Photoshop for Digital Photographers » Photoshop for Photo Manipulation

High Key Black and White in Adobe Photoshop

admin — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 17:57:38 +0000

In this tutorial, you will learn how to use Photoshop to create high key black and white. The process is very simple and you can apply to any photos.

Please follow the steps below:

1. Open your image

2. Go to Image>Adjustments>Desaturate

3. Your photo will look like this.

4. Select Image>Adjustments>Curves

5. Adjust curve to increase brightness and press OK.

6. Your image look brighter.

7. Go to Layer Pallet and press Crtl + J for Window or Cmd + J for Mac to duplicate a layer

8. This is the duplicated layer.

9. Select Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur

10. Adjust radius of Gaussian blur to 40 pixels. Then pressure OK.

11. Change a layer mode to Overlay

12. Your image looks brighter with more contrast.

13. Add layer mask from the layer pallet

14. Select brush from the tool pallet and select black as foreground

15. Mask the dark area by painting black.

16. At the layer pallet, you should see mask like this.

17. This is the final result from this tutorial.

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Create High Dynamic Range Photos in Photoshop

admin — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 17:49:55 +0000

This tutorial will demonstrate you how to create high dynamic range (HDR) photos using Photoshop. High dynamic range photos are photos which has more tonal range than normal photos. Simply say that you will be able to see more color tones with this kind of photo.

Let’s learn about basic details.

1. Let’s take a look at this shot.

You can see that there is no detail in the shadow area but the highlight area has all detail. The typical photo looks like this.

2. Before going into details, I want to get you more detail how HDR is created. HDR can be done with several photography programs as Photoshop, Photomatrix, etc. The concept is to merge several exposure values into one photo; therefore, you need take photos with several exposures in order to get a lot of details from shadow to highlight.

- Set your camera firmly on a tripod.

- Take several photos with several exposures as -3, -2, -1, 0, 1, 2, 3 stop. You need at least three shots (under exposure, correct exposure, over exposure) in order to get good shadow and high light detail. For this example, I take a total of 5 shots.

Let’s go to Photoshop.

1. Go to File>Automate>Merge to HDR.

2. The pop up will be show and you need to select “Browse”.

3. Select photos and check the box “Attempt to Automatically Align Source Image”, then press OK.

4. Photoshop initially merge all photos for you. Your result will look like this.

5. On this example, you can see that there are two areas where color is not good due to merging.

6. I get rid of some exposure values (EV +3, EV0 and EV -1.32). This depends on your image. You may not need to do it or you may need to get rid of some like I do. You also can adjust brightness of this photo by sliding the bar located at the top right.

7. Change bit depth. There are 3 options which are 32 Bit/Channel, 16 Bit/Channel and 8 Bit/Channel. You need to select either 16 Bit/Channel or 8 Bit/Channel because they give you more options to adjust the final image. I select 16 Bit/Channel.

8. HDR conversion pop up will be shown. There are four methods for adjusting your image as Exposure and Gamma, Highlight Compression, Equalize Histogram and Local Adaption.

9. Exposure and Gamma is used to adjust brightness and contrast by sliding the Exposure and Gamma bar.

10. Highlight Compression- with this option, you are not able to change any parameters.

11. Equalize Histogram – with this option, you are not able to change any parameters as well.

12. Local Adaption – it is the best option and I recommend you to use it because it has a curve providing more flexibility to adjust brightness/contrast. Moreover, you can change Radius and Threshold as well. Try to play with this option until you feel satisfied with the result and then press OK.

13. This is the final result.

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Change hair color using Photoshop

admin — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 04:31:10 +0000

I have not been writing Photoshop articles for awhile and today I would like to share how to use the Photoshop to change hair color. Let’s take a book before/after photo.

1. Open your image.

2. Select the Magnetic Lasso Tool from a Tool Pallet. The reason that I select the Magnetic Lasso Tool because this tool will help you create selection easily.

3. Draw the Magnetic Lasso Tool around hair. This tool will create the path automatically based on contrast between colors; therefore, you will be able to create selection pretty easy.

4. Draw the Magnetic Lasso Tool around and double click to create selection around the hair.

5. Go to Select>Modify>Feather or press Alt +Ctrl +D

6. Input feather value. I use 10 pixels. This step is to create smooth selection.

7. Go to Layer>New Fill Layer>Solid Color

8. Change mode to Soft Light, then press OK

9. Color pallet will be popped up and you can select color which will be hair color. For this example, I select brown.

10. You will see that you already have the girl with brown hair. However, you need to fix some part of her hair.

11. Go to the layer pallet and select the Layer Mask area

12. Select brush tool and assign white as brush color

13. Adjust its size and opacity. For this step, you may need to trial and error for few times in order to get the right brush size.

14. Please remember that painting white is used to add details. It means that we will paint into some area where hair is not brown yet. On the other hand, painting black is used to hide some details and we use it for some parts which we don’t want brown. For this step, you need to practice using brush and layer mask. There may be few times of trial and error before you get satisfied result. Try to paint until you get a good result.

15. If you want to change colors, you can go to the layer pallet. Double click at the color fill layer

16. Change colors and click OK.

17. This is new hair color.

I wish this tutorial would be helpful for you.

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Create Frosted Pixels in Photoshop

admin — Wed, 11 May 2011 15:38:04 +0000

This tutorial shows you how to use Photoshop to crate frosted pixels. You can see the example below.

Please follow some simple and easy-to-follow instructions.

1. Open your image.

2. Go to Layer Pallet and select “Background” Layer. Press Ctrl + J (Win) or Cmd + J (Mac) to duplicate the layer.

3. This is the duplicated layer.

4. Change mode to Overlay.

5. Go to Filter> Pixelate> Mosaic

6. Set Cell Size. For this example, I set at 95 then press OK.

7. Your image will look like this.

8. Go to Layer Pallet select “Layer 1”. Press Ctrl + J (Win) or Cmd + J (Mac) to duplicate the layer.

9. You will get the “Layer 1 Copy”. Change mode to Multiply and adjust Opacity to 75 %.

10. Go to Filter> Stylize> Find Edges. This step will create edges of tiles. In order to see the tile edges clearly, you may need to repeat this filter few times.

11. After applying the filter few times, your image should look like this.

12. Go to Filter> Blur> Gaussian Blur

13. Adjust Radius and press OK. I adjust radius to 7 pixel.

This is final image after processing in Photoshop.

I wish you would enjoy reading this tutorial.

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Simply Create Duo Tone In Photoshop

admin — Wed, 04 May 2011 18:51:53 +0000

This tutorial demonstrates how to simply create duo tone photos in Photoshop.

Please follow the step-by-step.

1. Open your image.

2. Go Layer Pallet, select adjustment layer and choose Hue/Saturation

3. You will see Hue/Saturation window.

4. Check the Colorize box.

5. Adjust Hue/Saturation/Brightness until you feel satisfied with the result, then press OK. For this example, I use the following parameters

Hue = 5, Saturation = 71, Lightness =0

6. This is the reddish tone.

7. This is blue tone.

8. This is bright yellow tone.

Let’s apply this tutorial to process your photos.

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Dramatic Blending Effect in Photoshop

admin — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 03:14:01 +0000

In this tutorial, I will show you how to blend layer in Photoshop in order to add a dramatic and gritty effect. Let’s take a look at the images below and please following these step-by-step instructions.

1. Open your image.

2. Go to a layer pallet. Drag the Background layer over the new layer in order to duplicate the Background layer

3. You will get a duplicated layer called “Background copy”.

4. Go to Filter>Other>High Pass

5. Adjust radius. For this tutorial, I use a radius of 6.

6. Go to the layer pallet and change mode to Overlay.

7. Go to the layer pallet. Drag the Background layer over the new layer in order to duplicate the Background layer. For this time, you will get another duplicate layer called “Background copy2”

8. Move “Background copy2” to the very top the layer list.

9. After moving it, you should see something like this at your layer pallet.

10. Go to Image>Adjustments>Desaturate

11. Change mode to Hard Light.

12. Your image will look similar to this one.

13. Click at a small triangle icon and select “Flatten Image” in order to merge all layers.

14. Go to the layer pallet. Drag the Background layer over the new layer in order to duplicate the Background layer.

15. Go to Filter>Other>High Pass

16. Adjust radius. For this tutorial, I use a radius of 6.

17. Go to the layer pallet and change mode to Overlay.

18. Click at a small triangle icon and select “Flatten Image” in order to merge all layers again.

19. Go to Filter>Distort>Lens Correction

20. Adjust amount of vignette. I use vignette of -65. You can adjust the value and see the result until you feel satisfied with it.

21. The effect looks like this image.

I wish this tutorial would help you create dramatic photos.

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Create Color Sketch in Photoshop

admin — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 03:29:33 +0000

You can easily create color sketch in Photoshop. Let’s take a look at the example below and follow detailed instructions.

1. Open a photo.

2. Go to a layer pallet and drag the background layer over a new layer icon in order to duplicate layer.

3. You will get the duplicated layer.

4. Go to Image>Adjustments>Desaturate

5. You will get the black and white tone like this.

6. Drag the black and white layer over the new layer icon.

7. You will get another black and white layer.

8. Go to Image>Adjustments>Invert

9. You will see your image like this.

10. Go to layer pallet and change mode to Color Dodge

11. Everything is white. Don’t worry.

12. Go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur

13. Adjust radius until you feel good with the result from the preview screen. For this example, I use the radius of 6.5.

14. The photo looks like pencil drawing.

15. Press Shift + Ctrl + Alt + E to create a duplicated layer.

16. Change mod to Multiply and reduce Opacity to 70%

17. Go to the background layer. Drag this layer over the new layer icon.

18. You will get the duplication of the background layer.

19. Drag this layer to the top most.

20. Change mode to Color and reduce its opacity to 70%.

21. This is the final effect – color sketch in Photoshop.

Have fun with photo manipulation.

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Create Circular Fish Eye Photos in Photoshop

admin — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 03:01:33 +0000

Yesterday, I went to the photography shop and tested a Circular fish eye lens. I was so fascinated with its effect but I still could not effort it. Anyway, I can simulate circular fish eye effect in Photoshop. Let’s take a look at an example below and try to follow some instruction to crate this effect.

1. Open your image.

2. Go to the tool pallet and select a marquee tool (circular style).

3. Press shift and draw a circle.

4. Go to Filter>Distort>Spherize.

5. Input 100% for Amount then press OK.

6. You will see the photo look like this.

7. Go to Select>Inverse

8. You will get selection like this.

9. Go to Edit>Fill

10. Select Black and press OK

11. You will get a black background.

12. Go to Select>Deselect.

13. Select Crop Tool from Tool Pallet.

14. Draw the area where you want to crop and press Enter to Crop.

15. This is the final result.

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Selective Color Technique In Adobe Photoshop

admin — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 17:40:11 +0000

You may have seen some photos that the certain objects have color but the background is either black or another color tone. I would like to share this Photoshop Tip regarding how to process this kind of photo.

1. Select “Gradient Map” from layer pallet

2. Select gradient from black to white

3. Add layer mask into the adjustment layer, “Gradient Map” layer.

4. Hide the “Gradient Map” layer and select “Background” layer. Then select “Magnetic Lasso Tool” for the tool pallet in order to make selection. I set tool parameters as follows: Feather 0 px, Width 10 px, Edge Contrast 5% and frequency 57.

5. Draw selection around a selected object. This tool will help you create the selection because it will create the selection based on contrast along the edge of the object. Let’s try play with that.

6. Go back and open “Gradient Map” layer. Select layer mask in the “Gradient Map” layer.

7. Press Alt+Del to fill black into the layer mask.

8. Zoom into your photo so you may see some details on the edge of object are not smooth enough. Select brush, adjust size and hardness that match with area you need to correct. Paint back onto areas where you want to show color and paint white onto areas where you want to show back/white.

This step is take time and effort because you need to zoom and look around your object in order to make detail correction. From this example, you will see that I have details on the edge and details on the head of the robot to correct

9. After finishing correction, you will see the result like this.

10. Moreover, you may try to change color of “Gradient Map” layer in order to change background color.

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Oil Painting with Art History Brush in Adobe Photoshop

admin — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 14:36:12 +0000

You can create oil painting photos by using Art History Brush in Adobe Photoshop. It may be a little bit difficult for you at the first time following this method. After you feel familiar with it, you can modify or change the steps to create unlimited styles of oil painting photos. Let’s see before and after digital darkroom process.

1. Copy background layer. You drag your “Background” layer over the new layer icon in order to duplicate “Background” Layer. You will get “Background copy” layer over the “Background” layer.

2. Change the mode of “Background copy” layer from normal to overlay in order to increase contrast of overall photo.

3. Flatten image.

4. Create new layer by just simply click a creating new layer from the layer pallet (see the photo below). You will get “Layer1” over “Background” layer.

5. Select foreground from the tool pallet. For this step, you can pick any color as foreground because it will used as a guideline for painting so I pick yellow.

6. Press Alt+Del in order to fill foreground into the Layer1 and change its opacity to 50%.

7. This step is very important. Select “Art History Brush” from the tool pallet. Then go to History Pallet and select the step called Flatten Image. The reason why we need to assign our “Art History Brush” to “Flatten Image” because the history brush will use the photo from the history, “Flatten Image” in this case, to create texture.

8. Adjust brush parameters as follows: Size 30 px, Opacity 100%, Style: Tight Short, Area 20 px, Tolerance 0%. Then paint into “Layer1” painted with yellow. I paint only the face area because I select small brush size.

Note: The brush size is adjustable and the parameter in this step is just only guide line.

9. Adjust brush parameters as follows: Size 100 px, Opacity 100%, Style: Tight Curl, Area 20 px, Tolerance 5%. Then paint into “Layer1”. I paint only the body area because I select bigger brush size than step 8.

10. Adjust brush parameters as follows: Size 200 px, Opacity 100%, Style: Tight Curl, Area 20 px, Tolerance 5%. I select bigger brush size than step#9. I paint only the background area because I select bigger brush size than step 9.

11. This step is optional. After applying big brush size (step#10), you can see that some details on the singer face and hair are lost due to bigger painting over them. You can fix this problem easily. The basic idea is to use small brush size to paint over the damaged areas. Adjust brush parameters as follows: Size 20 px, Opacity 100%, Style: Tight Curl, Area 20 px, Tolerance 5% then paint over the areas where the details are destroyed such as hair, face and microphone area.

12. Duplicate “Background” layer by just simply dragging “Background” layer over the new layer icon.

13. Apply “Find Edge” filter: Filter>Stylize>Find Edge

14. Desaturate this layer: Image>Adjustments>Desaturate

15. Move this layer to the top. Change mode from Normal to Multiply and reduce opacity to 60%. After completion of this step, you will see that your photo has pencil line created around.

16. Select “Eraser Tool” from the tool pallet in order to delete some rough edge areas.

17. Change the eraser style. I select the style that looks like sand painting.

18. Delete some rough edge areas. For this case, I use the eraser tool to delete some areas of her hair, nose, hand, etc.

19. Moreover, you can increase facial detail of this singer. Select Layer1, select eraser for this case I still use the eraser style as same as step#16 but I reduce size of eraser to 20 px and opacity to 20%. More opacity you select, you facial detail will show.

20. Apply eraser tool over her face so that some facial details are recovered.

You may see that there are a lot of steps but some steps can be skipped depending on you. Let’s try and have fun with it.