So we are getting engagement photos done by an amateur photographer for free. He’s giving us the CD at the end and I’m going to use photo editing software (probably Paint Shop Pro, maybe Photo Shop) to naturally enhance them a bit. They are being done mostly outside at Disney so I don’t think they’ll need much (I LOVE natural outdoor lighting), but still. I photo edit all the time, but I like a lot of contrast and everything. What are some good tips for NATURALLY enhancing them?
For balancing, curves are a marvelous tool, as they can be used to implement many other adjustments, such as contrast, mid-tone expansion, colour cast correction (by manipulating RGB separately).
In essence, with curves, you measure (colour picker) a point on the image, and then use curves to change the input values to the output values you want.
For instance, you can lighten shadows by setting a point near the low end, and then dragging it upward – many of the other adjustments, such as brightness/contrast, highlight/mid-tone/shadow can be achieved using the curves tool, with more precise control.
February 27th, 2010 at 4:37 pm
For balancing, curves are a marvelous tool, as they can be used to implement many other adjustments, such as contrast, mid-tone expansion, colour cast correction (by manipulating RGB separately).
In essence, with curves, you measure (colour picker) a point on the image, and then use curves to change the input values to the output values you want.
For instance, you can lighten shadows by setting a point near the low end, and then dragging it upward – many of the other adjustments, such as brightness/contrast, highlight/mid-tone/shadow can be achieved using the curves tool, with more precise control.
References :
February 27th, 2010 at 5:23 pm
Sometimes the simplest way to just pep up a photo that doesn’t need much tweaking is to make a copy of the layer and give the copy a soft light Blending Mode. This perks up the lighting and colors but very softly. You can try the Overlay Blend Mode but this effect is stronger and you will need to turn down the Opacity of the layer.
References :