DIY Photography

Your one stop shop for everything photo-video

  • News
  • Inspiration
  • Reviews
  • Tutorials
  • DIY
  • Gear
Search

Submit A Story

Ten Photoshop tips in under ten minutes to help you improve any photo

Jan 11, 2018 by Dunja Djudjic 2 Comments

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

What I like about Photoshop is that there often several ways to get the result you want. Nathaniel Dodson of Tutvid shares some of his favorite techniques for performing different kinds of enhancements, from converting photos to black and white to cleaning up skin. In this video, you’ll see plenty of useful and quick techniques to add to your bag of tricks.

1. A quick way to boost contrast

A quick method to add contrast is to add a Levels adjustment layer and set the blending mode to Soft Light. Use the opacity slider to reduce the contrast if you want to tone it down.

2. Sharpening

The best way to sharpen a photo, according to Nathaniel, is to open the file in Camera Raw and use the Sharpen option there. The trick is to hold the Alt/Option key as you move the sliders because this allows you to see what the Sharpening tool is doing. Do the same for the Masking slider to choose the areas you want to sharpen (we’ve mentioned it here).

3. Enhancing sunrises and sunsets

Nathaniel’s preferred method of enhancing sunrise and sunset photos is adding a Color Balance adjustment layer. Play around with the midtones until you get the result you want. You can check out another method here, which uses a Channel Mixer adjustment layer.

4. Cleaning up skin

As you know, there are plenty of ways to retouch skin. Nathaniel’s favorite method is this one: copy the image and use the Healing Brush tool (not the Spot Healing Brush). Set the Sample to “Current & Below” and heal away those blemishes. You can use a larger healing brush to heal larger areas, such as wrinkles or bags under the eyes. After doing this, you can reduce the opacity of the layer, which will keep skin natural-looking but tone down the imperfections.

5. How to change the color of anything

Here’s a handy technique to change the color of any object in your image. Add a Solid Color adjustment layer and choose the color you like. Press Ctrl/Cmd + I to invert the layer mask, and set the layer’s blending mode to Hue or Color. Then, set your foreground color to white and use the Brush tool to paint over the object whose color you want to change.

A similar technique can be used for colorizing black and white photos; you can check it out here.

6. Faded photo effect

The “faded look” seems to be the trend now. It doesn’t always work, but if you want to try it out, here’s how to do it. Add a Curves adjustment layer to your image and pull up the dark point. At about 80% brightness pull the curve down a bit, and then boost the highlights to around 40% brightness. You can adjust the color channels as well, and you can see more on this method here.

7. Quickly relight the scene

If you want to change the balance of light in your photo, start by adding a Gradient Fill layer. Choose the foreground to transparent, and have your foreground color set to black. Set the angle to 90 degrees and drag it so you darken the bottom part of the image. Repeat the process with white foreground color and the angle of -90 degrees, so the top part of the image is brightened up. Set the blending mode of both layers to Soft Light and use the sliders to dial them in and make the effect look more natural.

8. The best black & white technique

According to Nathaniel, this is his favorite method of converting a photo to black and white. Set your foreground color to white and add a Gradient Map adjustment layer. Your photo will be inverted. Now, hit Ctrl/Cmd + J to copy the adjustment layer, and you’ll get a contrasty b&w image.

9. Realistic lens flares

If you want to add some lens flare to your image, start by adding a new layer and setting its blending mode to Linear Dodge (Add). Double-click on that layer to open a dialog box, and check Transparency Shapes layer. Now grab a large, soft brush, set the foreground color to white and paint in the flares wherever you think your photo needs them.

10. Cinematic tone and contrast

If you want to add some cinematic toning to your photos, you can use Gradient Map adjustment layer. Nathaniel uses moviesincolor.com to copy a photo from a movie with the tones he likes. Then, he adds a Gradient Map adjustment layer and sets it to Soft Light blending mode. Opening the gradient lets you change the colors, and now you can sample the colors from the image you copied. Use darker tones for the shadows and brighter ones for the highlights. Of course, you can select your own colors and get the look you like.

[10 PHOTOSHOP Tricks to Improve ANY Photo via LensVid]

FIND THIS INTERESTING? SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS!

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Related posts:

Learn how to shape light with flags in under ten minutes This video helps you master five primary lighting patterns in under ten minutes New to Pen Tool? This tutorial will help you master it in under 8 minutes Ten pro photography tips I wish I knew ten years ago

Filed Under: Tutorials Tagged With: Enhance, Nathaniel Dodson, Photoshop, Tutvid

Dunja Djudjic: from diyphotography.net

About Dunja Djudjic

Dunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

« Yuneec’s Typhon H Plus updates flagship drone with higher resolution, higher fps and lower noise
How to stabilise shaky footage without using warp stabiliser »

Submit A Story

Get our FREE Lighting Book

DIYP lighting book cover

* download requires newsletter signup
DIYPhotography

Recent Comments

Free Resources

Advanced lighting book

Recent Posts

  • Here’s a bullet time video booth you can build yourself
  • Ricoh has discontinued the HD PENTAX-DA 21mm F3.2AL Limited silver lens
  • This “stellar flower” unravels the twilight’s evolution in 360 degrees
  • Strobes vs Continuous LEDs – Which is right for you?
  • Wave goodbye to Apple’s My Photo Stream next month

Udi Tirosh: from diyphotography.netUdi Tirosh is an entrepreneur, photography inventor, journalist, educator, and writer based in Israel. With over 25 years of experience in the photo-video industry, Udi has built and sold several photography-related brands. Udi has a double degree in mass media communications and computer science.

Alex Baker: from diyphotography.netAlex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe

David Williams: from diyphotography.netDave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.

John Aldred: from diyphotography.netJohn Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.

Dunja Djudjic: from diyphotography.netDunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

Copyright © DIYPhotography 2006 - 2023 | About | Contact | Advertise | Write for DIYP | Full Disclosure | Privacy Policy