December 4th, 2007 Retouching - How to make your photos pop
Adjusting Levels in Photoshop
This is a really simple technique to use to add a whole lotta punch to your photo. What you’re working with is a histogram - a map, sort of, of everything from bright spots to dark spots. It shows you how much darkness and how might lightness is in your image. By changing these you can change the contrast and drama of your photo.
If you look at the picture below (which was taken by one of my awesome brides), you can tell that the moth is absolutely beautiful but a little more contrast could add a lot to the image. The Levels box is open (I’ll walk through that in a second). There are more shadows than there are bright spots, so the map is heavier on the left and lighter on the right. (The map goes from complete black on the left to complete white on the right - midtones are, you got it, smack in the middle.)
A really dark photo will have the whole left third of the map filled in. A really bright photo with parts blown out will have the whole right third of the map filled in.
To see your levels, go to “Image” (in the top bar), then click “Adjustments”, then click “Levels”. Also known as Ctrl+L.
Here comes the fun part. See the black triangle on the left, under the map? It’s right by “0″. Slide it to the right. Your darks become darker. You can take the midtones and slide them around, and the brights and slide them around. You have so many options, especially with midtones.
Often I slide the shadows triangle until it hits the first big spike. In the image above I’ve slid it until it hit a big spike - it created some really cool contrast, and makes the moth pop because the leaves are darker and less distracting as now they’re not similar to the shade of the moth. You could also move the brights triangle to the left and make the image pop even more. It’s up to you, artistically.
Adjusting Saturation in Photoshop
A last, subtle thing for incredible quality. This is in the same area as levels (Image > Adjustments > Hue & Saturation, aka Ctrl+U).
Slide that “saturation” ticker up. Keep going. Nice - now THAT is GREEN!
There are no hard and fast rules for these little touches - it’s all based on your style and artistry, and what the image needs. Some need just a hint, others need a lot of work. It’s good to practice with it so you know what works for you and your style of photography.