Vania16
05-16-2008, 03:39 PM
For our first tutorial here, I thought I'd share a quick and easy little technique for enhancing the color of your images in Photoshop - it gives you that great little pop of color!
To begin, you'll open your image and go to Image->Adjustments->Levels in Photoshop
http://members.cox.net/vania16/Copy%20of%20SA%20PhotoTut%205.16%201.jpg
That will open up a dialogue box for you. At the top of the box you'll see a pull down/scroll through list called channels - this includes RGB, Red, Green and Blue. You'll also notice that there's a big curve in the box with little arrows underneath it. Those little arrows are what we're going to use. Notice how in my screenshot the curve is big in the middle, levels out and then goes completely flat? You want to move the white and black arrows in to where there's something on the curve, so that they're not out on the edges where the curve is totally flat.
http://members.cox.net/vania16/Copy%20of%20SA%20PhotoTut%205.16%202.jpg
So, choose Red on the menu and pull the arrows in - first white then black until they're lined up with the point where the curve starts to rise. Then move to Green and Blue and do the same thing. Now, a little word of warning and advice here. As you go along, some pretty funky things are going to happen to your photo because you're basically adding more of whatever color you're working on to the photo, so it can get a little crazy when you add a bunch of red and green and blue are still the same. And, this is definitely as much art as sciene. I tend to move the little arrows around in the vicinity of the starting and ending points of the curve until I get a result I like and my color is nice and even - not too much of any one color.
http://members.cox.net/vania16/SA%20PhotoTut%205.16%203.jpg
Please note that when you do this from the toolbar at the top you're changing the photo itself, so make sure you're starting with a copy and not your original image so you don't accidentally save it at a point where the color's still crazy! And, you can also do this using a mask. In the following example I used a mask because the sky got really over-bright when I made the flowers more blue. So, I simply masked out the effect on that portion of the photo. You can apply this technique with a mask by going to the "create new fill or adjustment layer" button in your layers dialogue box and choosing "Levels." That button is the one that is a circle that's half black and half white. It creates a layer mask with the effect that you can then remove from portions of your image using your paintbrush set to black. Here's the before and after:
http://members.cox.net/vania16/Copy%20of%20Sea_of_Lupine___BTA.jpg
http://members.cox.net/vania16/Copy%20of%20Sea_of_Lupine___BTAedit.jpg
And, another example:
http://members.cox.net/vania16/Copy%20of%20Lupine___BTA.jpghttp://members.cox.net/vania16/Copy%20of%20Lupine___BTAedit.jpg
By the way, I took these photos with my Olympus point and shoot camera.
Okay, so that's the technique! Your challenge for the coming week is to give it a try! Try it out on one of those photos that just looks drab and see how it works for you :) Be sure to post your results here or in our Photography Gallery (http://www.scrapartist.com/gallery/showgallery.php?cat=1119) - we can't wait to see! Oh, and if you have any questions at all, or I haven't explained something clearly, be sure to ask, I'm happy to help :)
To begin, you'll open your image and go to Image->Adjustments->Levels in Photoshop
http://members.cox.net/vania16/Copy%20of%20SA%20PhotoTut%205.16%201.jpg
That will open up a dialogue box for you. At the top of the box you'll see a pull down/scroll through list called channels - this includes RGB, Red, Green and Blue. You'll also notice that there's a big curve in the box with little arrows underneath it. Those little arrows are what we're going to use. Notice how in my screenshot the curve is big in the middle, levels out and then goes completely flat? You want to move the white and black arrows in to where there's something on the curve, so that they're not out on the edges where the curve is totally flat.
http://members.cox.net/vania16/Copy%20of%20SA%20PhotoTut%205.16%202.jpg
So, choose Red on the menu and pull the arrows in - first white then black until they're lined up with the point where the curve starts to rise. Then move to Green and Blue and do the same thing. Now, a little word of warning and advice here. As you go along, some pretty funky things are going to happen to your photo because you're basically adding more of whatever color you're working on to the photo, so it can get a little crazy when you add a bunch of red and green and blue are still the same. And, this is definitely as much art as sciene. I tend to move the little arrows around in the vicinity of the starting and ending points of the curve until I get a result I like and my color is nice and even - not too much of any one color.
http://members.cox.net/vania16/SA%20PhotoTut%205.16%203.jpg
Please note that when you do this from the toolbar at the top you're changing the photo itself, so make sure you're starting with a copy and not your original image so you don't accidentally save it at a point where the color's still crazy! And, you can also do this using a mask. In the following example I used a mask because the sky got really over-bright when I made the flowers more blue. So, I simply masked out the effect on that portion of the photo. You can apply this technique with a mask by going to the "create new fill or adjustment layer" button in your layers dialogue box and choosing "Levels." That button is the one that is a circle that's half black and half white. It creates a layer mask with the effect that you can then remove from portions of your image using your paintbrush set to black. Here's the before and after:
http://members.cox.net/vania16/Copy%20of%20Sea_of_Lupine___BTA.jpg
http://members.cox.net/vania16/Copy%20of%20Sea_of_Lupine___BTAedit.jpg
And, another example:
http://members.cox.net/vania16/Copy%20of%20Lupine___BTA.jpghttp://members.cox.net/vania16/Copy%20of%20Lupine___BTAedit.jpg
By the way, I took these photos with my Olympus point and shoot camera.
Okay, so that's the technique! Your challenge for the coming week is to give it a try! Try it out on one of those photos that just looks drab and see how it works for you :) Be sure to post your results here or in our Photography Gallery (http://www.scrapartist.com/gallery/showgallery.php?cat=1119) - we can't wait to see! Oh, and if you have any questions at all, or I haven't explained something clearly, be sure to ask, I'm happy to help :)