In this photography tip I am going to show you a little secret I use to get a little extra “punch” using the Brightness/Contrast Adjustment Layer in Photoshop.
Time: 10 minutes
Steps: 7
Level: Everyone
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ABOUT THIS IMAGE
I have chosen an image of a Haitian girl praying. This was shot in an orphanage just outside of Port-Au-Prince a few weeks after the 2010 earthquake. I was shooting a mission group doing humanitarian work in the small orphanage. See the story – “Ten People Died Here”
Why I Using Photo Tips to Send a Message
LESSON
STEP 1 – Open Your Image in Photoshop
Here is the original image in Photoshop converted to BW. (See Convert to BW Tip)
STEP 2 – Map Out Areas of Contrast
Typically I subtract or decrease the contrast when working on an image. I map out areas of interest or greater contrast to areas of less interest or less contrast. Though I tend to map out the areas in my head I created a “contrast map” below to give you an idea of the process. The higher the percentage means higher contrast area. Because they are the main focus, the girls eyes are 100% and I work down from there. This means the eyes will have the greatest contrast in the image.
STEP 3 – Add Brightness/Contrast Adjustment Layer
-In your layers palette click on the Adjustment Layers circle.
-Now click on the Brightness/Contrast… menu item.
You now have an Adjustment/Layer on top of your original image. Remember any work you do on this layer will not effect your original image. If the layer is highlighted in blue then you are working on the correct layer.
STEP 4 – Adjust Your Contrast Level
-Make sure you have the Brightness/Contrast layer selected
-Select the ‘Use Legacy’ box
-Now slide the Contrast Level to the left. -35 or so should be fine.
NOTE: I prefer the Legacy setting just out of habit. You may choose not to select. For this tutorial though keep the box selected.
Your image has now lost much of it’s contrast. Don’t worry though. Since this is a layer, you are not hurting your original image.
STEP 5 – Magic Time…Start Painting
Now you are going to “paint” areas of contrast back into your image. Remember our main area of interest is the girl’s eyes. To start we are going to paint at 100% opacity over her eyes.
Select the “brush tool”
Size the brush smaller than her eyes. QUICK KEY (use [ or ] to resize brush)
Select “black” from your color selector
Make sure your brush is set to 100% Opacity. QUICK KEY (hit “0″ key to set opacity to 100%)
Now paint just the girls eyes. You should see her eyes just like the original image. When painting on the adjustment layer you are essentially erasing away the adjustment layer. So at 100% brush opacity you erase 100% of the layer away.
Next set your brush to 90% opacity. QUICK KEY (hit “9″). Paint over her face.
At 80% paint her hair, neck and upper body, and so on.
Look over the “map” we created and finishing painting the image.
STEP 6 – Finishing touches
The final step is to touch up any areas that may stand out. Try to get a good blend throughout your image. I try to keep the effect subtle but since you are working on an adjustment layer you can get as crazy as you like without hurting your original image.
Below is a Before and After image of the photo. I left the effect a little strong so you could see the difference. On the final image I would dial the contrast back a bit using the opacity of the Brightness/Contrast layer.
BEFORE
AFTER
STEP 7 – SUPPORT THIS SITE
Well that’s it! I hope you enjoyed this photo tip.
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RESOURCES and TOOLS
Below are some of the tools used in the tutorial. You can use a mouse but a tablet helps you to be more precise in your work. I prefer a the WACOM tablets.
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Earl, thanks for the tip(s). I hope to start playing more with digital imaging, and this is a great help. Photoshop is such a powerful tool, and one can do so much with it once they learn the basics. Tips like this one really have helped me expand my own knowledge of the tools one can utilize – now to go get some practice
)