The Adobe Photoshop Manual 2021

MEGA TIP #10 | ANY COLOUR FROM ANYWHERE

01 Let us say, for the sake of argument, that we are preparing an image 02 If you go to the bottom of the Layer Palette and click on the Create New

that requires a coloured background. The subject of the image has been Fill Or Adjustment Layer icon, you can choose from a number of layer
removed from its original background and you need to place a colour behind it adjustments. In this case, choose Solid Color. When you do, the Color Picker
to complete the document. (Solid Color) will open.

03 The default colour for Solid Colour is usually black, unless you have a 04 Double-click the Colour Fill 1 thumbnail (not the mask) and the Colour

colour chosen which is the active foreground colour. The new ‘Colour Picker will appear again. Hover your cursor over any part of the
Fill 1’ layer will be placed above your cut out subject. Click and drag it so it sits Photoshop workspace and then left-click and hold. Wherever your cursor is, the
beneath the subject. Now your subject should be sat on a black background. colour directly beneath it will become the new background colour.

05 Move the cursor over your subject’s cheek and, in real time, the 06 While the Colour Picker is active, resize the Photoshop window and then

background will become that colour. Hover the cursor over her lips and open another window beside it. In this case, we opened Google and did
it becomes a pink colour. Place the cursor over an iris and the background a search for ‘earth colour swatches’. With the Color Picker active, hover your
becomes a steel blue colour. This is great, but you can go even further. cursor over the contents of the other window to sample even more colours.

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FURTHER EXPLORATION ADJUSTING EXPOSURE

Adjusting
Exposure

Correcting your exposure mistakes is easy with Photoshop

This tutorial Even with the sophisticated technology found in the light metering
content is systems of modern digital cameras, they are not infallible. Some
available for lighting conditions can confuse them, resulting in pictures that are over
download or under-exposed.

Brightness/Contrast All cameras have a limited dynamic range, levels of illumination at which they
record featureless pure white or featureless pure black. The tonal variation available
The quickest and easiest way to brighten the between those two extremes depends on the quality of the lens, sensor and image
photo is to simply turn up the brightness. You’ll find processor that captured it, along with the bit-depth of the file type used to record
Brightness/Contrast as an adjustment layer in the it. For maximum bit-depth it’s always best to use Raw mode, since this will usually
palette on the right, or in the Image > Adjustment store images in 42-bit or even 48-bit form, capturing greater dynamic range. We’ll
menu. The Brightness/Contrast function in recent look at improving the exposure of the more common JPEG images from a compact
versions of Photoshop has been changed to improve
contrast and tonal balance when adjusting the camera. JPEG images are usually only 24-
brightness of your images. bit, so have less latitude for any
exposure recovery.
By moving the Brightness slider to the right, the
overall brightness of the entire photo is increased, Over-exposure tends to be more of
but the new algorithm retains a reasonable balance a problem than under-exposure, since
in shadow tones. You can tweak the effect with the burned-out highlights contain no detail, but
Contrast slider, the result is reasonably acceptable. the JPEG format is surprisingly good at
102 www.bdmpublications.com capturing detail in areas that might initially
look like featureless black. As a result it’s
often possible to rescue shots that are
quite badly under-exposed, although this
will also amplify any noise in the image, so
there is a trade-off for image quality.

This shot was taken using centre-
weighted metering against backlighting
and as a result the bright part of the
horizon is exposed reasonably well but
the foreground is under-exposed. It
would have been a better idea to use
spot metering, but we can still rescue the
photo using an image editing program.

ADJUSTING EXPOSURE FURTHER EXPLORATION

Levels

Photoshop offers another way of altering brightness by a spike on the graph. On the bottom axis of the has the effect of bringing out a lot of the detail from
and contrast, but this time with more subtlety and graph are three points, the left representing the black the shadow areas without burning out any more
control, by adjusting the Levels histogram. You’ll find cut-off point, the right the white cut-off point and the highlights. It also leaves the deeper shadow areas
Levels in the same Image > Adjustment sub-menu one in the middle representing the mid-tone point. intact. It is a far better way of adjusting the exposure
as Brightness/Contrast. The Levels histogram is of a photograph than simply altering the Brightness/
basically a graph showing the proportion of pixels in As you can see from the graph our image is mostly Contrast, however it isn’t quite the best way.
the image at each colour intensity. The far left-hand shadows and mid-tones with little highlights, so we Adjusting the Levels mid-point is still strictly linear in
end of the graph represents black and the right-hand need to brighten some of those shadows into mid- its adjustment.
end is white, with every tone in between represented tones. The way we do this is by moving the mid-tone
and highlights points left towards the shadows. This

Curves

The Curves adjustment option, again found in the
Image > Adjustment menu and as an adjustment
layer option, is a method of changing the relative
brightness of specific tones and ranges of tones
within an image, giving precise control over
exposure. Learning to use it properly is a core skill
in image editing and will enable you to make precise
and subtle changes to the brightness and relative
contrast of not just of the image as a whole, but
also of individual colour channels.

Drag the Curves output line around by clicking at
any point, then moving the handle that appears. To
improve this picture we need to brighten the shadows
and mid-tones, while simultaneously darkening
the highlights, so we should drag the lower side of
the curve upwards and the upper part of the curve
downwards, creating an inverted S-shaped curve.
As with many Photoshop techniques, the key here
is subtlety. Push the curve too far and you’ll ruin the
picture, so keep an eye on it as you progress.

USEFUL TIP

As with most Photoshop editing techniques,
subtlety is the key. If you push the curves too
far you’ll lose detail.

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FURTHER EXPLORATION CONTRAST AND SATURATION

Contrast
and Saturation

Using curves and blend modes to improve colour
saturation and contrast in your digital photos

When you take a digital photo of a scene,
you are relying on your camera to be
able to capture all the colours and tones that
you see. Unfortunately most digital cameras
simply aren’t capable of recording the full
range of colours and shades that the human
eye can see, so your photo of what was a
bright and colourful scene may prove to be
a bit of a disappointment when you see it
on your monitor. Fortunately there are many
different ways to improve both contrast and
colour saturation, which might help to restore
some of the sparkle to your photos. Let’s
take a look at some of the alternatives.

01 As an example we’ll use this snapshot 02 The simplest way to improve the saturation 03 A much more controllable way to adjust

of a lizard. In reality the colour of the is by adding a Hue/Saturation adjustment both saturation and contrast is to use a
scene is much more intense than it looks here, layer. Like many other parts of the program, Hue/ Curves adjustment layer. We’ve already looked
but the digital camera that was used to take the Saturation has been improved in Photoshop, at Curves in the section on adjusting exposure,
photo was set to a neutral and flat colour mode producing a smoother result than previous but by using Blend Modes we can also use
to capture as much dynamic range as possible. versions. If you were to boost the saturation by Curves to enhance saturation. In Normal blend
This mode generally leaves images looking a about +50, you’d restore some of the missing mode the curve will change both contrast and
bit pale and lacking contrast and vibrant colour. colour, but it’s a scattergun approach and doesn’t saturation. We’re using the same S-shaped
This shouldn’t be a problem as the shot is well offer much fine control. It can also increase noise curve, which boosts brightness at the upper
exposed and contains plenty of detail that will in shadow areas in JPEG images. Let’s look at end of the scale and darkens shadows at the
suit the increase in saturation. more options. lower end.

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CONTRAST AND SATURATION FURTHER EXPLORATION

AFTER

BEFORE

This tutorial
content is
available for
download

04 By changing the blend mode to 05 Conversely, by using a Color blend 06 Another way to improve saturation is

Luminosity, the curve will only affect mode, an S-shaped curve will alter a Photoshop function called Vibrance,
brightness, so an S-shaped enhancement colour saturation without affecting brightness, which can also be applied as an adjustment
curve will improve contrast, lightening so shadows and highlights are unaffected. This layer. Vibrance is a difficult thing to quantify. It is
highlights and darkening shadows without is great to keep noise under control. a saturation function, but it works on a graph,
affecting colour saturation. affecting the least saturated areas most, and the
most saturated areas least. On a picture like this
it can help, but it has to be used with contrast
enhancement for best effect, which may again
cause an increase in noise. This option is less
intense than using Saturation. Vibrance is best
used when processing a Raw image file.

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AFTER

BEFORE

MEGA This tutorial
TIP #11 content is
available for
Black and White download
Colour Control
Black and white
106 www.bdmpublications.com colour control may
sound somewhat
odd, but in actual
fact, with an
adjustment layer
and a blend mode,
you actually have
another quick, non-
destructive method
for controlling
the colour in your
photographs.

MEGA TIP #11 | BLACK AND WHITE COLOUR CONTROL

01 A colourful aquarium fish provides a perfect example for this case in 02 Go to the bottom of your layer palette and click on the Create New Fill

point. There are a number of strong reds, oranges, yellows and greens, Or Adjustment Layer icon. A dropdown menu will appear with a list of
for us to work with. As mentioned already, this is a useful non-destructive adjustment choices, click on Black & White. An adjustment layer, called Black &
method, so your base image remains unaffected. White 1, will be added to the layer stack above your main image.

03 As you would expect, the image will be converted to black and white, 04 Make sure the Layer Thumbnail is active. If it’s not visible, you can

but, bear in mind this is a non-destructive adjustment. Keep the ‘Black double-click the Layer Thumbnail to activate the Properties panel. We
& White 1’ layer active, click on the Blend Mode panel and choose Luminosity would recommend that you dock the Properties panel beneath your layer stack,
from the menus. At this point, the image should revert back to colour. since you are likely to be accessing it a lot when working in Photoshop.

05 The ‘Black & White 1’ properties panel displays a series of colour sliders. 06 As an example, if you move the Red slider left and the Yellow slider right,

One for each of the primary colours contained in a colour photo, from you can make the mottled pattern on the fish much stronger. If you push
Red and Yellow, through Green and Cyan, down to Blue and Magenta. Moving the Green slider all the way to the left, you can make the plants behind the fish
these sliders will affect the brightness of any colour within their tonal range. disappear altogether. It’s a great method for non-destructive editing.

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Step Up
Your Game

Although photographers, graphic designers and
digital artists use it, at its heart it is a program for
editing and manipulating photos. Do you want to
replace one colour for another in your photo, add
a graduated filter effect, or make a panoramic
image? For these tasks, and more, Photoshop is
ready to make your images look amazing.

Contents 118 Colour replacement
120 Mega tip #12 - Colour matching
110 The Pen tool and paths 122 Soft focus technique
112 Adding a graduated filter
114 Correcting lens distortion
116 Panorama stitching

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STEP UP YOUR GAME

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STEP UP YOUR GAME THE PEN TOOL AND PATHS

The Pen Tool
and Paths

Draw smooth curved paths with the versatile Pen tool

Pen Tool P The quickest and most common way to make
Freeform Pen Tool P selections is to use the Polygonal Lasso
Add Anchor Point Tool tool but since that only draws straight lines from
Delete Anchor Point Tool This tutorial point to point it isn’t ideal for making accurate
Convert Point Tool content is selections around curved edges. Photoshop
available for does have a tool for making smooth curves
download though, and it’s called the Pen tool (keyboard
shortcut P).
Bezier control Tangent line
Rather than creating a selection directly like
Curved path the Lasso tool, the Pen tool is used to create
a Work Path. A Work Path in Photoshop is
Anchor point a vector graphic outline which can be used
for several functions, including shaped text,
outline strokes and of course selections. A path
consists of straight and curved lines segments
connected with points. You can leave a path
open to form a straight or curved line, or close a
path to form a shape.

Paths are independent of any particular layer,
so you can use the
same path to create shapes on more than one
layer of an image, and you can copy a path from
one image to another.

Using the Pen tool and Paths effectively is a
complicated process that takes a lot of practice
to master, but it’s worth the effort, because
once you crack it you’ll be able to make smooth
curves and selections around almost any shape.
If you want to use Photoshop in a professional
capacity it’s an essential skill to learn.

USEFUL TIP

If you need to repeat the same selection on
multiple layers, save your selection as part
of the image. You can then load it in again to
save repeating work.

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THE PEN TOOL AND PATHS STEP UP YOUR GAME

Using the Pen Tool

Using the Pen tool effectively takes some practice and a lot of patience. Here’s the low-down on how it works.

01 The Pen tool works by using anchor points which are connected by lines. 02 Click with the pen tool at three or four points on the line you wish to

To draw a curved line, first select the Pen tool from the Tool Palette. draw; these are called anchor points, and you’ll see that there are
straight lines connecting them.

03 Next, click and hold on the Pen tool icon, and select the Convert Point 04 Click and hold on any of your anchor points, and drag away from the

tool. You use this to manipulate the anchor points and control the point. You should see two lines with handles on the ends extrude from
curvature of the line. the anchor point. This is called a tangent line.

05 If you move the cursor around you’ll see the line linking your anchor 06 With practice and patience you can bend a curved line around even quite

points flex and bend. You can use this to bend the line to match the complex shapes. If you open the Paths palette you’ll see the work path
curvature of the edge you’re trying to follow. you’ve created appear in the list.

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STEP UP YOUR GAME ADDING A GRADUATED FILTER

Adding a
Graduated Filter

Graduated filters can improve photos by adding
depth and colour to the sky

Photographers use graduated filters
placed in front of the camera lens
to selectively change the exposure and
sometimes the colour of part of a picture,
usually to darken the sky to bring out details
in the clouds and balance the exposure with
the landscape in the foreground. They come
in many different shapes, sizes and colours to
fit all types of camera system.

As with most photographic techniques, it’s
possible to duplicate the effect of graduated
filters using Adobe Photoshop and as usual
there are several ways to accomplish this. For
this example we’ll use an image of a sunrise
on the Devon coast.

This tutorial AFTER
content is
available for
download

BEFORE

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ADDING A GRADUATED FILTER STEP UP YOUR GAME

Graduated Filter in Camera Raw

Since this photo was taken using Raw mode, we can use the Graduated Filter tool in Adobe Camera Raw (ACR). ACR is the Raw processing
application supplied with each version of Photoshop and allows you to add the effect during processing. This is by far the best way to do it, since it
preserves the maximum amount of detail in the photograph.

01 When you open the image in Adobe 03 To apply the filter, drag a line down from 04 The red dotted line marks the lower, least

Camera Raw, you’ll see a row of tool the top of the screen to the horizon line. saturated edge of the gradient effect, but
icons across the top of the main image window. You’ll see a horizontal and vertical dotted line like an there is also a green line at the top of the frame. This
The Graduated Filter icon is to the right. inverted T. You’ll also notice that you can change the marks the top or most saturated edge of the effect,
angle of the line by moving the cursor left and right. with a smooth gradient between the two lines. If you
To constrain the line to the vertical, hold down the drag this green line down, more of the image will be
Shift key while dragging. at maximum effect and the gradient will be shorter.

02 When you click on the Graduated Filter

icon, you’ll see the control panel on the
right of the screen change. The filter can apply
many different effects, but the one we want to
use is a reduction in exposure. A setting between
-2.00 and -2.70 should produce a suitable effect
for this picture.

Graduated Filter in Photoshop

01 If your photo wasn’t taken in Raw 02 Next, in the tool options bar, click 03 To apply the gradient to the picture, start at

mode, you can apply a graduated on the gradient editor and select the top of the frame, click and drag down
filter using the Gradient Tool. To set up the Foreground to Transparent, click on the button to the horizon line. If you hold down the shift key
graduated filter, first select the Gradient Tool, for Linear Gradient, set the Blending mode to it will constrain the line to the vertical. The blue is
then set the foreground colour to dark blue Overlay and the Opacity to 90 percent. Make blended into the sky making it darker. It’s always
by clicking on the foreground square and sure the boxes for Dither and Transparency a good idea to tailor the blend colour to match the
then using the colour picker. are checked. sky. Apply again if you want it darker.

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STEP UP YOUR GAME CORRECTING LENS DISTORTION

Correcting
Lens Distortion

Correct the optical distortion of ultra-wide lenses
with Photoshop’s Adaptive Wide Angle

One of the new features introduced with Photoshop CS6 is
called Adaptive Wide Angle; this can warp and bend an
image to undo the optical distortion common to all very wide
angle lenses. We’ve all seen photographs taken with “fish-eye”
lenses. These lenses are called ultra-wide-angle, because the
angle of view that they can capture can be as much as 180
degrees. Naturally the ability to squeeze half a room into the
same shot comes at a price and that is extreme optical distortion.
Straight and parallel lines appear to be bent, perspective
is massively shortened and familiar objects take on almost
unrecognisable proportions. In the photo opposite, the straight
uprights of the window alcoves and bench seats seem to curve
inwards, the walls seem to bulge outwards and the whole effect is
quite disconcerting.

01 Adaptive Wide Angle attempts 02 In the Adaptive Wide Angle interface, 03 The line will automatically warp the

to correct at least some of these first select the Constraint tool from the picture to make the curved line
problems and can warp the picture to undo panel on the upper left of the main screen and straight. You’ll see that there is a circle
most of the optical distortion. Remarkably it select Fisheye from the Correction drop-down overlaid on the line, with two more control
can do all this while still preserving most of menu. Pick one of the vertical lines, in this case handles where they intersect. You can drag
the detail in the picture. You’ll find Adaptive the corner of the structure, click near the top these handles, rotating the line to bring it
Wide Angle in the Filters menu. of it and drag a line down the length of it. You into a vertical position. If you hold down the
should find that the line will automatically curve shift key it will automatically snap to vertical
114 www.bdmpublications.com to follow the line, but you can drag the control right away.
handle in the mid-point of the line to match it
up to the curvature.

CORRECTING LENS DISTORTION STEP UP YOUR GAME

This tutorial
content is
available for
download

BEFORE AFTER

04 Pick a line on the opposite side of 05 Again, drag the handle on the circular 06 The process will have left some empty

the picture and repeat the process line to move the upright into a vertical spaces at the edges of the image,
by dragging a line down the uprights of position. If you’ve done it right the vertical so it will be necessary to crop the image to
the bay windows for instance. This too will curvature distortion of the image should now remove these. This does mean losing some
automatically straighten up the line. be looking better. You may notice that the of the original photograph, but the result is
correction isn’t quite perfect; there may still be much less distorted than it was at the start.
some slight curvature of the various uprights
and horizontals, but it’s certainly a great www.bdmpublications.com 115
improvement and the vertical structures are
much straighter. You can carry on and try to
correct more of the curvature, but be aware
of how much warping is being applied to the
image to straighten everything out. Click OK
when you’re done to finalise the correction.

STEP UP YOUR GAME PANORAMA STITCHING

Panorama USEFUL TIP
Stitching
If shooting a panoramic sequence
Get the whole of the landscape manually, always make sure that you
into one ultra-wide picture have a large enough overlap between
each shot you take. For best results, it
Many digital cameras have a feature BEFORE is advisable to have about 25% of the
known as “Panorama Stitching” or previous frame visible each time.
“Panorama Assist” mode. It’s there to We’ll use this example of a five-shot sequence
help with a particular type of photograph, taken at a sweeping metropolitan location. This tutorial
or rather series of photographs, in which content is
successive shots are taken as the camera available for
is panned across a scene. After you take download
the first shot, the camera shows the edge
of that shot superimposed on the monitor
so you can match up the position of
features in successive shots, producing a
long continuous photo showing an entire
panoramic scene. You can also shoot your
pan sequence manually, especially if you
have a tripod handy to keep the camera
level. When it’s done well the results can be
breathtaking, but getting a satisfactory result
isn’t as easy as it looks.

01 Having downloaded our panorama 02 In Photoshop you’ll find Photomerge in 03 The Photomerge window offers

pictures from the camera into a folder the File menu under Automate, along a number of options for how to
on the PC, it’s time to fire up Photoshop and with several other automatic processes. arrange your panoramic shots. For a simple
stitch them together into a panorama. Locate landscape panorama like this the Auto
the files on your hard drive and open all of option should work fine. Click on the Add
them in Photoshop. If you go to the Window Open Files button to add the five shots to
> Arrange menu you can view them all at the Photomerge list and check the top two
once in various arrangements. Not essential, options and the bottom option to attempt to
but it gives you a chance to make a last- fill blank areas with the Content Aware tool.
minute exposure check.

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PANORAMA STITCHING STEP UP YOUR GAME
AFTER

04 Once you click OK the merging 05 Once the Panorama has been 06 You can also use the Crop tool to

process starts and it is completely rendered, you’ll see that there are straighten out any slight tilt in your
automatic. It will take a while to complete, areas where the program has had to warp horizon, but hopefully you won’t need it. The
possibly quite a long while if you have a slow the pictures to correct for perspective. finished result should look something like this.
computer and/or very large image files. This is where the Content Aware Fill tool
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looks a bit like sky and sea. Depending
on how well the fill works, you can always
crop out these areas.

STEP UP YOUR GAME COLOUR REPLACEMENT

Colour
Replacement

Swapping one colour BEFORE
for another

One relatively simple operation that you This tutorial
can do in Photoshop is to replace one content is
colour with another. By using some of the available for
selection tools we looked at earlier, along download
with the Hue/Saturation controls, we can
change the colour of individual objects in our
photos, such as replacing the colour of the
taxi’s yellow chassis in this shot.

01 Selecting large areas of the same 02 With the Magic

colour is one of those few occasions Wand, it’s best
where the Magic Wand tool is actually to add a bit at a time. Click on an area that’s a
useful, so we’ll use it as a starting point here. mid-tone for the total area you want to select and
With a tolerance setting of 20-30 it should you’ll find that the wand tool will select an area
be able to pick out the chassis without too around it. The size of the selection will depend on
much trouble. the tolerance setting. By holding down the Shift
key and carefully clicking on areas around your
starting selection, you can add more areas. If the
wand selects part of the background, use Cmd+Z
to undo that step and try again more carefully,
possibly adjusting the tolerance downwards if it
keeps happening.

03 When you’ve reached the limit of 04 Again hold down the Shift key to add

what you can usefully select using more areas to your selection. If you
the Magic Wand tool, you can finish your need to remove any areas from the selection,
selection using the Lasso tool. By setting such as the core or rind, you can subtract by
the Feather to zero you can produce a holding down the Alt key and going around
sharp-edged selection. Alternatively, use the them with the Lasso.
Selection Brush tool.

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COLOUR REPLACEMENT STEP UP YOUR GAME

AFTER

06 Although there are several filters we 07 You have three options under the

could use at this point, the most Hue/Saturation setting. Leave the
versatile way to change the colour of the Lightness slider in the middle position
selected area is the Hue/Saturation/Lightness to preserve the overall brightness of the
option. This is common to most editing object, then you can experiment by moving
programs. In Elements you’ll find it in the the Saturation and Hue sliders around.
Enhance menu. As you move the Hue slider, the colour
will start to shift through the spectrum of
05 When you’ve selected all the bits you colours, or you can produce subtle colour
changes with lower saturation settings, or
want to replace, you can save the say to hell with subtlety and go for broke
selection for later use, to save you doing all that with full saturation.
work again if you change your mind.

08 When you’re happy with the result, or

when your eyes start bleeding, you
can clear the selection by using the keyboard
shortcut Cmd+D and then save the result.
When you save the final image as a .PSD file
in Photoshop or Elements, the selections are
saved as well, embedded in the file.

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AFTER

BEFORE

MEGA This tutorial When you cut
TIP #12 content is out one subject
available for and combine
Colour download it with another
Matching background, you
may notice that the
120 www.bdmpublications.com colours don’t appear
to match. We have
a great method
for matching your
image elements.

MEGA TIP #12 | COLOUR MATCHING

01 We have here two example images. The first is of a forest scene 02 The image of the girl has been cut out and placed on a layer above the

comprised of cool colours, which give it an overall blue colour cast. The forest scene. Now you can appreciate the difference in the two images
second image is of a young girl’s portrait taken on a warm, bright day. The tones and how much the warm image of the girl stands out against the cool tones of
in this image are much warmer with an abundance of oranges and reds. the forest. We need to alter her colours to match her environment.

03 With the girl’s layer active, click on the Create New Fill Or Adjustment 04 Ensure that the ‘Curves 1’ thumbnail is active, not the mask. Click the

Layer button and choose Curves, from the menu, to add the adjustment Curves properties menu icon in the top right of the panel and choose Auto
layer above the girl. In the ‘Curves 1’ Properties panel, click the Clip To Layer Options. The Auto Colour Corrections Options panel will open. Make sure the Find
button so any adjustment only affects the girl, not the forest. Dark & Light button is checked and Snap Neutral Midtones is not checked.

05 Click the Shadows target colour picker and then choose the darkest 06 Your portrait image might be a bit dark, but you can now click and drag

colour from the forest image. One of the dark trees should suffice. Click the Curves control points to add more contrast. We’ve simply created a
OK, then click Highlights and choose one of the lightest tones. The pale bark on very rough ‘s’ curve that both lightens the image a little and adds contrast. Now
the tree is fine. Click OK to continue and click No to Target Colours As Defaults? if you compare, the resulting image better matches the background.

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STEP UP YOUR GAME SOFT FOCUS TECHNIQUE

Soft Focus
Technique

With a few simple steps, you can add a soft focus effect
that will give your portraits a romantic feel

Soft focus is an effect used widely in
television and in the movies, as well
as in many commercial and advertising
photographs, for producing a dreamy
romantic look. It’s also a big favourite with
wedding photographers to give their images a
soft, dreamy look. In traditional photography
the effect is achieved with a special filter
fitted over the camera lens. Many digital
cameras now include soft focus as a digital
effect, but we can produce the same results
in Photoshop with ease, using Gaussian blur
and layer transparency.

This tutorial
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available for
download

BEFORE AFTER

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SOFT FOCUS TECHNIQUE STEP UP YOUR GAME

01 The first step is to turn the picture into 02 Next, go to the Filter menu, move 03 We don’t need very much blurring to

two identical layers. To do this, go to down to Blur, and select Lens Blur. produce the soft-focus effect, so for
the Layer menu, and select Duplicate Layer. This is a special type of blurring that can be this portrait shot, set a radius of 45 pixels.
Don’t worry about naming this layer, it’s the adjusted to produce certain effects. It most You may need a smaller radius for smaller
only one we’re going to make. closely resembles a photographic lens blur. images, but keep it subtle.

04 In the Layers palette, set the transparency 05 We can further enhance the look of the 06 Drag an elliptical marquee selection

of the blurred layer to around 60 percent. picture by adding an elliptical vignette around the portrait subject. This may take
This lets the still-sharp lower layer to show of further blurring around the subject. This is a a few tries to get right, so use Cmd+D to de-
through, mitigating the effects of the Gaussian technique that portrait photographers have been select if you get it wrong. When you’re happy with
blur. If you feel it is too blurred, you can drop the using almost since the invention of photography. it, go to the Select menu and click on Feather.
Opacity down to about 40% if you like. First, select the Elliptical Marquee tool. Set a radius of about 50-60 pixels.

07 Next, select Inverse from the Select menu 08 Now add a Lens blur filter to the selection, 09 One final option is to use a soft eraser and

to change the selection so that everything giving it a much bigger radius than before; erase areas of the blurred layer around your
outside the ellipse is selected. around 80 pixels should do the job. subject’s face to keep it sharp if you prefer.

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Processing
Raw Photos

Professional photographers shoot in a format
known as Raw. The Raw format is an unprocessed
readout of the camera’s sensor that offers greater
processing options, which a Jpeg file cannot
match. All that raw data is waiting to be turned
into a beautiful photograph. Photoshop has its very
own digital darkroom, with tools at your disposal
to bring out the very best in each and every photo
you shoot.

Contents

126 Processing Raw files
128 ACR interface
130 ACR menus
133 ACR workflow
136 Introduction to Lightroom CC

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PROCESSING RAW PHOTOS

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PROCESSING RAW PHOTOS PROCESSING RAW FILES

Processing
Raw Files

For the best possible quality,
shoot in Raw mode

All digital SLRs and Compact System Cameras and most of
the better compact cameras, have a shooting option called
Raw mode. You’ll usually find it in the menu as an option under
image quality. Raw mode offers greatly improved image quality
over the usual JPEG image file format and is recommended
for all serious photographers. Let’s take a closer look at Raw
mode, find out how it works and see how it can help you
produce better photographs.

What is Raw Mode?

Lens Sensor Processor JPEG Output

Raw Output

Raw mode is a special image recording option captured by an electronic image sensor. This eye, so the signal from the sensor feeds into the
that is available on digital SLRs, Compact System sensor has millions of tiny photocells that produce a camera’s image processor, a combination of
Cameras and other high-quality digital cameras. If charge when they are exposed to light; the brighter computer electronics and software which turns the
your camera has this option, you have access to the light, the higher the charge. Digital camera brightness data from the sensor, adjusted for the
much higher image quality than the standard JPEG sensors don’t record the colour of the light hitting colours in the Bayer filter, into a full colour digital
file format. them, just the brightness, so a special mosaic of image that you can view and print.
coloured filters is placed in front of the sensor,
Essentially, Raw mode is just what it sounds called a Bayer filter. Part of that process includes reducing the
like. It’s the raw data pretty much straight from bit-depth of the basic image data (the amount of
the camera’s sensor. In a digital camera the Naturally, the image generated by the sensor and 1s and 0s used by a computer to describe each
photographic image is, as I’m sure you’re aware, filter wouldn’t make much sense to the unaided pixel), usually from 36-bit (12 bits per channel)

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LOSSLESS PROCESSING RAW FILES PROCESSING RAW PHOTOS
COMPRESSED

USEFUL TIP

Modern cameras all come supplied with
Raw processing software, although if you
have Photoshop, it has Adobe Camera Raw
built in as part of the application. Try to get
used to always shooting in Raw mode on
your camera. The quality and processing
possibilities are much greater than JPEG

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have the ability to shoot in Raw format.

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to understand how much more processing
ability you have. Your photos will see a
marked improvement when you use Raw.

or even 48-bit (16 bits per channel) to 24-bit (8 artefacts into some areas of the image. that the saved files are much larger, so they take
bits per channel), which makes a smaller and The main advantage of Raw shooting, apart from a lot longer to save to the memory card and you
more easily processed file, but loses some colour can fit fewer of them on there. For a typical 16MP
depth because of the smaller palette that can be the improvement in overall image quality, is that it DSLR, a high quality JPEG file will be around
represented by that many bits. Other adjustments bypasses the in-camera image processing, such 8MB, while a Raw file will be around 25MB, over
to the colour balance, such as unusual white as white balance, saturation, sharpness etc. This three times the size.
balance settings, can also reduce image quality, as sounds illogical, but it’s not really. The processing
will heavy noise reduction. that takes place in the camera is pre-set before the Many of the more recent DSLRs have the
shot is taken and irreversible once the image has ability to record Raw and JPEG image files
In order to save space on the memory card, been converted to a JPEG file. By shooting in Raw simultaneously. This has the convenience of
produce faster transfers and make it easier to mode, you can make the processing adjustments JPEG with the versatility and quality of Raw, but
display and print the photograph on a computer, after the shot has been taken and if you need to takes up even more space on your memory card.
the image is usually converted to a compressed change them you can do so as long as you have Fortunately the price of very large memory cards
JPEG file. Unfortunately JPEG compression also the original Raw file. is falling almost daily, so this needn’t be much of
reduces the image quality and can introduce a problem.
The downside to Raw file recording is of course

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PROCESSING RAW PHOTOS ADOBE CAMERA RAW INTERFACE

ACR Interface

Adobe Camera Raw isn’t as difficult as it looks

Photoshop comes with Adobe Camera Raw,
usually shortened to ACR. It offers a range
of processing options that enable you to get
the best out of your photos, including exposure
adjustment, sharpening, noise reduction, colour
correction and automatic correction for lens
distortion. It is regularly updated to maintain
compatibility with all the latest cameras and
lenses. Like the rest of Photoshop, it’s easy to
get started. Let’s take a look at the interface
and see what it has to offer.

Toolbar

This holds all the main selectable tools, most of
which are similar to tools in the main Photoshop
interface, including Zoom, Hand, Crop, Straighten,
Spot Removal, Red Eye Removal and a newly-
added feature that can add a graduated filter to
your picture.

Control Palette

This is the main dialogue palette, which contains
the controls for each tabbed section. Most of the
controls are sliders and you can see the results
of each adjustment both in real-time on the
histogram and in the main image window.

Image Window

This is the main window displaying the image
you’re currently working on. All changes that you
make during Raw editing will be visible here. You
can zoom into the image using the magnification
controls at the bottom left, or use the usual CTRL
+ and CTRL - shortcuts. You can see what effect
your editing has had by checking and unchecking
the preview option at the top right.

Output Options

At the bottom of the screen you’ll find the controls
for when you’ve finished your editing. If you
click on the blue link you’ll see a range of output
options, since Adobe Camera Raw can process
your pictures in a range of sizes. You can also
save your edits back into the Raw file to keep
them for later.

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ADOBE CAMERA RAW INTERFACE PROCESSING RAW PHOTOS

Control Tabs Information Palette Histogram

The Camera Raw interface breaks the The left side of this panel shows the RGB The Histogram shows you the number
workflow down into discrete sections, each colour values at the cursor position. RGB of pixels of each tone in your image and
with its own tabbed palette of controls represents the three primary colours of red, changes as you make exposure and colour
and adjustment sliders. You can switch green and blue, which combine to create a balance adjustments. The graph represents
between them by clicking here. The tabs final colour image. The larger right side of the colour in digital form, with levels from
are, from left to right: Basic, Tone Curve, the area displays the exposure information 0 to 255, with the darkest on the left and
Detail, HSL/Greyscale, Split Toning, Lens for the image, including the aperture, shutter the brightest on the right. The white area
Correction, Effects, Camera Calibration, speed, ISO setting and the focal length of represents the combined colours, but you can
Presets and Snapshots. the lens used. also look at each colour channel individually.

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PROCESSING RAW PHOTOS ADOBE CAMERA RAW MENUS

ACR Menus

Adobe Camera Raw has a powerful set of features all
nested within a series of easily accessible control tabs

The main interface of Adobe Camera Raw is comprised of ten menus, your time working in the Basic panel, when used in conjunction with
each with a series of control sliders and some additional menu tabs adjustments from the other control panels, you will be able to enhance
to access further features. Although you will no doubt spend most of your images beyond what you thought possible in no time at all.

Basic Tone Curve Detail HSL

The Basic panel in ACR is probably The Tone Curve options in The Detail section concerns itself with The HSL panel, which is an
the one you will spend the most ACR behave very much like the how you handle both Sharpening and acronym for Hue, Saturation and
time in and also where you will Levels and Curves Adjustments Noise Reduction in your Raw files. Luminance, is where you can get
make the most important global you can make in Photoshop Sharpening is basically an increase to grips with the colours in your
image adjustments. Apart from itself. The basic Parametric in the contrast of the brightest and images and how you can affect
choosing the colour treatment, you adjustments allow you to use darkest edges in your image. Too them. The first panel is Hue, which
can adjust Exposure, Contrast, sliders to individually adjust high a value and you may suffer lets you alter a specific range of
Highlights and Shadows as well as Highlights, Lights, Darks and image degradation. The Detail and colour values such as reds for
Clarity, Vibrance and Saturation. Shadows. The Point Curve Masking sliders can effectively example; then alter their hue to
More recent additions include adjustment allows you to place suppress the halo effects of over- make them more magenta or
being able to apply a colour profile control points and create your sharpening. The Noise Reduction make orange more yellow or blue
from a collection of presets and the own custom curves by moving settings help you reduce the amount more purple. The other panels
Dehaze option to reduce haze in the points around to your own of image noise and colour artefacts allow the adjustment of their
your photos. personal preference. seen in high ISO photos. colour intensity and brightness.

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ADOBE CAMERA RAW MENUS PROCESSING RAW PHOTOS

Split Toning Lens Corrections Effects Calibration

Split Toning is a particular effect you Throughout its life Adobe Camera The Effects panel allows you to Found in both Adobe Camera Raw
can apply to your images in order to Raw has been updated at regular add Grain to your image, with and Lightroom is a module that
control how much of a certain colour intervals. Each new update brings three values to control its impact. is more powerful than it may look
appears in the highlights or shadows the latest Lens Correction profiles You can specify the Amount, at first glance. Mainly used as a
of your images. There are Hue and that can automatically assess your the Size of the grains and the calibration for your camera it can be
Saturation sliders for both Highlights photo and determine what lens Roughness of the image grain a brilliantly creative tool. You could
and Shadows. Set a Hue value and was used on the camera that took you apply. The other effect is Post think of it as a more refined Hue
then increase its Saturation amount. the shot. Once it knows what lens Crop Vignetting which allows and Saturation adjustment tool. You
When you do so, that chosen colour was used, it can apply a set of you to progressively darken or can alter the Tint value found in the
will start to dominate the brightest corrections that can eliminate lens lighten the outer edges of the shadows of your image, as well as
and darkest areas of the shot. The aberrations and distortions specific photo before and after cropping. adjust the general use of Hue and
Balance slider governs which is to that lens. It does also allow for You can control the Amount, Saturation in the Red, Green and
most dominant. It is a particular manual adjustments and custom Midpoint, Roundness, Feather Blue channels of your image for
effect favoured by photographers. settings if it can’t find your lens. and Highlights. much finer control.

Presets Snapshots

This is another recent addition to Here is another more recently
Adobe Camera Raw. Normally, added feature that you normally
you can save a preferred method find on another popular Adobe
of image adjustment as a User product: Lightroom. Snapshots,
Preset and that would have as the name implies, allows
been that. Now, there are also a you to create a snapshot of a
number of new Presets added particular part of the adjustment
that mean you can apply one- process. If you have a set of
click adjustments to your photos. basic edits you like, you can
These presets range from High Snapshot it and create a save
Contrast colour adjustments point during the workflow
to Cross Process effects and a process. If you then make a
number of Creative and Black series of edits that you don’t
and White options too. Any like, you can always go back to
custom presets that you create a previous state by clicking on
for yourself can also be saved one of the Snapshots you stored
and appear under User Presets. whilst you were working.

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PROCESSING RAW PHOTOS ADOBE CAMERA RAW WORKFLOW

ACR Workflow This tutorial
content is
Getting the most out of your Raw files available for
download

Ask any five professional photographers the type of final image required, as well as the so we’ll take a look at a common general
about the process they use to create their type of camera used to take the photo and purpose workflow that will be suitable for
pictures, you’ll get five different answers. The the use to which the photo will be put. There most types of photo. We’ll be using a coastal
amount of processing and adjustment used are certain operations that will be common landscape photo taken in Cornwall on a
will vary, depending on the job at hand and to most photos that you’ll want to process, sunny day.

01 If you look at the histogram at the top 03 While holding down the Alt key (Option 04 We can spend a while carefully adjusting

right of the screen you’ll notice that the on Mac), move the exposure slider to the the various sliders by hand to try and
line at the right (brightest) end of the graph is right. With the key held down, all you’ll see will be equalise the histogram, but the quickest way to get
peaking higher compared to the ones on the left. the over-exposed areas. You can do this with any close to the optimum result is to let Camera Raw
Ideally the graph should fill the area between the of the first six sliders and it’s a good way to make do the hard work. If you click on Auto the software
lightest and darkest ends of the range, so we adjustments without going too far. will automatically adjust the image to produce a
need to slightly reduce the lighter end of the graph good approximation to a perfect exposure. It’s
without causing under-exposure. probably not going to be ideal, but it will give us a
good starting point. You’ll notice that the sun on
the horizon and the clouds around it are over-
exposed, but that’s OK. We’re looking for a good
spread of tones and that includes white.

02 To ensure that we don’t lose too much

detail to highlight clipping, click on the
arrow in the top right corner of the histogram
window. This turns on the highlight clipping
warning. Any over-exposed areas will turn bright
red in the image window. Clicking on the left
button turns on the shadow clipping warning.

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ADOBE CAMERA RAW WORKFLOW PROCESSING RAW PHOTOS

05 The Auto adjustment has made a good 07 One of the best things about Adobe

job of this particular picture, but for Camera Raw is its lens correction feature.
landscape shots a little bit of extra saturation The Tamron wide-angle lens used to take this
usually looks good, so we’ll boost the vibrance picture is a nice bit of glass, but it’s not perfect.
and the saturation to get the colours of the Although it’s hard to see at a glance, this wide-
sunlight, ground and sky to really pop out. angle shot does suffer from some pincushion
distortion and slight chromatic aberration.
Fortunately Camera Raw comes pre-loaded
with correction profiles for a huge list of popular
lenses, including this one. All you need to do
to automatically correct the optical distortion
caused by the lens is to check the box Enable
Lens Profile Corrections. You’ll see the change
happen to your image immediately.

09 The next step is largely a matter of

personal taste, but you can also choose
to use a preset profile for the colour calibration
too. In the Basic tab, click on the Profile panel
and from the drop-down menu select your
preferred profile. Choose Browse to see more.
There are now a number to choose from. This
sets the colour rendering profile to the preset.

06 Adobe Camera Raw also provides a 08 The chromatic aberration is just as easy

second method of adjusting contrast: by to fix. Click on the Color tab in the Lens
altering the tone curve. Although it’s no more Correction palette and simply check the box
accurate than using the sliders many people will Remove Chromatic Aberration. You’ll need to
prefer it because it’s nice and simple and gives a zoom in near the edge of the frame to see the
good visual representation of what we’re doing. difference, but you’ll notice the effects at once.
It’s also a lot harder to burn out the highlights
using curves. By boosting the highlights a lot
and then boosting the other sliders in decreasing
amounts we can quickly equalise the histogram
without losing too much quality.

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PROCESSING RAW PHOTOS ADOBE CAMERA RAW WORKFLOW

10 For this particular image, the sky is a bit lighter than it needs to be, BEFORE

but we can easily darken it down a bit by adding a high quality digital
graduated filter in Camera Raw. Click on the Graduated Filter button at the
top of the screen and you’ll see the filter control palette appear. Set the
exposure slider to about -1.5 or -2, then in the image window drag down
from the top of the picture to just below the horizon line to apply the filter. If
you hold down the shift key while dragging, it will stay parallel with the top
of the frame.

11 Finally we have the output options. Camera Raw gives you the

option to output the processed image in a number of different ways,
but which one you use will depend on what you want to do with the finished
image. For most purposes the default settings will be ideal, but you may
need to select a different colour space and for maximum colour fidelity you
can output in 16-bit format. You can also choose an image size different
from the native resolution of your camera, but be aware that choosing a
larger size doesn’t magically create new pixels; the image will be enlarged
using Photoshop’s bicubic resampling algorithm. If you’re planning to print
the picture you might also want to look at the sharpening options. When
you’re happy with your choice, click OK and then Open Image. The picture
will now open in Photoshop, from where you can either carry out more
editing, or save the picture in JPEG or TIFF format.

12 You also have the option to save a particular group of adjustment

settings in order to use them later on other images. You can apply
a selection, or all the settings at once, if you wish. Once you have a group
of adjustments you want to save, click on the small icon to the left of the
Presets tab to call up the Settings options menu.

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ADOBE CAMERA RAW WORKFLOW PROCESSING RAW PHOTOS

AFTER USEFUL TIP

Any adjustments you make to your image
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that detail in your images.

13 From the Settings options menu, choose Save Settings. This will 14 Once saved, the Preset you created is added to the list of User

open the Save Settings dialog panel where you can specify which Presets. If you have an image you want to apply this Preset to, open
settings can be saved. You can choose to Check All or manually choose it in ACR as normal and then scroll down to where ‘landscape 1’ is listed.
by checking or un-checking your preferred adjustments listed in the panel. A real-time display shows the effect it has on your image. If you click it, the
Click Save and name your Preset. Our example is called ‘landscape 1.xmp’. adjustments will be applied to the new image.

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PROCESSING RAW PHOTOS INTRODUCTION TO LIGHTROOM CC

Introduction to
Lightroom CC

AFTER

BEFORE

Processing Raw files with the new This tutorial
content is
available for
download

mobile focused version cloud and edit them on a compatible device,
no matter where you are. In many ways you
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom has always recently, Adobe released two updated versions can see Lightroom CC as the big cloud-based
been regarded as the professionals choice of the software. Lightroom Classic CC is the brother of Adobe Camera Raw. Any users of
for image processing and asset management desktop version pro users will be familiar with Adobe’s Creative Cloud Photography Plan
with your photo library. Not only can you but there’s also a brand new streamlined and get Photoshop CC, Lightroom Classic CC
process your images, you can catalogue them, redesigned version, called Lightroom CC. and the all new Lightroom CC in their monthly
create websites and books, as well as integrate This is a more cloud orientated mobile version subscription. Let’s take a look at the new boy
them into maps with geo location data. More that lets you capture images, upload to the on the block and show you what it’s capable of.

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INTRODUCTION TO LIGHTROOM CC PROCESSING RAW PHOTOS

01 Open Lightroom CC and you can add new photos to your library by 02 The ‘waterfall.NEF’ file will be imported to Lightroom CC. Click on

clicking the plus symbol in the top left corner and then clicking on the Add 1 Photo button to add the image to your current library. You
Browse. For our example, we browsed to a Nikon Raw file of a waterfall. have the option of importing to named libraries if you want. You can view your
Double-click it to continue. image under the Recently Added tab.

03 Ranged down the right side of the screen are the main tools for 04 Beneath Profile is the Light panel. This contains the main Exposure

processing your photos. Click on the Edit icon (E) to open the image and Contrast sliders for the basic adjustments to your image. We
editing tools. The Profile panel allows you to add a number of preset colour adjusted the image to brighten it but retained detail in both highlight areas
and filter effects to your image. and shadows.

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PROCESSING RAW PHOTOS INTRODUCTION TO LIGHTROOM CC

05 You also have the option to use the Tone Curve tool, much as you 06 Next comes the Colour panel. Here you can alter White Balance

would in Photoshop. Dragging a point on the curve alters Shadow, manually or by using the White Balance Selector (W). You can also alter
Dark, Light and Highlight values. You can also affect the values of the the Tint, Vibrance and Saturation to achieve the desired look in your shot.
individual colour channels of Red, Blue and Green.

07 The Colour panel also offers the Colour Mixer tool where you can alter 08 Then you can access the Effects panel. This contains the Clarity,

the Hue, Saturation and Luminance of nine primary colour hues. For Dehaze, Vignette and Grain sliders. Clarity and Dehaze help control
example, we’ve altered the Greens Hue to make just the greens in the image mid-tone contrast while Vignette allows you to darken the image edges. Grain
brighter and more vibrant. lets you add a film grain effect.

09 Split Toning is a method that lets you add a colour tint to both 10 The next panel contains Detail adjustments. This is where you can

highlight and shadow areas in your image. You can choose the colour, control Sharpening in your image as well as use sliders for Noise
strength and balance of colours between bright and dark areas by using the Reduction and Colour Noise Reduction. It is recommended that you work
Split Toning tools. with your image at 1:1 magnification to see their effects.

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INTRODUCTION TO LIGHTROOM CC PROCESSING RAW PHOTOS

11 Below Detail comes Optics. Clicking on the Remove Chromatic 12 The last panel is Geometry. You can physically alter the shape,

Aberration and Enable Lens Correction buttons removes colour size and rotation of the image. It is particularly useful for removing
aberrations and distortion created by the lens you used to take the photo. unwanted perspective and converging verticals in architectural shots.

13 Back to the main menu. The next tool is the Crop & Rotate tool 14 The Healing Brush tool (H) is useful for removing any unwanted

(C). You can crop your images manually or choose a preset from objects and dust or dirt from your photo. Simply choose the Clone or
a number of popular image aspect ratios. The Crop & Rotate feature also Heal mode and brush over your target. It will then use nearby image data to
allows you to rotate and flip your images. remove the unwanted item.

15 The Brush tool is next. This lets you make targeted adjustments, by 16 Linear Gradient (L) behaves like a digital version of the graduated

simply adjusting your settings and brushing over the area in question, filters used by photographers on their lenses. You can click and drag a
such as reducing the exposure in the foreground of the image. You can also graduated filter across your image, to either darken or lighten areas based on
erase brush strokes if required. your settings.

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PROCESSING RAW PHOTOS INTRODUCTION TO LIGHTROOM CC

17 Finally, the Radial Gradient Tool (R) is a circular version of the 18 You can also brush the Radial Filter effect and make more targeted

Graduated Filter. It can affect anything inside it or be set to only affect adjustments to the image. We added warmth and increased exposure
anything outside. We used a bright yellow Radial Filter to create a pool of to the water tumbling over the rocks near the front of the image.
warm light at the top of the photo.

19 Finally, if you click on Presets at the bottom of the toolbar, you 20 Once you have your image the way you want it, you can save a copy

can access the full range of filters for a one-click creative effect to of it from the cloud, to your computer. Go to File > Save To; this will
dramatically alter your photo: from Black and White conversions to Aged call up the Save panel. Choose from either Original + Settings or JPEG. You’ll
Photo and even Grain effects. need to choose a destination for the files too.

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INTRODUCTION TO LIGHTROOM CC PROCESSING RAW PHOTOS

21 If you choose Original + Settings, your Raw file will be saved locally 22 If you choose JPEG, you have the option to select Small, Full Size or

to your computer, along with an XMP file. This file contains all the Custom as the image size. When you have the size you want, you can
non-destructive edits made to your image; you can alter those settings at then press the Save button to download a JPEG to your machine with all the
any time. edits in place.

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Using
Photoshop
Like a Pro

Begin the next step in your evolution as an artist
and become a master digital editor and image
manipulator. How about taking on some new
projects to really let your digital creativity loose?
The next section is devoted to many diverse and
fun project guides that show you what you are now
capable of with the help of Photoshop.

Contents 172 Compositing images
180 Double exposure effect
144 Light beam effects 188 Dodging and burning
152 Collodion portraits 192 Glossary
158 Cartoonize your photos
164 Create an underwater scene

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USING PHOTOSHOP LIKE A PRO

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USING PHOTOSHOP LIKE A PRO LIGHT BEAM EFFECTS

Light AFTER
Beam BEFORE
Effects

Enhance your photos and art This tutorial
content is

with cool beams of light available for
download

Photographers will tell you that their medium is light. In fact, the word benefit from the lighting you will
photograph is taken from the Greek words; photos for light and construct. We have three images. The first
graphe for drawing. In Photoshop, even if the medium with which you is a field, into which the other two elements will be placed.
are working is the coloured pixels in an image, it is how you use those We will combine them to create a classic alien abduction scene. You’re
pixels to represent light that makes a photo ‘pop’. We want to show always guaranteed of some good alien light beams in a scene like that
you how to create some great lighting effects, then show you how to and we can start off with the basic assembly of the elements, before
combine several images and blend them into one final artwork that will moving on to make the light effects.

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LIGHT BEAM EFFECTS USING PHOTOSHOP LIKE A PRO

01 Firstly, we open the base image, which, in the case of our example, is 02 Next, open the image called ‘figure.jpg’. It is an image of a girl

called ‘field.jpg’. The base image is 2899 pixels wide by 4123 pixels pretending to fall off a tree stump. We can use this image to create an
high. Settings used in our example are based on an image that size. Your abductee floating in a beam of light. The first thing we need to do, is remove
settings may vary if working on a different sized image. her from the background.

03 An easy way to do that is to use the Quick Selection Tool (W). Use 04 To make sure of a good selection, you can click on the Select And

a small brush size of about 10 pixels and begin to draw a selection Mask button and paint the refinement brush over the girl’s outline.
within the outline of the girl. As she is against a plain background, you should Each brush stroke will attempt a more accurate selection. Keep brushing until
be able to get a fairly decent selection. you’re happy with the quality of the selection and then press OK.

05 With your selection refined, you can go to Edit > Copy (Cmd + C) and 06 She’s probably a bit too big for this scene, but if you press Cmd + T,

copy the girl. Then you can return to your field image and go to Edit to activate the Free Transform Tool, you can scale her down and move
> Paste (Cmd + V) to paste the girl into the scene on a new layer, which you her into her final position near the bottom of the filed image. You can also
can name ‘figure’. rotate her a little, so she faces the sky more.

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07 Since the girl was standing on a tree stump, parts of her feet were 08 With the ‘figure’ layer still active, press Cmd + L to call up the Levels

missing. You can use the Clone Stamp Tool (S) to clone new areas of panel. The girl is a little too bright for our purposes, so if you drag the
her sneaker soles onto the missing bits. You can then use the Eraser Tool and middle Midtone slider to the right a little, you can make her darker. You don’t
refine the shape of her feet. have to make her very dark.

09 Now we need our alien invasion craft. If you open the file ‘ufo.jpg’, we 10 The saucer goes on its own layer, which you can name ‘ufo’ and

have a classic alien saucer to abduct our girl. Now, just as you did place at the top of the layer stack, with the girl on the ‘figure’ layer
with the girl on the tree stump, you can use the Quick Selection Tool (W) to beneath that and the field image as the main ‘Background’ layer. At this point
select the saucer, then copy it, and paste it into your main document. it may be worth hitting Shift + Cmd + S to save the document.

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11 Click the ‘Background’ field image layer, go to the layer options 12 The field image is now darker, but without too much contrast. Add

panel and click Create New Fill Or Adjustment Layer. A ‘Levels 1’ another Levels Adjustment above the UFO image, since we also want to
adjustment will be added above the field image. Grade the Midtone slider to make the saucer darker too. To ensure this adjustment only affects the saucer,
the right and the Highlights Output Levels to the left, as shown. click on the Clip To Layer button. ‘Levels 2’ is now clipped to the ‘ufo’ layer.

13 Drag the ‘Levels 2’ Midtone slider to the extreme right, to make the 14 Click on the Create A New Layer button to create a layer called

saucer really dark. Then, on its layer mask, use a large soft black ‘shadow’ and then drag it so it sits between the ‘figure’ layer and the
brush to reveal areas of original brightness on the bottom of the craft. Later ‘Levels 1’ adjustment layer above the field image. On this layer, we will place
we’ll make this even brighter, but this is a good start. a shadow beneath the girl.

15 Select the Brush Tool (B) and set the foreground colour to black, if it 16 Now we need to start thinking about getting light back into the

isn’t already. Click the Brush Settings button to set up an 800 pixel image. Click the ‘Levels 1’ layer to make it active. We could use that
brush size and make its Roundness about 26% to flatten it out into a shallow adjustment, but we want to make a new Levels adjustment above it to keep
oval shape, which we can use on the ‘shadow’ layer. things easy and clear in the layer stack.

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17 Go to the toolbar and choose the Polygonal Lasso Tool (L) then use 18 With the cone-shaped selection active, click the Create New Fill Or

this to draw a cone-shaped selection that emanates from the bottom Adjustment Layer button and choose Levels from the menu. A new
of the saucer and expands downwards onto the ground beneath the floating ‘Levels 3’ adjustment layer will be created and a mask, in the shape of the
girl. It doesn’t have to be perfect, as you will soon see. cone you drew, will be applied at the same time.

19 Click the layer mask thumbnail and, under its Properties, set a Feather 20 Use the Polygonal Lasso Tool and draw a new cone that sits inside

value of about 130 pixels to soften the cone. Then click the ‘Levels the first, but is much narrower, as if it were a more focused beam of
3’ thumbnail and drag the Highlight slider across to the far left to boost the light. Now you can add a ‘Levels 4’ adjustment and push the highlight slider
brightness inside the cone. Don’t overdo this bit. across to the left again to boost the brightness even more.

21 Click the ‘Levels 4’ layer mask thumbnail and, under its Properties, 22 Add a ‘Levels 5’ adjustment above the other two you’ve been working

make the Feather value about 65 pixels. This creates a nice on. With the layer mask thumbnail active, press Cmd + I to invert the
searchlight-looking beam. Now we need to add another Levels Adjustment to colour from white to black. Then use the Polygonal Lasso Tool to draw a new
create a feeling of atmosphere and energy. cone-shaped selection that is wider than the other two.

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23 With the selection active, go to Filter > Render > Clouds. This fills the 24 In the Levels Properties panel, move the Highlight slider across to the

cone-shaped selection with a mottled black and white pattern that left just under half way. The outer cone should get much brighter, but
resembles clouds. Press Cmd + D to clear the selection and then click on the the cloud patterns may not be strong enough yet. That is easily fixed; click on
adjustment layer thumbnail to make that active instead. the ‘Level 5’ layer mask thumbnail to make it active.

25 Press Cmd + L to bring up the Levels panel. If you drag the Shadow 26 The outer edge of the cone is too sharp at the moment. Grab a large

and Highlight sliders towards the middle of the histogram, you will soft black brush and start to brush along the sharp edges of the
increase the contrast of the clouds on the mask. You should start to see a mask. The sharp edge will start to disappear and you should be left with what
mottling texture appear. Keep the layer mask active. looks like a cloud of crackling energy.

27 Now we need to tweak the image of the girl and make her brighter at 28 This ensures that any adjustments will only affect the ‘figure’ layer

the top and darker below, to suit the light that is shining on her from below. With the Layer thumbnail active, move the Midtone slider to the
above. Create a new ‘Levels 6’ adjustment layer above the ‘figure’ layer and right and substantially darken the figure. Next, pick a large soft black brush
click the Clip To Layer icon in the layer’s Properties panel. and make the layer mask active.

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29 On the mask, use the black brush to paint the areas of the girl’s head 30 Now create a new layer, make sure it is at the top of the layer stack,

and shoulders that you want to return to original brightness, whilst, and name it ‘flare’. Use a soft white brush to dab a large blob of white
because of the light above her head, leaving her lower body looking as if it is on the bottom of the saucer to act as a light source. Now double-click the
in shadow. layer to bring up the Layer Style panel.

31 Under Advanced Blending, uncheck the Transparency Shapes Layer 32 Create a new layer called ‘particles’ that sits at the very top of the

button, then, in the General Blending panel above, change the Blend layer stack. Choose a small, soft white brush. Go to your Brush
Mode to Color Dodge. The soft white brush blob you painted should now Settings and click Shape Dynamics. Make Size Jitter 100%. Next, click on
look a lot stronger against the saucer and background. Scattering, make Scatter 1000%, and check the Both Axes button.

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