The title might seem a little too scary. But you totally don’t have to be scared when it comes to photography tutorials over here at this little site of mine. Because my tutorials are just not difficult. Maybe because my thinking doesn’t get difficult (uh-oh).
And so here I have another simple yet effective tutorial for you.
The technique that I’d like to show you today is magical. I have used it to edit my pictures for the past few weeks. Yes, only weeks, because it was just a few weeks ago when I discovered it. But man, do I wish I’d found it much earlier. As you’ll see, the Levels adjustment turns dull, lifeless images into ones that seem to pop right off the screen in a matter of seconds…
Here is the original picture with no editing at all.
And here’s the same picture, after I’ve made some Level adjustments.
As you can see, there’s more contrast in the picture, the colors are richer, the shadows are black and not gray, and the picture is brighter as well.
I like that. I like that lot.
Here are the steps that have transformed the picture:
Especially if you compare the bonbon in the front.
I love sharp, well-defined images.
I want all of my pictures to look that way.
But the fact is that the images that come straight out of my camera are usually rather far from being sharp. Partially it’s caused by my shaky hands. And additionally, cameras themselves usually don’t produce very sharp images… for some specific reason… that I once read somewhere… but have already forgotten.
Luckily, there’s good news. Photo editing software has been sent to this planet to save us.
Whoever or whatever has sent it, THANK YOU SO MUCH for that.
To edit my pictures, I love to use Photoshop Elements 8.
It’s simple and fun to use.
And this is what I do to make my pictures sharper:
1. I open the picture in Photoshop (File -> Open…).
2. Duplicate the background layer (‘Ctrl + J’ on PC or ‘Command J’ on Mac).
Make sure that the newly created layer stays highlighted.
3. In the upper bar, press Enhance -> Unsharp Mask.
4. A window will pop up.
We have three sliders here: Amount, Radius and Threshold.
Frankly, I was looking for a way to use these sliders for quite some time. Until, after about 6 months of using Photoshop, I’ve learned that:
Amount – shouldn’t be lower than 50. I like to start with 50 and increase it if necessary. But most of the times, 50 works just fine.
Radius – I almost always use 0.6 setting.
Threshold – I usually keep this one at 0. Only sometimes, when I think the picture looks a bit too harsh, I increase this setting to 1 or 2.
So, once again, I usually go by 50 – 0.6 – 0 formula.
My blog-sized pictures seem to be happy with it.
5. Once you are satisfied with the Amount-Radius-Threshold setting, press OK.
6. Then, have a look at the Layers Palette.
Here’s a little thing that you can use, but definitely don’t have to if you are perfectly okay with the way your picture looks like now.
In step 2 we duplicated the background layer and since then we’ve only worked with this duplicated layer. Which means that we’ve only made changes to the duplicated layer, leaving the background layer untouched. The good thing about working this way is that now you have a very precious chance to adjust the opacity of the changes that you’ve made. You have the whole scale of 0 – 100% here for you to play with. So if you think that your sharpening should be about 20% less strong, you can easily achieve that by using the opacity slider and setting it to 80%.
Awesome, isn’t it?
7. In the upper bar, press Layer -> Flatten Image.
8. And finally save the image (File -> Save as…).
Again:
Before.
And after.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this tutorial as much as I’ve enjoyed this bonbon.
(Update: To see more of my patterns, please visit my ONLINE SHOP!)
Hi, dear friends.
I wish you the most beautiful Monday and the most wonderful week.
Anyway, I just finished a new pair of slippers.
I like these. Probably because they are pink. And they have flowers. That all makes them girly. And I love girly.
Just wanted to let you know.
Because how could you possibly go on without information like this?
Right?
Also, I wanted to let you know, in case you haven’t seen it yet, that I’ve prepared a simple TUTORIAL on how to make crocheted slippers like these. Just for you.
Love,
Petra
(Update: To see more of my patterns, please visit my ONLINE SHOP!)
It shows a magical street of a lovely city called Gyor in Hungary.
We like going there, it’s a nice place.
Since, as you might already know, I never leave my pictures untouched (because that would cause my brain to break), I had to open it in my editing software (Photoshop Elements Eight) and play with it for awhile.
This is what I did, step-by-step…
The original picture.
No editing at all.
I like the magic of the place.
I like how the shadows and bright spots interact.
I like how the history still lives and breathes there.
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