Now we get to the trickiest part of this process. Here you want to choose the lasso tool, or magnetic lasso tool from your tools on the left side of your photoshop workspace. I used the magnetic lasso for this one. Basically, the lasso will let you hand select a part of your image that you want to edit. So here, I used the magnetic lasso to draw around my body and head, to separate me from the background. Why do I want to do that? I will tell you why in a second and what comes next is pretty cool. Also, I did this on the new duplicate layer I created.
Since we are using a portrait for this example what you will need to do is select your subject (in this case, yours truly) with the lasso tool. After you have done this choose SELECT>INVERSE. Now, any editing you do will effect the background and NOT your subject. This is what we want to do as we are going to make the background look like it was shot with a $2,000 fast lens. Not everyone has a Leica M8 and a fast Summilux lens so this is an easy way to get that “look”
After you choose INVERSE go to FILTER>BLUR>LENS BLUR and then you will see this:
Note my settings but feel free to experiment with them. What this has done is blur the background and it makes it look like you shot the image with an expensive super fast lens. You now have instant “BOKEH” from your small sensor camera! We are still not done though, so lets continue on to give this image a classic black and white look.
Here is where Nik Color Efex pro comes in. I use and love this software as it has so many cool filters for your images. Here we will use the B&W conversion filter. So, if you have Color Efex Pro installed bring it up by choosing FILTER> NIK SOFTWARE> COLOR EFEX PRO. You will then see a box with a bunch of filters and settings, much like this:
If you click on the image above you will see the exact settings I used for this image. I only adjusted the filter color, strength, brightness and contrast. This gave me a pretty decent B&W conversion, but we still have ONE more step before this image is complete.
Open up Color Efex Pro again and choose “Darken/Lighten Center” - You will see this:
What I wanted to do here was add a glow to my face and kind of darken the edges a bit for a more classic look. When on the screen, I put the center point on my face. You can click the image above for a larger view if you can not make out the settings in the small image. Once these settings were applied I ended up with this:
The final thing I did to this image was to take the “blur” tool in photoshop and blur my right arm and shoulder so it appeared to be out of focus with the background.
USED THE BLUR TOOL ON MY ARM AND SHOULDER
That was it! The image was now fixed and looks MUCH better. Below you can see the before and after.
YES! I know I look scary here (I was in an indie horror movie once) but it is amazing what a quick photoshop tweak can do. The finished shot looks like it was taken with a 35 1.2 lens wide open. I started with a flat, underexposed, uninteresting image and ended up turning it into a classic looking image with style! If you are someone who does not have photoshop, and you are really into digital photography then I HIGHLY recommend it, but be prepared for some frustration when you first attempt to use it. Skills will come in time!
Here are all of the links to the software in case you want to download the demos or buy it. Also, e-mail me or leave a comment below if you found this helpful and I will continue and do more and make them better and better.
Running this site takes a TON of my time and money and even though I have ads here it does not even come close to paying for itself. My site is small time as it is only 3 months old. Clicking on the ads, buying your camera gear through the links here or donations all help me continue this site. So to those who have helped out already I THANK YOU!
NIK COLOR EFEX PRO AT B&H PHOTO FOR PURCHASE
ADOBE PHOTOSHOP CS4 AT B&H PHOTO FOR PURCHASE - WINDOWS - MAC
ADOBE PHOTOSHOP CS4 DEMO DOWNLOAD
Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed it!
HOW TO PROCESS YOUR IMAGES IN PHOTOSHOP, LESSON 1
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Ok, here we go! By popular demand I bring you “LESSON 1” in an ongoing series of how to process your images using photoshop, as well as using plug in filters to enhance the look and quality of the image! Woo hoo! Welcome to PIMP MY IMAGES by yours truly, Steve Huff!
First I must state that I AM NOT AN EXPERT at photoshop. I have been using it for about 12 years and have never read a book on it, never attended classes, nor have I even read a manual on it! No classroom in a book, no seminars, no boot camps, no “photoshop for dummies” or sitting side by side with a $1000 a day so called, self named “guru”.
The way I have learned photoshop is by my own experimentation, trial and error, and MANY mistakes. Even now, 12 years later I am still learning new things almost daily. I do this by trying everything and seeing how it affects my images. At first, the sound of layers, dodge, burn, and selective color may scare you but by using photoshop regularly you will find yourself learning many techniques that can really improve your photos.
Believe me, Adobe Photoshop is a very powerful program but it is one that you can learn on your own if you take the time to do it.
So after getting quite a few e-mail requests I have decided to start a series of image processing lessons. These will include lessons like this one which will show you how to fix the images you may normally delete. I will also have more detailed lessons down the road and MAYBE even some video lessons as some things are easier to explain on video. Of course, as with the rest of my site it will be free free free free.
I am sure you have seen some sites that charge for reviews or info and some are great and worth the money but most are not. Once I paid $50 or $60 for a set of reviews for a certain set of lenses, for a certain digital camera. After reading the review in about 40 minutes I realized I learned nothing new and my $60 was wasted. I was disappointed as the sample images were small, the writing was stiff and the content was kind of thin. I vowed to never pay for another camera review again and decided to do my own reviews if I was interested in something new.
When I started this site I told myself I would dedicate ONE YEAR to this site, day in and day out and I would offer everything here for free. Since I am not an expert at anything, I would never charge for this info. After all, it may not be everyones cup of tea :) So until I am an expert in photography, and I feel NO ONE is, I would never charge for the info I put here.
For those of you who find this helpful, leave a comment and let me know and I will get to work on more when time allows it! Hope you enjoy lesson #1 which is an easy, basic instruction on how to fix an underexposed JPEG portrait and give it some WOW factor!
STEVEHUFFPHOTOS PROCESSING LESSON #1 - TURNING AN UNDEREXPOSED, FLAT JPEG PORTRAIT INTO A CLASSIC B&W IMAGE!
Many of us have small sensor pocket digital cameras but we would love to take a portrait with a smooth and creamy background like we see from DSLR’s or higher end cameras. Problem is, the sensor in these little cameras are so small, getting a shallow depth of field (background blur) is almost impossible.
Wouldn't it be cool if we could take a portrait and give it a classic look of old film SLR’s or modern day DSLR’s with a fast lens? Not only would it be cool, but it is EASY as a few clicks if you have Photoshop and the Nik Color Efex pro plug in for Photoshop! (If you do not have Color Efex Pro, you can download the demo buy it at the links on the bottom of this page.)
OK, lets get started on this quick and easy transformation! This is a shot my wife took of me with her Leica D-lux 4. The metering was not set right so she has an underexposed shot here due to the light background. Basically, my face is too dark and the background is too light and this is a situation MANY of us see with point and shoot cameras. I also feel the colors are to deep here, so lets fix it up.
The first thing I want to do to this image in photoshop is choose IMAGE>ADJUSTMENTS>SHADOW/HIGHLIGHT. When the box pops up with the image you will see sliders for shadows, highlights, adjustments. I have the “show more options” box checked at the bottom. You will see I adjusted the image to add some light to my face by setting the sliders as you see them below.
I then hit OK and then I duplicated the layer. Just go to the top of and choose LAYERS>DUPLICATE LAYER, or if you know how you can drag the layer to the duplicate layer icon in the layers panel.
