At one time, computer photo processing was considered a rather controversial idea. The capabilities of programs like Photoshop for photo processing were used very carefully, almost secretly. So as not to end up being accused of a “not real” photo. But now photo processing is a completely natural process, and if there are disputes, it is only regarding what is considered the limit of reasonable processing.
Be that as it may, below are 6 basic steps to make your photo better using a photo editor. We can say that this is a template scheme for basic image processing. The steps are listed in the most convenient sequence, from first to last.
For example, sometimes it is worth cropping a photo first so as not to waste time processing areas that will still end up outside the frame.
You don't have to apply all the steps to every image. For example, if the image is well exposed, you may not need to adjust the levels.
The steps below are just to keep them in mind as general scheme, which is used for processing. Upon completion of the work, we recommend clicking “ save as" and save the result under a different name. This way, you will always have the original photo if you need to change or do something differently.
For most of the actions listed below, you don’t even need Photoshop; almost any photo editor, even those built into photo viewers, allows you to perform these operations. In this article, as an example, we use a “light” version of Photoshop - Adobe Photoshop Elements
Step 1. Framing the photo
The cropping operation (crop) is available in any photo editor. When you select the crop tool, a frame usually appears on the photo, which you can drag by the squares on the corners or sides. This way you can choose what will be included in the frame and what will be left out of the frame. In addition, you can level the horizon by making a rotational movement in the area of the corner squares of the frame.
Also note that in some editors, the cropping tool has a grid that divides the image into 9 equal parts. This is very convenient for adjusting the photo to the rule of thirds.
Step 2. Removing traces of dust
If you have a digital SLR, dust often gets on the matrix. Especially when replacing one lens with another. The easiest way to notice dust is in a monochromatic photo taken with a clamped aperture. For example, at f/16 and higher, dust will be visible in the sky as a blurry dark spot.
The tighter the aperture is, the clearer the spot.
Such spots in visible areas of the image can be removed with the Healing Brush tool (Lightroom, Photoshop, etc.) or with a “stamp” ( Clone Stamp)
Step 3. Levels or curve
To make a photo more interesting, sometimes it is worth increasing the contrast, making the light areas of the image lighter and the dark areas darker.
The easiest tool to do this is to use the Levels tool, a more complex one is Curves.
Actually curves, the tool is not much more complex, but does require an understanding of what you are doing.
Everything is simple in the levels. In fact, you just need to look at the histogram and drag the leftmost (black) triangle to its left edge, and the right (white) triangle to its right. Or use the Auto Levels function
Step 4: Increase Saturation
The next step could be to increase the color saturation (Saturation). The picture will become more juicy and bright.
The most important thing here is not to overdo it. A photo with exaggeratedly bright flashy colors looks unnatural and cheap.
Step 5. Convert to black and white
Black and white photographs have always been valued in photography. Try converting the photo to black and white, maybe it will benefit from it.
It is worth considering that high-quality conversion to black and white images is not as simple as it seems. Therefore, for this purpose, it makes sense to use presets or ready-made solutions (plugins, actions, etc.) if the editor has them.
Step 6: Sharpening
Most digital photographs require sharpening of the image. How much sharpening depends on the specific photo and its purpose. For display on a computer screen - one thing, for printing - another.
Depending on the editor, one or more parameters working together may be responsible for increasing sharpness.
Summarize
As already written at the beginning, the purpose of this article is not to tell in detail how to process a photograph, but to outline a typical scheme of sequential actions that is usually followed when processing a photograph.
Let's repeat all the steps briefly:
- Crop and Rotate
- Removing traces of dust on the matrix
- Correcting levels or curve
- Increasing color saturation
- Try converting it to black and white
- Sharpen
Photoshop is the most famous graphic editor that opens up wide possibilities for photo processing. Almost everyone who has a computer is aware of its existence. Professional photographers and advanced amateurs know how to process a photo in Photoshop. But what should a beginner who has never done this before do?
There is an opinion that the interface of this program is complicated, and not every beginner will be able to figure it out on their own. In fact, Photoshop is good not only as a graphic editor, but also as an example of optimized usability. This applies to a greater extent to the famous versions CS5 and CS6. By the way, in any of the modern versions the main set of tools does not have any major differences.
The main menu is located at the top of the program window. Using it you can control the capabilities of Photoshop. On the left side there is a panel of tools necessary for processing photos. On the right is a panel of layers, corrections, masks, text, etc. In the future, it will be possible to set the required set of panels as desired using the “window” section in the top menu by checking the boxes next to the required panels.
What can you find out in the article?
In the photo processing wizard section, a beginner will learn how materials from Adobe Photoshop software will help to qualitatively change photographs: create a vintage effect, correct appearance, remove problem areas, work with the subject and background, turn a photo into a drawing with pencils or oil paints. Place the result in a beautiful frame and enjoy the result. Here you will learn some valuable lessons on photo editing. Learn how to work with basic retouching functions, masks, layers. Get acquainted with useful tricks for using tools, speeding up Photoshop, using adjustment layers to create black and white photographs, portrait photos, landscape decoration, and movie effects.
Experts will talk about the main differences between Photoshop versions CS5 and CS6. You will learn what computer hardware requirements are needed for fast and efficient work programs, power performance calculations.
Knowledge gained and useful secrets will help you create work no worse than that of professional designers of glossy magazines.
Beginning of work
For a beginner, it will be most convenient to use the Russified version of the program. In this case self-study its capabilities will be close to intuitive, the interface is so convenient. If Photoshop is on English language, then you can download and apply the crack to it.
To start working with a photo, you need to open it through the “file” menu, “open” or drag it with the mouse into the program window.
Removing imperfections from a portrait
For many people, their acquaintance with Photoshop begins with the desire to embellish a photo of a person - themselves or their girlfriend, girlfriend or boyfriend. That’s when they wonder how to process a photo in Photoshop.
First of all, it is necessary to clean the person’s skin in the photo if it has pimples and other irregularities. To do this, use a set of tools from the left side of the program window: “stamp”, “healing brush” and “patch”.
For more accurate work, you need to enlarge the image using the ctrl + key combination. Then select the “stamp” tool, determine the desired size of the tool by decreasing or increasing it using the [ and ] keys. Next, you need to left-click while holding alt on the spot next to the pimple. The “stamp” will acquire a gradient base for the copied location; now you can click on the point to be deleted. This is what you need to do with all the small imperfections of the skin.
If imperfections are minor, you can remove them with a spot healing brush. By the way, it, a regular healing brush and a patch are located in the same cell of the toolbar; you can make one or another tool active by right-clicking on the cell.
You can correct highlights and larger skin irregularities using the patch tool, selecting the desired object and transferring the outline to a nearby area of the photo that is similar in color. Errors in the operation of the stamp can also be corrected with this tool. By the way, the “patch” will also help if you need to remove unnecessary larger details from the photo, for example, a person who accidentally got into the frame.
When processing, it is important not to forget about other areas of exposed skin - the neck and arms.
When processing a photo that is fairly clean in terms of defects, a novice “Photoshopper” will only need to remove imperfections using a spot healing brush.
Aligning a face in Photoshop
This stage of processing is necessary if you want to slightly transform the portrait and remove irregularities.
To align the face, you need to copy the current layer using the keyboard shortcut ctrl + j. Next, you need to go to the “filters” section of the top menu, select “blur”, “Gaussian blur”. In the window that appears, set the pixel values to no more than 5 - 8. The photo will “blur”, this is what you need. The next step is to convert this layer into a black mask. To do this, find the “layer mask” button at the bottom of the layers panel and, while holding alt, click on it with the left mouse button. The image will become clear again. Now, in order to erase all the unevenness of the skin and smooth it out, you need to select the “brush” tool in the left panel of the program window, select a convenient brush size and carefully work on the entire skin of the face, neck and arms. It is important not to touch the lips and nose openings. Otherwise, the photograph risks losing its naturalness.
After careful study, you need to set the “opacity” slider in the upper right corner of the panel to values from 30 to 50%, depending on your desire. After this action, the photo will take on a more natural look.
To make the processed face even closer to natural, and so that no one would guess that the photo had to be processed in Photoshop , you need to add a little noise to the cleaned areas. To do this, you first need to merge 2 layers into one by right-clicking on the top layer and selecting “merge with previous” from the menu. Then, copy the layer, in the “filters”, “noise” menu, find the “add noise” option, set the values to approximately 2 - 2.5. Next, create a black mask and work on all areas of the skin with the brush tool.
After this, the portrait retouching can be completed. If you want to correct the color of the photo, blur the background beautifully, you can use the following tips.
Saturation
Professionals try not to use automatic color correction functions when they need to edit a photo in Photoshop. They have their secrets. Here's one of them.
To make your photo acquire rich, rich colors, you can do the following:
— convert the photo to the LAB color space (“Image”, “mode”, “LAB”);
— make a duplicate layer (key combination ctrl and J);
— go to the menu “image”, “correction”, “curves”;
— in the window that appears in channels a and b, change the position of the pointers in turn: the bottom point - by 1 division towards the center, without breaking away from the bottom line, the top point - by 1 division towards the center, without looking away from the top line.
The result is an oversaturated image. To smooth out this oversaturation, you need to select the “overlay” blending mode in the layers panel, then set the layer transparency to around 20 - 35%, depending on your desire.
After this, you need to merge the layers and convert the image back to RGB.
The skills described above are some of the basic ones and can help you process a photo in Photoshop quite efficiently.
How to process a photo in Photoshop CS6
Naturally, different versions Adobe Photoshop programs have some differences. In some cases, very noticeable. Professionals in photo processing say that, for example, versions CS5 and CS6 are significantly different. However, a beginner will not notice these differences, since they exist in areas that he cannot yet reach. The changes concern working with 3D, drawing tools, automatic functions such as auto-correction, distortion correction and some other functions. In addition, the program interface has changed from the usual light gray color to dark.
For a beginner, processing a photo in Photoshop CS6 will be as easy as in CS5. By the way, thanks to the updated frame tool, cropping a photo is easier. And the auto-correction modes have become more “smart”.
And color correction in this version is more advanced, so processing a photo in Photoshop CS6 may be more pleasant than in previous versions. Working in this application also places demands on the computer hardware - working with graphics requires a lot of computing power. Therefore, comfortable work without “brakes” is guaranteed on modern machines with a powerful processor and large capacity random access memory, and even better - with a good video processor.
© 2013 site
This article is a logical continuation of the article “How to use Adobe Camera Raw”, which describes the basics of editing RAW files.
Everything that can be done with a photograph within Adobe Camera Raw should be done there: it is this approach that will minimize quality loss. First of all, this concerns global changes in brightness, contrast and color saturation. Almost any manipulation in Photoshop leads to some degradation of the image, while RAW converters non-destructive editing. In other words, try to ensure that the photo that comes out of ACR is as close as possible to the final idea, and leave the finishing touches, so to speak, to Photoshop, i.e. removal of foreign objects, local brightening and darkening, delicate noise reduction, image resizing and sharpening. Fine adjustments to brightness, contrast and saturation in Photoshop are acceptable, but only with extreme caution.
Currently I use Adobe Photoshop version CS6 (13.0), but almost all the techniques that I will use in this example are also possible in earlier versions, starting somewhere with Adobe Photoshop CS (8.0). At all characteristic feature The thing about Photoshop is that almost any problem can be solved in a dozen independent ways, and the best of them will not always be the most obvious. I use what works the best way to achieve my goals, but it is likely that your path will be different from mine.
My photo processing algorithm is not static - I'm constantly experimenting and testing new approaches - but the process I currently use looks something like this:
Not every photo needs all of the steps listed. People do editing not out of a good life, but out of an unwillingness to come to terms with the flaws of the image. My goal is to bring an imperfect photograph into line with my ideal idea. If the picture is initially flawless, then all editing comes down to resizing and sharpening.
Before making any changes, I prefer to duplicate the active layer and work with its copy. For many tools, it is possible to create special adjustment layers. It is convenient to regulate the intensity of the changes made by varying the degree of transparency of the corresponding layer. If some effects need to be applied only to part of the image, you should use masks (see “Adobe Photoshop: layers and masks”).
Remember to periodically save intermediate results in PSD or TIFF in case of possible system failures or power outages.
1. Removing debris
The more attentive you are at the moment of shooting, the less time you will have to spend on retouching the photo. Sometimes it is enough to take a step to the left or to the right so that the object you dislike disappears from your field of view or is obscured by elements of the landscape. But it also happens that the “garbage” present in the frame turns out to be difficult to remove and forces the photographer to come to terms with its presence. I mean not only garbage in the literal sense of the word, such as bottles and bags around tourist sites, but also all other “extra” objects: high-voltage wires or a trace from an airplane, crossing out a beautiful sunset sky; random passers-by in the background; dog with raised leg; glare from a bright light source; a pimple on the model's face; a speck of dust on the camera sensor, etc. It's easy to get rid of all this with the help of Photoshop.
Before starting retouching, I advise you to duplicate the working layer by pressing Ctrl/Cmd+J.
To remove small debris on a uniform background, I use a healing brush (Spot Healing Brush Tool - J key). If the healing brush does not cope, you can use a stamp (Clone Stamp Tool – S). For large areas with a clear texture, it's a good idea to use Content-Aware Fill, although it doesn't always work smoothly (to fill a selected area, press Shift+F5 and select the desired fill option).
Having removed everything unnecessary from the frame, you can glue the retouched layer with the original one by pressing Ctrl/Cmd+E.
I hope the reader will forgive me the absence of garbage in the photograph of the valley in the Skole Beskids. There was a lot of trash in the park, but I managed to exclude tourist tents and the accompanying mess from the frame at the layout stage. However, even if the photo looks clean at first glance, don’t be too lazy to crawl through it all at 100% magnification in search of previously unnoticed defects and easter eggs. Not all of them are compatible with commercial use of the image. For example, in images intended for sale through photo banks, the presence of registered trademarks, as well as people who have not signed the model release, is unacceptable.
2. Contrast correction
As I already said, it is highly desirable to determine the overall contrast at the processing stage in Adobe Camera Raw, but local contrast is often more convenient to correct in Photoshop. Yes, ACR has tools like Adjustment Brush and Clarity, but Photoshop tools allow you to act more accurately and precisely.
I would like the two mountains flanking the valley to the left and right to look more prominent. There are many ways to adjust contrast, but the most versatile tool is curves.
Let's create a curves adjustment layer by clicking on the Curves icon in the Adjustments palette or selecting New Adjustment Layer > Curves from the Layers menu. Using two additional points we will give the curve an S-shape. I selected the location of the points empirically, so that one of them corresponded to the lightest trees covering the right mountain, and the second to the darkest areas between the trees. By raising the light point and lowering the dark point, I increased the difference between the lightest and darkest parts of the mountainside, resulting in the trees on the slope becoming much more prominent.
But if the mountains now look good, then the overall contrast of the image has become clearly excessive and hurts the eye, and yet I promised you only a local increase in contrast. A layer mask will help us hide areas of the image that should not be affected by the curve. The white rectangle to the right of the Curves layer icon means that the mask is not transparent, i.e. the entire adjustment layer affects the underlying image. Invert the mask. To do this, click on the white rectangle and press Ctrl/Cmd+I. The rectangle turned black, and the image returned to its original form - the layer mask became transparent, and now the curve does not affect the underlying layer.
Now you need to develop the adjustment layer only where you need to increase the contrast, that is, roughly speaking, paint part of the layer mask white. Let's use a brush (Brush – B). In the top toolbar, set the brush hardness (Hardness) to 0%, and the density (Opacity) to 25% or even less. The brush size is around 500 pixels. It is convenient to adjust the size using the [ and ] keys. How larger size, the less noticeable the border of the affected area will be. Make sure the layer mask is selected and the brush is white (D resets the foreground and background colors to their default values (black and white), and X swaps them). We carefully move the brush along the mountain slopes, observing how the desired relief appears. The density of the brush is small, so where a greater effect is required, it should be applied several times. You can correct a sloppy stroke or reduce the intensity of the adjustment layer by inverting the foreground and background colors and touching up where necessary with a black brush.
Here's what I got (mouse over for comparison):
If you find it difficult to work with curves, then I can recommend two more alternative ways to increase local contrast.
First, you can duplicate the working layer and apply a High Pass filter to its copy (Filter > Other > High Pass) with a radius value of about 25 pixels. The layer blend mode should be changed to Soft Light or even Hard Light if you want a more pronounced effect. Turn on the layer mask (the Add Layer Mask icon at the bottom of the Layers palette), invert it to make the layer invisible, and paint over the areas that need more contrast with a white brush.
Secondly, you can again create a copy of the layer and apply unsharp masking to it (Filter > Sharpening > Unsharp Mask) with parameters Radius 25, Threshold 0 and Amount 50-100. Then, as in the previous case, use a layer mask and a brush to emphasize the contrast only in the areas you need.
3. Selective lightening and darkening
Lightening or darkening individual areas of the image is the most important technique, designed not only to reveal or shade details in shadows and highlights, but also to shift the compositional accents of the photograph. By brightening some areas and shading others, you can highlight the most significant elements of the composition and distract the viewer's eye from secondary elements.
In our example, I'd like to slightly darken the periphery of the frame to draw the eye toward the center of the frame. In addition, the mountain located on the left, as well as the very foot of the distant mountain, are also pale and need to be darkened.
And again curves will help us.
Let's create a new curves adjustment layer. One dot is usually enough to darken or lighten an image. I put a point in the center of the curve and pull it down - the photo darkens.
Now, in the usual way, I neutralize the adjustment layer using a black mask and darken the desired areas with a white brush.
Lightening is done in a similar way, but this photo does not need lightening.
It is possible to do lightening and darkening without resorting to curves. Create a new layer (Create New Layer button or Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+M) and fill it with a neutral gray color by pressing Shift+F5 and selecting 50% Gray. Change the layer blending mode to Soft Light or Overlay - the layer will become transparent. Now you can paint directly over the transparent layer with white or black, lightening or darkening the underlying image accordingly.
4. Increased color saturation
Usually, increasing the saturation in Adobe Camera Raw is enough for me, but sometimes I want to make the picture even juicier. My experience shows that using a Channel Mixer for these purposes provides a much more harmonious and less image-damaging result than traditional Hue/Saturation tools and even Vibrance.
Let's create a new adjustment layer Channel Mixer. Select the red output channel (Output Channel) and set the following parameters: Red +150%, Green -25%, Blue -25%. Now select the green channel and enter: Red -25%, Green +150%, Blue -25%. For the blue channel: Red -25%, Green -25%, Blue +150%.
The colors became defiantly acidic. Let's soften their intensity by reducing the Opacity of the adjustment layer to an acceptable level. IN in this case I'm happy with 15%.
It should be noted that quite often I deliberately go too far with the parameters of this or that effect in order to better see the possible consequences, as well as for the convenience of fine-tuning, and only then reduce the layer density to my liking. In the case of Channel Mixer, for example, it is much more convenient to adjust saturation by changing one single Opacity parameter, rather than reconfiguring the parameters of each channel several times.
Like many other routine operations, it is advisable to add the creation of a Channel Mixer layer with the appropriate parameters to an action, so that you can then call it from the Actions palette with one click.
5. Noise reduction
Noise can be detected on absolutely any digital photography. Another question is, what noise level is acceptable for you? In commercial photography, quality criteria are quite strict, but in amateur photography they can be quite liberal. The image in question was taken in clear weather at ISO 100 and was not subjected to extreme manipulation, so although it will be offered for sale, the small amount of noise reduction that was done during editing in Adobe Camera Raw will be quite sufficient.
High ISOs, long shutter speeds, and aggressive post-processing make noise much more noticeable, especially in shadows and evenly colored areas of the image, such as cloudless skies.
To combat noise, I usually duplicate the layer and apply some noise reduction filter to it, for example Filter > Noise > Reduce Noise with fairly strict parameters: Strength 10, Preserve Details 0%, Reduce Color Noise 0%, Sharpen Details 0%. Then I make the layer invisible using a mask and carefully reveal it in those places where the noise is especially annoying, trying not to blur the fine details of the image.
Where details are not important, for example, in out-of-focus areas, you can use a regular Gaussian Blur with a radius of a couple of pixels.
There are plenty of third-party Photoshop plugins like Imagenomic Noiseware or Neat Image that are also more than capable of noise reduction, but since I rarely shoot at high ISOs, I can usually make do with standard ACR and Photoshop tools.
6. Resize the image
The simplest way to improve the quality of an existing image is to reduce the resolution; since modern cameras have more than enough megapixels. By reducing the size of the photo, flaws such as movement, noise, and minor autofocus errors become less obvious.
The quality of my photo is quite decent, but I will still reduce its resolution from 16 megapixels to 8 to make it clearer and reduce the size of the final file.
Before resizing, I merge all layers by pressing Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+E.
Next, call up the Image Size dialog box (Alt/Option+Ctrl/Cmd+I). The current image dimensions are 4928×3264, i.e. 16,084,992 pixels or approximately 16 megapixels. I'll enter a new value of 3476x2302, which is approximately 8 megapixels.
If the quality of the photo is particularly demanding, for example, you are preparing it as an exam paper on Shutterstock, reducing the size is a very reasonable solution. Just remember that many photo banks limit the minimum resolution of accepted photos, and therefore it is advisable not to compress your photos to less than 6 megapixels.
In order not to waste time calculating specific image sizes each time, I recommend that you install the extremely useful Size Helper plugin from Anatoly Samara, which automatically adjusts the image sizes to the given resolution.
For images intended to be published directly on the Internet, I reduce them to no more than 600 (for articles) or 900 (for galleries) pixels on the long side.
7. Sharpening
The nature of digital photography is such that almost every shot needs artificial sharpening, even if you did everything correctly during shooting. When shooting in JPEG, sharpness is increased in the camera, but when manually processing RAW files you have to do it yourself in graphic editor. The advantages of manual sharpening are that you can, firstly, more finely control the effect parameters, and secondly, sharpen not across the entire field of the frame, but selectively, for example, only for those objects that are in focus. Increasing sharpness in areas where it is not required, such as the sky, shadows devoid of detail or blurry out-of-focus areas, leads to the additional manifestation of under-suppressed noise and other harmful artifacts.
To increase sharpness, I use unsharp masking (Filter > Sharpening > Unsharp Mask).
First of all, I copy the working layer (Ctrl/Cmd+J) and apply the Unsharp Mask filter to the copy with the following parameters: Amount 150; Radius 0.5; Threshold 0. Usually this level of sharpening is excessive, but I will soon fix that.
The layer's blend mode should be changed to Luminosity to avoid enhancing residual chromatic aberrations.
Now I need to create a mask that reveals only those areas of the image where sharpening is needed. In this kind of landscape, almost everything should be sharp except the sky. Since the sky is a relatively monotonously colored area, I'll use the Color Range tool (Select > Color Range). In the window that opens, select Sampled Color in the Select column, and then use the eyedropper to point at an arbitrary point in the sky. All areas of a uniform color were highlighted. If you now drag the eyedropper across the entire sky while holding Shift, areas that have different shades from the original will be added to the selected area of blue color. The Fuzziness parameter allows you to expand or, conversely, narrow the color range.
Clicking OK will give us a selection that roughly matches the sky in the landscape, but selections made using Color Range almost always need additional adjustments.
To start, I'll invert the selection by pressing Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+I so that the exact areas I plan to sharpen are selected. Then I will slightly blur the borders of the selection using the Feather Selection command (Shift+ F6) with a radius of 1 pixel. Now I will press the Q key, thus turning on the mode quick mask. Areas marked in red are not subject to selection, the selected areas are visible without interference. Now, using a soft brush, you can correct the future layer mask. A white brush adds selection, and a black brush removes it.
Press Q again and return to the standard selection view. Let's create a layer mask by clicking Add Layer Mask in the Layers palette. You can temporarily make the bottom layer invisible by clicking on the eye in the Background layer to evaluate the quality of the mask.
Before you glue the layers together, zoom in to 100% or even 200% and make sure you're happy with the sharpening results. In this example, I'll choose to turn down the unsharp masking intensity a little, setting the layer density to 75%, and only then press Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+E.
Compare the image fragment after sharpening with the original one.
In situations where sharpness to the horizon is not required, and only individual objects or even fragments of them fall into the sharply depicted space, I act more simply and do not resort to Color Range or other clever selection methods. For shots like this, I simply use a black mask to hide the entire layer that had the unsharp masking applied to it, and then use a white brush to add sharpness where needed.
If the image is small in size and intended for publication on the Internet, I limit myself to applying an Unsharp Mask to the entire frame with the following parameters: Amount 150; Radius 0.3; Threshold 0.
Instead of Unsharp Mask, you can use the Smart Sharpen filter in all cases, which has even greater flexibility in settings.
An alternative method for sharpening involves creating a copy of the working layer, applying a High Pass filter to it with a small radius (no more than 1 pixel) and changing the blend mode to Soft Light or Hard Light. The next procedure will be the same as described above. Use the method you prefer.
Saving an image
Unless you rule out the possibility that at some point in the future you will need to go back to editing the photo you just processed, it should be saved in formats that do not allow quality degradation, i.e. PSD or TIFF. I prefer the TIFF format because it supports lossless LZW compression, which allows you to painlessly reduce file size.
I then convert photos intended for commercial use to JPEG with the highest possible quality (12).
Please compare the result of processing in Adobe Photoshop with the original image obtained using Adobe Camera Raw.
Thank you for your attention!
Vasily A.
Post scriptum
If you found the article useful and informative, you can kindly support the project by making a contribution to its development. If you didn’t like the article, but you have thoughts on how to make it better, your criticism will be accepted with no less gratitude.
Please remember that this article is subject to copyright. Reprinting and quoting are permissible provided there is a valid link to the source, and the text used must not be distorted or modified in any way.
We take photos every day, especially selfies or portrait shots with the main camera. Some photos turn out perfect right away, while others just beg for improvement. For example, pronounced problem areas of the skin may be almost invisible in everyday life, but in a photo they are striking. Also, in most cases, the photos turn out faded and don’t seem as cool as they were intended. In this article we will tell you how to improve your photography using retouching and color correction. To do this, we will use the Movavi photo editor program.
Salute to everyone, dear subscribers and readers of PhotoCASA magazine! My name is Pavel, in this article I want to talk about the principle of processing a “lamp” portrait indoors without the use of studio equipment. Before I begin describing the processing, I would like to say a little about the process of obtaining the source. The shooting took place in the library, where almost all the halls did not have the amount of natural light necessary for a portrait, which I prefer.
This photo was taken on a Nikon D610 camera with a Sigma 35 mm f/1.4 Art lens. This was the very first shoot after purchasing my first DSLR camera. Before this I shot with an Olympus OM-D E-M5 mirrorless camera. I use Adobe for cataloging and initial color correction of photographs.
Lightroom, then I retouch and do more detailed color correction in Photoshop. I open the photo in Lightroom and get started.
Good afternoon friends! My name is Valentina Tsvirko and I am an amateur photographer from Belarus. A few years ago photography came into my life and enriched it with new colors! At first I photographed landscapes and city views, but about a year ago I tried my hand at portrait photography, and this photography really fascinated me. I prefer to take close-up portraits, show inner world man, his soul. I learn from lessons from the Internet and books on photography and try very hard to improve my level of knowledge. Thank you very much PhotoCASA magazine for the opportunity to publish this article and please do not judge me harshly: I’m still learning)…
Thanks to digital photography, we bring back hundreds of photographs from our trips, but some of them are mercilessly deleted due to their poor quality. They turn out blurry, with a blocked horizon, or simply not effective enough. And we usually discover this only when we return home.
Don’t rush to get rid of seemingly damaged photos. They can still be saved in a simple photo processing program - such as Movavi Photo Editor.
Greetings, dear readers of PhotoCASA magazine. In this article I will show you how to make a pretty interesting picture. I open the source in Camera Raw. I do the standard operations: exposure, calibration, sharpness (the bare minimum).
Next, I open the photo in Photoshop. I set a black point and make the photo lighter with another layer of curves. Next, I copy the layer (Ctrl+J), selecting the desired areas on it with the Lasso tool (L), and in several approaches I do a “content-aware fill” (Shift+F5). I mainly cleaned areas with gaps in the shadows.
Hello everyone, my name is Vlad Nelyubin. I'm a wedding photographer and I want to talk about a little trick, which helps me in my work.
There are a lot of wedding photographers now, and you need to be able to always stay in the mix. That's why I give my clients small gifts that cost me little, but give the newlyweds pleasant memories that will last a lifetime. This is creating a picture from a wedding or any other joint photograph.
Hi all! My name is Dima Begma, and today I will talk about the processing of one of my photographs.
A little about the photo itself. A Nikon D 610 camera and a Nikkor 50 mm f/1.8 lens were used for photography. The picture was taken in Dnepropetrovsk in cloudy weather with strong winds. Since we were filming on a pedestrian bridge, random passers-by often got into the frame. As a result of this, when processing the photo, I will need to replace part of the image with people with a similar empty area from another image. All photos
made with the same camera settings.
My name is Anton Montbrillant, and I would like to talk about how I process my portrait photographs.
I do the most natural processing without any complex tinting or painting, and I try to do it with fairly simple tools, which allows me to preserve beautiful and natural colors. So let's look at the original image. Photo taken on camera 645D and lens smc -D FA 645 55mm f/2.8 AL
Let's figure out what “High End Retouch” is. Retouch (French retouch - to paint on, correct).
Changing the original, editing the image. The purpose of editing is to correct defects, prepare for publication, and solve creative problems.
Hi all. My name is Ruslan Isinev. I'll show you how this photo was processed.
I'm using Photoshop CC2014.
I open the photo in Camera RAW. I do all the main work here, for me this is one of the most important tools in Photoshop.
We darken the background, lighten the model, thereby selecting the object we need. In this photo I’m already happy with everything, click “open”.
Hi all! My name is Dima Begma and today I will talk about the processing of this photo. I have quite a few 1:1 aspect ratio photos in my portfolio, and this shot was no exception.
In order not to lose the quality and resolution of the picture when cropping, I prefer to take such photos by gluing two or three photographs into one. All photos were taken with the same settings and the same focal length, I just moved the camera along the axis.
The ultimate goal of processing is to get a picture that will convey the atmosphere of the sunset as much as possible.
Hello, dear friends! My name is Dmitry Fevralev, and I am interested in artistic photography. What I'm most interested in is the atmosphere and subtext in a frame that can provoke thoughts, emotions, and perhaps even ideas in the viewer. That's why I love psychological facial portraits,
which can tell us much more about ourselves than might seem at first glance. Let me make a reservation that I am self-taught in photography.
Hello, dear readers! My name is Karina (Kerry Moore), and I do artistic and fashion photography. These two styles were assigned to me by the Internet audience. All my works were shot on Nikon D90 and Nikkor 50 mm f/1.4 G. Photography is both work and hobby for me. And today I will talk about my most famous work - a series of photographs “Azure” especially for PhotoCASA magazine.
Hello, dear readers of PhotoCASA magazine!
Today I am with you, Anna Zadvornova, with a new lesson in which I will tell you how to draw a portrait. So, let's begin!
First, open the original image.
Let's go to Curves.
Next Selective color correction, set the values:
RED: Cyan +4, Magenta –9, Yellow +7, Black –2.
YELLOW: cyan –13, magenta –3, yellow +3, black +3.
Hello. Today I will talk about processing one of my photos.
This photo was taken with a Canon 6D and a 135 mm lens, with a shutter speed of 1/1250 sec, an aperture of f/ 2 and ISO100, the time was before sunset.
Initially, I was faced with the task of making the photo warmer, making the girl’s dress blue, and also emphasizing the soap bubbles and rays of the sun.
Work began in Camera Raw. On the Hue-Saturation-Luminance (HSL) tab, the main task was to use color to make the picture more voluminous and change turquoise girl's clothes on blue. To do this, in the Luminance tab, I moved the orange slider to the right, separating the girl from the background, and in the Hue tab, I changed the turquoise tint to blue.
Hello, dear PhotoCASA readers!
My name is Maxim Guselnikov and I would like to talk about how I process my photographs.
I prefer natural processing, without any complex special effects or collaging, and I try to use enough simple techniques, which, however, make the photograph more expressive.
Greetings, dear readers of PhotoCASA magazine! I want to tell you how the presented photo was processed.
1. Open the photo in Lightroom. We correct exposure, light and white balance.
2. Using color correction tools, remove redness on the face and hands.
3. Set the following parameters in calibration
Good day, dear readers of PhotoCASA magazine!
This time I want to talk about processing one of my photographs.
When processing, I use a single algorithm, but I never make the series identical, choosing my own colors for each shoot and placing emphasis on the most significant elements of the image.
My processing is always divided into two parts: color correction in Lightroom and retouching in Photoshop.
First of all, an analysis of the source code.
Hello, dear readers of PhotoCASA magazine! My name is MarinaPolyanskaya, in this article I will talk about the processing of this photo.
This photo was taken during a March trip to St. Petersburg. The inspiration and muse of the photo was the stunning model Anya Kubanova. It was decided to adopt the cat to highlight Anya’s natural beauty. Early in the morning we went to shoot on one of the St. Petersburg roofs. It was cloudy, very cold and windy, but both the model and the cat bravely held on, for which many thanks to them.
So, open the RAW file in Lightroom...
Hello, dear readers of PhotoCASA magazine, I am Stanislav Starchenko, photographer and retoucher. My specialization is collages, photo manipulation, the implementation of both my own ideas and orders from other photographers.
In this article I want to show the main stages and some secrets of creating my photo story “Transitional age”. The plot was based on a theme from the history of the Spanish noble family of the Borgia from the 12th to the 18th centuries. The picture shows a girl. Or already a girl? Sensual
a modest portrait on the wall reminds us of her innocence and purity, toys in the right corner remind us of her recent childhood and upbringing. But what about her look? What was she thinking about? Did she really feel the change and nostalgia for her childhood?
Yes: she turned 16. Fire in the fireplace, sparks... Transitional age!
The project of the work created in Photoshop includes more than 200 layers, so I will not dwell on each layer separately. I divided all the work into 10 main parts.
Since I grew up in a village, this topic is very close to me.
I like everything antique, imbued with the spirit of old age.
Before we start processing the photo, let's figure out what we want to do. Convey the atmosphere of the village and old age. Decide on a colorist for the photo. There are many color combinations, but I prefer the harmony of opposites. In our situation there will be light
in yellow-orange shades, and the shadows in blue-blue.
First, I open the RAW file in Lightroom.
Step 1: Basic Settings
Since the photo is very dark and cold, we make it warmer. To do this, I adjust the white balance. Next, I remove the contrast, move the Highlights down, and increase the Whites. I pull out the shadows a little and increase the clarity (Clarity) to add volume to the photo.
Now I lower the Saturation, and, on the contrary, increase the Vibrance. Vibrance - very useful feature when working with portraits: it protects flesh tones from oversaturation and loss of shades.
Hello, dear readers of PhotoCASA magazine, my name is Vladimir Shapkin. In the previous article, I described the main stages of photo retouching that I use.
However, this is not the only approach. Sometimes, in order to get a high-quality result, you have to abandon the frequency decomposition and do all the work using the Dodge and Burn technique.
I took the photo for this article from the website www.modelmayhem.com, where many photographers post high-quality sources for processing, absolutely free of charge. Photo provided by photographer: Krzysztof Halaburda, Model: Maja C., make-up artist: Weronika Sikora.
After RAW conversion using the Liquify tool, I adjusted the hairstyle.
Using a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer, we reduce the redness of the eyes and whiten the teeth a little.
Next, we start cleaning, using the Healing Brush and Stamp tools. This operation can be performed using frequency decomposition, but, as I already said, this time I decided to do without this method for initial stage
Hi all! I’ll tell you a little about how I process children’s photographs taken outdoors.
When shooting outdoors, I always try to shoot in the shadows: firstly, there are no hard shadows on the face, and secondly, the child does not squint. It is advisable to find a place where the sun will illuminate a little in the background. This is, of course, ideal. If weather conditions do not allow, then this is always
You can paint on it in Photoshop.
I open the photo (photo 1). Children's photos do not require deep skin retouching, so we remove only the main imperfections of light and shadow on the face. In this case, these are small shadows under the eyes, I remove them with a stamp, opacity and pressure about 40%. I remove minor imperfections with a restoration brush. I lighten the nasolabial part a little, about 30%, so as not to leave the face without emotions. Next I lighten the iris of the eyes, but not very much. I remove the earrings with a stamp, because during preparation I forgot to take them off, and they don’t suit this image at all.
Everything with the face.
Inspired by another brilliant idea and want to quickly bring it to life with the help of a camera? If you are just starting your journey in photography, don’t rush! First, learn the basics of this art. In this article we will tell you what problems beginner photographers most often encounter. You will also learn how to process photos in the PhotoMASTER editor and get rid of most defects.
Mistake #1. Incorrect frame composition
Having studied the rules for constructing frame composition, you will know that placing the subject strictly in the middle will make any photo boring and lifeless. To get a dynamic and interesting photo, mentally divide the future frame into 9 parts. Place everything important next to the lines or at the intersection points:
Have you already taken a photo and forgotten about the rules of composition? All is not lost yet! Our “PhotoMASTER” will quickly correct the situation. Use the crop function. Turn on the grid, and then adjust the size and position of the frame over the photo. Click “Apply” and all changes will be saved.
Mistake #2. The horizon is littered
You can see this defect even with the naked eye. The horizon line in the photograph does not run parallel to the bottom and top borders of the frame, but goes up or down:
To correct the horizon, go to Composition > Geometry. Check the boxes next to “Crop automatically” and “Show grid”. On the Rotate scale, straighten the photo. If necessary, adjust the “Vertical” and “Horizontal” parameters.
Mistake #3. Lighting problems
Shooting against the sun, an unadjusted camera, a disabled flash in the dark... All this leads to one thing - problems with exposure. The photo becomes too overexposed or dark:
Photo processing will help solve the problem. In “PhotoMASTER” and adjust the tone of the photo. Move the slider to the right on the Exposure scale to lighten the photo, and to the left to darken it. If necessary, adjust the dark and light tones in the photo, as well as shadows and overly highlighted areas.
Mistake #4. Red eye effect
A similar defect occurs due to the use of flash. But you can try to prevent it from appearing in the photo in advance: to do this, ask the “model” not to look directly into the lens when shooting.
You can get rid of red eyes using a corrector. You will find it in the “Retouching” section. Set up a brush and select one of the problem pupils. Turn down the saturation and experiment with tone. Then edit the second eye in the same way and evaluate the result in the preview window.
Mistake #5. Blurred photo
If the photographer is in a hurry to press the shutter button while shooting, the camera will not have time to focus. When viewing a photo on your PC screen, you will notice that the photo has become blurry:
The problem can be corrected in the editor in several ways. For example, if the entire photo requires adjustments, then in the “Enhancements” section, go to the “Sharpness” tab and select the optimal parameters for the image by adjusting the strength, radius and sharpening threshold.
If you only need to improve a fragment, then use the adjustment brush (Retouch > Corrector). Highlight the area that needs to be corrected. Then click on the “Sharpness” button and adjust the clarity of the area.
Mistake #6. Extra objects in the frame
Captured a landscape, but a shadow got into the frame? Have portrait photographs spoiled acne, flaking and redness on the skin? Don't rush to delete pictures! Use the Stamp tool. With it you can remove all unnecessary elements, and much more. For example, in this photo we got rid of the shadow:
Adjust the brush settings and select the element in the photo that you want to mask. Then specify the location where the editor needs to copy pixels to fill the selected area. Ready!
Mistake #7. Geometric photo distortion
Another problem that beginner photographers often encounter. Such defects arise due to shooting objects, buildings or people from a lower or upper angle, and sometimes simply due to lens errors. This leads to the appearance of “falling buildings”, distortion of figures and other unpleasant consequences.
Alas, not all geometric distortions can be corrected. But it's always worth a try! In the PhotoMASTER program, go to the Composition > Geometry menu. Turn on the grid and try to straighten the photo using the Distortion, Horizontal, and Vertical scales.
Let's sum it up
We've looked at the most popular mistakes that novice photographers make, which means you can avoid them. If unsuccessful shots still take you by surprise, it doesn’t matter! After all, you know how to process photos correctly. Install “PhotoMASTER” on your PC and say goodbye to bad photos forever!
