I had some requests to show a before and after with a simple explanation of how it was done. Not to get too technical I want to share few techniques how to have your images to pop and how to make them look more authentic and timely. To start off with I have chosen a photo I shot in Europe in .jpg. As we shoot everything in Raw format now, you have to be careful to have the proper white balance, exposure as there is a more limited functionality to adjust your images in post production. I always think of it this way. A digital post production does not help a bad picture get better,rather convert a good image into a great one. I like that analogy and I am sticking to it. As such I have chosen a little under exposed shot of a scenery with a great vanishing point. You can do some basic adjustment in lightroom or import it straight to photoshop. Once in photoshop I create a new layer command-J for Mac or control-J for PC users.
Any alterations you do, are done to a new layer as oppose to your original. You can rename your layer to vibrant or pop or what ever you would like to identify with. Now, above your layers you will see a drop down menu. Scroll down to Soft light and hit enter.
You will immediately see that your highlights will dramatically increase, shaddows dissapear and overall the image becomes very saturated. Take down the opacity of the layer above to something that looks great and feels more natural ie 60-80%. You will see that your image pops out without doing any complicated curve adjustment. You can also add a little bit of Gausian blur from Filter–>Blur–>Gausian Blur and increase your Blur to about 25-30% Once this is mixed into your original image, it adds a little bit of the dreamy feel.
In this third picture I have used an action to convert an rgb colour image to a sepia, and there are many ways to do this. What I am trying to show is that I have also added a texture to overlay the image to give it a dated look. Same principle as above, I created a new layer, and toned down the opacity to my liking. You might use different blending modes depending on your desired outcome.
BONUS: Here is the texture in high resolution that you can download and use. I found it on the net and would like to give credit to whom ever, but don’t recall where I got it. Otherwise I shoot my own textures and use them when suited. I encourage to experiment and use your own textures.
Look for textures everywhere:
Cracks, Stones, Driveways, Stucco, Cutting board, Rust, Walls….. you get the picture.
Hope this helps and if you have any question about the tips and tricks, don’t hesitate to contact me. I will be posting periodically new textures for free downloads.
Cheers,
