Introduction
Recently I have been looking through some of my old photos to find something new to sketch or paint.
Whilst doing so it reminded me of the importance of how much of a difference colour makes to the mood of a photograph.
This is not difficult to achieve in Photoshop although it does take time -since it often requires some experimentation and tweaking - but I think it is worth it.
Using Photoshop we can replicate the effects of certain old film types and light combinations.
Obviously you need to start with a good image in the first place. I have included the image details at the bottom.
The Photos
1 - The Original Photo
This actually looks pretty good already but it lacks some warmth.
2 - Highpass Filter
The high-pass filter allows you to sharpen the eyes and face a little to draw more attention to it. This can be helpful particularly when you shoot with very wide apertures but should not be overdone.
3 - Mild Vignette
You can do this a number of ways but one way is to make a new layer with reduced exposure and use a mask to shape it the way you want.
4 - A Black and White Layer at 25% to increase contrast
This is one of my favourite techniques for tweaking contrast, by adjusting the colour balance in the black and white layer it allows more fine control than regular contrast adjustment.
5 - A Tweak to Saturation and Vibrance
Just increasing the warmth.
6 - Selective Colour Adjustment Layer
I wanted to further tweak the colours.
7 - Curves adjustment
This also helps to reduce some of the excess red and boost some of the greens.
8 - Adjustment to Vibrance and Saturation
Further colour tweaking.
9 - Use of a Gradient to Create an Area Light
This is something I specifically learned from Emily. Previously I had used plugins for this sort of thing (like Color Efex Pro). Gradients give a lot more control by combining the gradient with masks and other layer types.
10 - Final Skin and Hair Fixes
The changes have made some skin and hair issues more prominent so I did some minor retouching.
11 - Final Colour Adjustment
Colour still felt like it needed tweaking so I readjusted it.
12 - Final Curves Adjustment
I couldn't resist some further tweaking to adjust contrast and colour using a curves layer. I have a tendency to tweak a lot!
13 - Add Grain
Another thing that I do quite a lot is add some film type grain to replicate that old school look. This is achieved using the PS noise filter.
14 - Final Image Uncropped
-2.jpg)
15 - Final Image Cropped
.jpg)
I generally prefer landscape orientation and also it works better for blog posts. Let me know if you prefer the portrait or landscape version. Because of the high megapixel count of modern cameras it gives a lot of leeway for this.
Photo Details
These images were taken during a 2013 workshop with one of my favourite photographers Emily Soto.
One of the things I learnt there was that having professional hair and makeup makes a huge difference to how much retouching you need to do.
So do professional wardrobe and accessories.
It also greatly speeds up the shooting process if you can have assistants to direct.
Emily let us use her team and equipment ourselves so that we could direct the lighting, reflectors etc without having to continually stop shooting and change our positions.
The end result is that a group of shots that might normally take an hour when you are alone can get done in about 5 minutes!
Unfortunately it is too expensive for most of us amateur photographers to afford such luxuries, but one way of getting around it is to attend workshops and group shoots where the costs can be divided amongst a group of photographers.
Plus you learn new techniques too!
One of the things that Emily really taught me was to be more creative in my colour editing to help create the mood of the photo.
Emily sells her own Photoshop actions called "Fashion Actions" (which you can get for free if you attend her workshops) but are also available on her website.
The great thing about them is that unlike a plugin, these actually take you through the steps to alter the colours etc in Photoshop (rather than just clicking a button), so it guides you through the process of making the changes yourself.
As a result you learn how to use these techniques yourself and can create your own actions (an action is basically a macro for PS).
You could just learn by sifting through online PS tutorials but had I known about these actions earlier I would have spent some money and saved myself a lot of time.
Details/Camera Info
- Nikon D800.
- Nikon 85mm/1.8 lens.
- Natural Light, reflectors, beauty dish.
- Edited in Photoshop.
- Model Nancy Morris.
- Clothing by Fiori Couture.
- Hair/makeup by Monic Swiatek.
- Emily Soto Workshops.
- Photography and direction - me!
Computers (and later, digital photography) has changed photography in ways that three decades ago you couldn't imagine.
Back then, you would have two camera bodies (at least) one with kodachrome and one with Pan-x. You had a dozen filters to fit on the ends of the lens, and probably a dozen lenses. Because, what you captured at the moment is what you got in the photograph.
Hundreds of feet of film were shot for a few photographs.
And you shot them all because you never knew what you had in the can until developing.
Of course, there was the fun you could have in the darkroom.
Their magic could be done, by hand, in real time.
With digital, getting the moment is the most important thing. Much of everything else can be done in post production.
Yes and in those old days if you wanted to do work in the lab you had to be an amazing artist - I hadn't realised that some of the legendary photographers like Ansel Adams used to do quite a lot of dark room editing! Photoshop speeds up a lot of those techniques and gives you completely new options too.
Im absolute trash when it comes to taking photos...
i feel like i should take the time to learn how to photoshop, at least the basics, there are so many things that can be done on the program
Yes but you need a good photo in the first place otherwise there is no point.
That is just so true. Reading through your post with all the steps that was exactly what was going through my mind the whole time, you gotta start with a great photo to begin with!
Great post, btw!
Thank you!
Great post! :) I love to play with photos in Photoshop to see how I can make the best out of them.
Cool:) I think it is fun to just experiment with it because there is so much you can do.
this is a very detailed step by step procedural post outlining how to achieve spectacular photographic effects. For a layman like me, it was quite enlightening and allowed me to see all the different decisions that go into making a beautiful photo. I can now appreciate the art that underlies this process.
BTW, to my uneducated eye, the landscape orientation seems to work best and I agree it would be preferable to use in blog posts.
A very informative and fascinating post!
Thank you!
Beautiful work. Part of my job requires me to take photos with products that have mirror surfaces. Super difficult to get the adjustments correct so the picture looks great on the internet. Thanks for this post @cryptofiend --there are several tips here that I can tell are going to help me with my job. Especially step #9 using a gradient and step #13 using grain in the photo.
You're welcome I'm glad you found it useful. You could try using a polarising filter for reflective surfaces.
I'm going to try that, never have before but I'm excited to see how it shows the product. Thanks for the tip.
You should it might not always work but it could help in some cases.
looks very nice! one day i might try to do something like that :)
You should:)
^_^
Wow great overview...very cool
Thanks glad you like it:)
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I have done a little work with RawTherapee becasue I like to shoot in raw format and then have the computer process some of the nicer ones, but Im too cheap to pay for PhotoShop :)
My problem is a basic lack of artistic talent...
So is RawTherapee an app? I haven't heard of it before.
Yeah, free to download from http://rawtherapee.com/
Thank you for this wonderful workflow review and a beautiful photo. I always do sharping last, I is sorta my finishing move, so much so that when I was first reading, some part of my brain was screaming "😲 No, NO that goes last!" LOL our habits can be funny sometimes.
Also a really good tip on paying for hair and makeup, it really does move the photo along towards the final point long before you even get it into PhotoShop.
Cheers,
@kellyjanderson
Yes normally you should but this was selective sharpening on the eyes not overall sharpening.
It can do wonders for those who know how to use it , I wish to take a class on photoshop and adobe , maybe then my pictures will come out 100 times better , plus it's a very good skill to have for the job field as well
It can make a good photo better but it can't make up a bad one look good.
Of course , just make a decent photo better and so on . Thanks for sharing this with us 👌🏽
You're welcome!
Nice tips, and I'm always interested in seeing before and after photos. I suck at using Photoshop and I definitely need to try some of these techniques. Great post! :)
You're welcome. Thanks:)
These are some of the same processes i use while doing post work for my 3d rendered art. Though I haven't tried the black and white layer contrast trick, that is really an interesting way of doing it. I may have to try that ;)
Great post and very informative, thank you for posting this!
Interesting - I suppose if you are editing a 3D image the process would be similar.
Great post! It does indeed make a huge difference when you have access to professional equipment, but like they always say, good gear is no substitute for skills and knowledge - though it sure makes things easier! :)
Yes it certainly helps but I think you can get great results even with basic equipment - just might take a bit more time.
Totally agree!
@thecryptofiend, I have recently gotten interested in photography since taking part in the #colorchallenge by @kalemandra and have absolutely no idea what I am doing, how to take a good photo or what even constitutes a good photo so was glas to see a post from yourself on the subject and thought I might pick up a few pointers but I must say that I must not have a very good eye because to me the image you started with looked exactly the same as the one you ended with. I hope that doesn't sound rude. I'm sure to the trained eye there is a great difference but I fear I may have a long way to go before I will be able to see it. :)
Thanks for the post.
Have a great day my friend!
Lol well the differences are subtle - I think the more photography you do the more sensitive you will become to them!
Like everything else I suppose. :) Cheers mate!
NP:)
I always work with Photoshop and Lightroom, and i alway use Presets for my workflow. Do you use Presets for your pictures?
Sometimes but I prefer to just tweak things myself mostly nowadays.
Really subtle changes make a menial picture look so beautiful.
Great tutorial @thecryptofiend.
I may have a go at this but unfortunately I'm not friends with any models haha
Might have a go with this with my dog or something. Close enough
Lol well group shoots are a good way of finding them. You can also try various online sites like Model Mayhem. Or you can practice on friends and family.
Really nice! I like the photograph a lot and the original photo has a lot of potential to tweek even though the original one is actually pretty amazing already! The final crop is the most amazing because it really focusses on the best part of the photo, the intense look!
Really like that you brought photoshop to Steemit! I'm familiar with Photoshop as a designer but for others it might be useful to have a short tutorial on how to edit a photo. Perhaps a next step? :D Either way I really love to read those things so thanks for sharing this!
I did lot's of PS editing tutorials early on - unfortunately there is no easy way to find them even for me.
Here are a few examples of the tutorials:
Gabriella - LR/Photoshop Workflow Part 1 - Basic Retouching and Editing
Gabriella - LR/Photoshop Workflow Part 2 - More advanced portrait editing
Black and White Conversion
Split Toning
Fixing Damaged Photos in PS
Silhouette Photography Tutorial
Silver Toning Experiments
Oh cool! Such a shame that they can't be found that easily anymore though :(. I've check them the out and your photography is stunning. You really have a talent for it as well!
I do think that if you do some more and new tutorials now, that people would really love it! Your follower count has grown and there are way more users now. People can really benefit from that knowledge!
I will see as I don't have as much time these days and those tutorials can take a few days to put together.
Great work ^^ I was previously doing photo editing myself but gave up in time.. Here is one of my sticks.
Cheers and much love
Beautiful:)
Having a great photo originally is very important! That is one of the problems I have! Taking or finding others who can take high quality photos! Luckily the cameras these days are better than ever thanks to technology!
Yes absolutely - you can't blame the camera!
first of all i would like to give a compliment to this beautiful pic really its so beautiful , secondly i want to say that you are 100% right now a days now technology is going so much advance now and we can save and make our photos more great by using these type of photoshop softwares, but one thing i want to share that only this is not the whole thing that we can make ophotos great this is so important that the person who is working on such softwares should have the full knowledge of that softwares because if we have no knowledge of that photoshop soft ware our pics can damage and can be more ugly than before, so we can get guidelines from the experts before doing this work which you did so much effeciently and one thing more there are hundreds of free apps on android which are easy and which are made for the people to guide them about photoshop a new user should use that apps before doing this professional work that will be more feasible for all of them and in last i praise your efforts you make this phote from good to great no doubt but this is the technique and proper knowledge of your which you have not every one can do it without knowing it , its great effort dear keep it up
Thank you!
great work , you can also use Camera Raw plugin in photoshop , it has many settings which are really pro and useful , and adding some sharpness and clarity will make it more clear , great work man
Thanks!
Congratulations @thecryptofiend!
Your post was mentioned in the hit parade in the following category:
Thanks!
But what if the image and the subject of the image is already perfect?
Lol well in that case it is unnecessary!
What an informative article . Ill be consulting it I assure you .
Thank you:)
Great share! if you happen to do another quick tutorial with Photoshop. I would be interested to know how to use panoramic pics and turn them into 360 degree photos while keeping the original photo intact and not morphing the image in polarize side or a tiny planet.. Just a thought!!!! will follow
You know it is not something I have never done myself. I should maybe try it next time I'm out and about. I think most phones software does this.
Thanks for responding - but actually not... I know I would have to use photoshop probably break the panoramic photo into 6 to 8 panels and slightly stretch the images and reshape the panels into triangles, but still maintain the integrity of the shot ... Problem I not so good with photoshop...
I think there will probably be a video tutorial on Youtube somewhere. The other thing is if you want to learn about such things I would recommend a subscription to KelbyOne : https://kelbyone.com/
Thank you I will look into it.
That's a lot of tweaking but the end product was really striking and dramatic. Initially, I thought the original photo was great in itself and as I followed through the steps you took, I was surprised at how much adjustments were made. Makes me wonder about magazine pictures (and those with fantastic Instagram snaps).
Magazine photos are usually heavily retouched. Instagram photos tend to just have filters applied to them, although mobile phone photos tend to come out a lot sharper and more vivid from scratch due to the jpeg filters used.
Nice work. I have very limited knowledge when it comes to photoshop, although I would love to learn how to use it proficiently. Thanks for explaining what each step accomplished.
No problem - if you look in some of the other comments I have posted some links to some of my old tutorials which go through the basics and explain some of these things in more detail.
Awesome. I will absolutely check those out. Thank you.
Great:)
Great tutorial! I will use those techniques next time I take a nice picture.
Cool:)
This will come in handy for my own picture taking. Thank you for sharing. :-)
You're welcome:)
Batman, we would to see your photos of the bat cave.
The end result is simply fantastic. It gives much more life to the photo.
Thank you!
Yea, you can do great stuff in photoshop if you know some tricks. But also there are so many very easy filters and presets what make your life way easier. I also like to work in Lightroom. Give a lot of possibility).
Yes filters do save time.
I like the colors what you got in the end. Looks cool) Good job)
Thank you!
I like post..i like you i like you
Thank you.
Beautiful, she looked even more angelic by the time you were done. I am absolutely crap with photoshop, I get so frustrated with it...probably just my own massive impatience.
Thank you!
Practice makes perfect.
Awesome information thanks for sharing my friend.
You're welcome!
*im on mobile phone - cant bookmark. Just commenting to bookmark - dont mind me :)
NP:)
Hi @thecryptofiend You Have God Skill.
Teach me Please,, Your best
That is very kind. You might like these old tutorials:
Gabriella - LR/Photoshop Workflow Part 1 - Basic Retouching and Editing
Gabriella - LR/Photoshop Workflow Part 2 - More advanced portrait editing
Black and White Conversion
Split Toning
Fixing Damaged Photos in PS
Silhouette Photography Tutorial
Silver Toning Experiments
Amazing post.
No.
I'm so SORRY, i apology to u，i will never try that again, can u remove the flag? Sorry
Don't stress I removed it. It was only a 1% flag anyway. I don't normally flag but telling people not to do it has not worked so I have started flagging people at 1% to get their attention.
Ok,thank u very much.
Dammm that much transformation i can't believe wow
Thanks!
Very nice! You are a real artist. Not all can do that. Need some artistic skills!
Thank you:)
You are really good at what you do. Lovely skill you got. I'm resteemimg this
Thank you:)
This is nice article . I really love this article
Very nice skill! I am also a designer. Photoshop is my favourite app for photo editing.
Cool.
Well written and informative. Thank you for posting this. Steem On! :)
Thanks mate glad you found it useful:)
@thecryptofiend - Complete wizardery!!! What a transformation you have brought about in the images. I feel that I have miles and miles to go in learning about enhancing my photographs. All I learnt so far has been some rudimentary filtering and GIF making. Looking at the work of masters like you is inspiring and frustrating (because I am way behind) at the same time. However, I will focus on the inspiration part and keep learning. It has been a journey for me so far to learn blogging, formatting and various photo related skills to follow my passion. I have enjoyed it and keep working on the challenge. Thanks for this informative and inspirational blog. Upvoted.
Update at my end is that I have posted a blog with Original GIFs of 💕𝓐 𝓓𝓪𝓽𝓮 𝔀𝓲𝓽𝓱 𝓛𝓲o𝓷𝓮𝓼𝓼𝓮𝓼 that you may find interesting. I would be honored if you visit my blogs and take a look. Your valuable comments will be eagerly awaited. Thanks
Thank you:)
Oh - I did not even expect a reply to my comment among the flood of comments but could not help commenting anyway. Thanks for acknowledging. I always look forward to your blogs. I especially liked your Artrage creations.
NP thanks. I just saw your lion post - that is pretty amazing. Someday I hope to see such creatures in the wild myself.
Let me know when you plan to travel to Africa. Perhaps we can travel together and track a few lionesses. Perhaps that will be our bucket list task? LOL
Thank you for your appreciation. Your visits to my blog are an honor.
That would be awesome!
Very nice info dear friend :)Up&Resteem
Thanks!
Welcome!
:)
Photoshop is my nemesis. If I don’t use it for like one day, I forget every option I’ve learned.
I think that is true of most things - you have to keep it up.
Great article!
Thank you!
The Photoshop application really often invents another thing into a beautiful product and to master its use can make A Da Vinci out of anyone.