some change in your image. In our case, it dropped the blues and greens down and raised the red as much as it could.

In some areas, like the darkest areas of my reef in this photo, the red will go overboard and develop red spots. Let's fix that.

Step 4: Still in the Curves Pop Up Window, go to the "Channels" window and select "Reds" in the drop-down menu.

In the figure below, we are looking at a graph of the reds in our picture. The bottom left corner are the darker spots of our image and the top right corner are the lighter parts of our image. The graph indicates how much red is in each part of that image between those two bookends. I have too much red in my dark shadows so I'm going to adjust the graph in the bottom left corner.

Click on the bottom left corner and drag it to the right. What I'm directing Photoshop to do is to reduce the red in the darkest parts of my picture. Thus the graph in that corner is now a flatline indicating "No red." This step can be skipped if there is no overpowering areas of red.

Let's tweak the overpowering blues and greens so more.

Step 5: Select "Blues" from the dropdown menu in "Channels"

Hint: You can click on any part of your picture, and that area will light up on your graph as a single point. You can then pull that point up or down to influence the amount of blue. Warning, it will shift your graph and your color perspective as well.


Step 5 continued=I'm just pulling the blues down...I'm dropping the top right corner of the graph by dragging it down to reduce the blues in the lighter portion(the water) in my photo. I'm just eyeballing it, so drag it up and down until you get the image you want. You can do it with the green too.. When you're done. Press okay and the "Curves" window will close.

You're done...but you can continue with one of my favorite touches. Painting in Overlay Mode.

Step 6: Go to your layers window and "create new layer." A blank layer should pop up.

Step 7: In the layers window, change the "Normal" to "Overlay" in the drop-down menu

Step 8: We're going to choose a paint color to paint with. So, click on the box with your foreground color.

You can get many different looks with this action depending on what color you pick. I want the turtles to stand out just a little more. So, I'm going to pick green. Now painting green on this layer will cast a green hue to only things that already have a little green to them. If I paint green over a white area, nothing is going to happen. I just want to bring out whatever green there may be in the turtle shell. I could try yellow, realizing that there are probably some yellow tones in there too.

The second thing to consider in color choice is the darkness or lightness of colors. Really light colors are going to lighten the image you're painting over. Dark colors are going to darken the image you are painting over. Thus, this also one of my favorite cheat methods to lighten and darken (burn and dodge) certain pictures. Create an overlay layer and then paint with black to darken, or white to lighten.



Step 9: Decrease the opacity of this layer to around 65-80%.
If you leave it at its original 100%, you're going to look like you're spraypainting neon green over your turtles and it will turn into kid art. You can increase or decrease the opacity later to taste.
Use the paintbrush tool to start painting with the green you selected over the turtleshell.



Step 10: I painted over all three of the turtles. Then I adjusted the opacity of the layer to mimic a REALISTIC image. I have a tendency to put too much color and it doesn't look real. You just want to enhance, not forge your way into cartoon world.

I finished it off with a soft vignette look to darken around the edges(another tutorial...another time).

Taaa Daa...it's not phenomenal...but it is an improvement.


Darn it...it's a matter of opinions. I just like the second one a tiny bit better. But three turtles...come on...they're always going to be cute.