This article is dedicated to those people who first opened Adobe Photoshop and wondered: “How to process photos in Photoshop?” In most cases, this is the request that new users of this program make. Today we will discuss with you the basic tools that we will need to process photographs. We will also look at several techniques that give interesting effects. Next, you will learn how to process photos in Photoshop using basic tools.
List of basic tools
Photoshop has a huge arsenal of various tools and tools that give users the opportunity to perform a wide variety of operations. And naturally, a beginner can easily get confused in such diversity. That is why below we will familiarize ourselves with the list of basic tools.
Selection tools
In Photoshop, photo processing almost always involves selection tools. We are given 4 groups of these funds to choose from. For example: curly selection M), where there is an oval and rectangular area; horizontal and vertical lines. They give us the opportunity to select an area with precise boundaries. Next comes free selection (hotkey L). There are 3 tools in this group namely lasso, straight line and magnetic lasso. All of them allow you to select areas with non-standard contours. The next group is called “alternative selections” (hotkey W), where there are two tools: quick selection and The last group is used by more experienced users. Here you can find tools such as the pen (hotkey P), freehand and angle.
Drawing tools
Before using Photoshop, carefully study this particular group of tools. In real life, we draw using pencils, brushes, pens, etc. Photoshop has tools that are somewhat similar to real tools. The first group includes: brush, pencil, color replacement and mix brush. In addition to these tools, we are offered the opportunity to select colors through a special palette or an eyedropper tool (for recognizing shades). You can use an eraser to remove.
Additional tools
This group contains tools such as: blur, sharpen, finger, dimmer, darken, sponge. Such tools are used in various situations when it is necessary to process a small part of the image. For example, we need to blur the sharp boundaries of contours. To do this, take the “blur” tool and carefully perform this operation.
Adviсe
In addition to tools, Photoshop has other tools. For example, filters or overlay options. They all have individual characteristics, the description of which is beyond the scope of this article. Photo processing in Photoshop, described in Russian, can only be done after installing additional plugins. Most often they will already be built into the software. If they are not there, then you can visit the official website of the program and download what is missing.
Conclusion
The answer to the question of how to process photos in Photoshop can stretch over many pages. And it is almost impossible to fully describe all possible processes.
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Adobe Photoshop is a powerful program that allows you to do fantastic things with graphics. There is an opinion that it is possible to cope with it only after long training. I believe that it is enough to know the result of the action of the basic tools, the rest will come with experience. To gain basic knowledge, it is enough to read any of the You Can, maybe I’ll give you some advice or conduct training lessons (of course, not for “thank you”).
Typically, the first two or three chapters of any Photoshop textbook contain the most necessary knowledge - information about what tools are in the program. The rest is experience. An ambush awaits here - for example, the authors of the books use photographs that are clear and bright, without compression artifacts and taken with a professional camera. Objects can be easily highlighted on them, and the color can also be edited.
You can and should learn from books, you just need to understand: the examples of photographs in books are idealized. They just show what can be done. To process what is done with an amateur camera in low light conditions, when the photographer is pushed by the arm and there is no point of support, it takes a lot of practice and patience.
Preparation
Let's assume that you have basic knowledge and a desire to process it too. Since my note is about photo correction, You will need a noise filter. This is the only function that Photoshop cannot handle on its own. I recommend Ximagic Denoiser. This is a paid filter, without purchase it starts with a 5-second delay and has a limitation - it cannot be used in Actions (recording actions for processing photos in automatic mode).
I have the English version of Photoshop CC, but you can use older versions. If you speak Russian, you can always translate the inscriptions from my article using an online translator.
My classification of photo quality
Terminology may differ from yours. This is fine.
High quality. The photographs were taken with a DSLR camera or a good pseudo-DSLR. If saved in RAW format, it’s generally great, because you can easily manipulate brightness and detail. The tips below apply to them as well, but don’t get carried away - everything you need will already be in the photo, changes kill the quality.
Average. If the photo was taken with a camera dear phone or point-and-shoot, you need to enhance subtle details and hide noise. If the photographer is inexperienced, rotate and crop the photo.
Low. Most of these photos are taken spontaneously in an attempt to capture something interesting while screaming “Did you film it, did you film it?!” You can work on them too. Taken on a phone or a cheap digital camera. Photos are blurry, no detail.
Step 1. Lighten/darken
Lightening a photo helps bring out detail in dark areas. Darkening will help if there are too bright areas (highlights). As an example, I took a photograph taken not with the best camera:
Menu Image - Adjustments - Shadows/Highlights:
By moving the sliders, you can understand which parameter is responsible for what. In this case I installed the following:
- Color V +5 so that the colors do not acquire an acidic brightness.
- In chapter Highlights meaning Amount V 4% so that the sky becomes a little darker. Convenient for combating “highlights”; it obscures a light background.
- In chapter Shadows shadow lightening settings. Radius is responsible for how many pixels around dark areas will be lightened and darkened. Tone- shadow range width. Roughly speaking, the higher the value Tone, the brighter areas of the image will be taken by Photoshop as shadows. Amount- lightening power.
Now the people at the bottom right of the photo are visible. Digital noise has also appeared, previously hidden in the dark areas of the image; we will deal with it later.
Step 2. Curves - adjusting the color
It's not enough to just lighten a photo. The color balance needs to be corrected.
I suggest the fastest method. It won't allow you to fine-tune the colors, but it will certainly make the photo more natural.
Opening Curves - Image - Adjustments - Curves:
It's tempting to click the "Auto" button to quickly adjust the image, but I strongly recommend forgetting about the existence of this button. Let's do everything manually:
Method 1 - in the photo there are dark areas painted in shades, for example, red (this is not the case in the photo from my example):
- First, select Eyedropper #1 to select the black point and click on the darkest part of the photo. The black in the photo will become normal black. If the photo becomes too dark, click more in the dark area - you may have selected a pixel that is too bright. In any case, the effect can be weakened.
- Then, using eyedropper No. 3, click on the pixel, which should be white. It is not always possible to hit that bright pixel, thanks to which the colors of the photo are normalized.
- Click OK in the window Curves. If the colors have become too “acidic” or the photo is too dark (light), click Edit - Fade Curves… and move the value Opacity to the left to reduce the strength of the applied effect.
Method 2 - the brightness of the photo is ideal, but there are problems with the colors - a lot of red/blue/other shades.
What most often happens when taking photographs indoors with the camera’s “Auto” mode is that the white balance is selected incorrectly.
In the Curves window, select only Eyedropper No. 2 and click on areas of the photo that should be a neutral gray color. It doesn’t work the first time, sometimes it takes 20 clicks on different parts of the photo, but the result is great - the colors in the photo will be natural.
Methods 1 and 2 can be combined.
Method 3 - enhance colors and change hue in Lab Color mode.
The photo above is missing shades. The photo was taken at sunset and the sky was colored in shades from blue to pink, which is not visible in the photo. The reason is simple: the camera cannot capture as many colors as the eye can see.
You can use a trick that I spotted in Dan Margulis's book “Photoshop LAB Color. The mystery of the canyon and other adventures in the most powerful color space":
- Image - Mode - Lab Color. This way we will switch to color mode Lab- the most powerful Photoshop tool for manipulating color and brightness separately. Some professionals refuse to use this mode because the colors are slightly (a fraction of a percent) distorted. In our case, this does not matter at all; we can use it.
- Image - Adjustments - Curves. In the window, select color channels one by one a And b, setting these settings:
Channel a just pull it together
Channel b tighten and shift the center to the left
What gives symmetrical contraction of channels a And b? If you move them the same distance, weak colors will become more saturated, while strong colors will not change. Ideal for enhancing the color of the sea, sky, everything monotonous. You can move it more than in the screenshots below, but don’t overdo it - no one likes acidic colors. By the way, if you don't see the difference between the standard values a And b, tightened like in my screenshots - you have a bad monitor.
Shifting the center of the channel curve adds a certain tint. Perhaps in your case you need to shift the center of channel a and not to the left, but to the right.
The third method can be used either together, or instead of the first two.
There are some noticeable tints in the sky, especially in the lower left part of the photo.
Step 3: Increase Contrast
Method 1 is simple.
1. If you worked in the mode Lab, do Image - Mode - RGB Color.
100% View - 100% or Ctrl+1.
3. Make a copy of the photo layer:
4. Assign the blending mode Overlay to the new layer, which will be above the background one:
The photo will become darker - no big deal.
5. Apply the filter to the created layer: Filter - Other - High Pass:
Low value Radius allows you to enhance sharpness, high contrast. Typically, to enhance contrast you need a value Radius between 30 And 80 pixels depending on the size of the photo.
6. Weaken the effect of the filter by adjusting the transparency of the layer ( Opacity) to which the filter is applied. In the screenshot above it is clear that the photo has become too contrasty. Let's make the effect weaker:
Thanks to increased contrast, the photo became more voluminous:
Method 2 is tricky, but I like it better.
You may have noticed that, in principle, the contrast in the photo above has not increased much, but the flare above the roof of the house on the left has become more noticeable. Is it really impossible to increase contrast without color distortion? Of course you can:
1. If you haven’t done it before, do it Image - Mode - Lab Color.
2. Set the image scale to 100% (one to one with monitor pixels): View - 100% or Ctrl+1.
3. In the layers palette Layers click on the layer Lightness. The image will become black and white because only the brightness of the image will be displayed. Enable visibility of all channels:
Only the brightness channel is selected, but visibility of all of them is enabled
4. Now you need to run the sharpening filter: Filter - Sharpen - Unsharp Mask:
Photoshop filter Unsharp Mask creates light and dark zones in those areas of the photo where bright and dark pixels meet. This is convenient because you can not only enhance sharpness, but also intelligently increase contrast. You just need to set the value higher Radius. Description of settings:
- Amount- the strength of the applied effect.
- Radius- width of the halo of lightened and darkened pixels.
- Threshold- the degree of protection of non-contrast areas of the photograph from changes.
Install Amount to the maximum and start changing Radius and Threshold. Then you will understand how the filter works.
In this case I set for photography Radius V 13,2 pixel and Amount V 31% . I liked exactly these parameters; they were suitable for enhancing the shadows on the boat. After a couple of dozen processed photos, you too will be able to determine by eye which parameters to set for the best result.
To understand what has changed, compare the most problematic area:
Other contrast enhancement options
The same actions can be done in different ways. For example, in mode RGB call Curves and make an S-shaped curve of all channels. Or simply Image - Adjustments - Brightness/Contrast. I prefer to use Unsharp Mask in color space Lab due to the fact that then the colors are distorted less than if I increased the contrast in RGB mode (this also applies to sharpening).
Step 4. Removing noise
Lightening, then increasing the contrast, brought out more digital noise, which just creeps into your eyes. The details are distorted due to noise, the fisherman's face looks like a monstrous mask:
Fisherman - Jason Voorhees?
Unfortunately, Photoshop does not have effective noise reduction tools. Therefore, a separate filter plugin is needed. I use Ximagic Denoiser. Other good plugins are Imagenomic Noiseware and Topaz Denoise, both paid.
Removing color noise
First you need to remove the colored spots. Filter - Ximagic - XiDenoiser(hope you have installed it?):
The colored spots on the water are gone
How to work with it:
- Place Working - YCbCr or Lab(the results are almost the same).
- Denoise - Color denoise(elimination of color noise).
- Learn radius- not more 9 , Compare radius- not more 3 (with values higher, the result will hardly improve, but the filter will work 10 times slower).
- Move the slider Spatial sigma and press Partial preview- the result will be in the preview window. All your attempts are saved in a list, so you can return to your best result with a click.
- When you are satisfied with the result, click OK and wait for complete processing.
The colored spots should disappear. Values too high Spatial sigma They smooth out the colors a lot, don’t overdo it.
The fisherman’s face still resembles a hockey mask, and overall the photo is “shaggy.” It is necessary to remove luminance noise so that image details do not disappear.
2. Launch again XiDenoiser, the settings will be different (instead of Color denoise - Std denoise):
3. Learn radius And Compare radius still no more than nine and three. Adjusting the value Spatial sigma. It is necessary to remove the smallest noise, so Spatial sigma it's unlikely there will be more 30 .
4. Having applied the filter, duplicate the bottom layer again and make it above all. Let's launch again XiDenoiser, value only Spatial sigma put twice as much previous one.
Thus, first we remove small noise, then smooth out plain surfaces:
Before removing luminance noise
Step1: Spatial sigma = 24
Step2: Spatial sigma = 48
All that remains is to reduce the transparency of the topmost layer so that the image is no longer cloudy:
If there is skin in the photo (for example, you are trying to enhance your selfie), reduce the opacity of both layers with the noise removed so that the noise is slightly visible. This is necessary so that the skin looks natural, without a plastic effect. Of course, there are ways to give the skin a natural look after any manipulation, but it is better to avoid such a situation at all.
When photographing inanimate objects (houses, objects), the picture can be smoothed out more.
Step 5. Add sharpness
The sharpness of a photograph is the contrast between dark and light areas. The higher the contrast, the clearer the photo appears to us. Increasing contrast and increasing sharpness are the same operations with different settings.
1. Make a copy of the layer with the result of your manipulations ( Select - All, Edit - Copy Merged, Edit - Paste).
2. Select the created layer - Filter - Other - High Pass(yes, as in the third step):
These lessons will help you learn how to take better photos and edit them to make them look much better. We want to help you and have written a series of digital photography, photoshop, and image editing tutorials for beginners. Study lessons whenever you want and wherever you want, all lessons on the site are available to you completely free of charge!
Digital photography
With the rise in popularity of smartphones and compact digital cameras, capturing life's moments has become easier than ever. Learn the basics of digital photography, how to take high-quality photos at any time of day and conditions (well, almost any), as well as tips on setting up your camera, etc.
Photo editing
The quality of digital cameras is getting better and better, even as they become more affordable. But the photos taken from the camera are not always perfect; sometimes they need a little adjustment. Whether you use a regular smartphone or a professional camera to take pictures, we'll walk you through the basics everyone should know that will help you take your photos much better.
Photoshop
Adobe Photoshop is a powerful program for editing photos, graphics, and other types of images. These lessons will help you get started with Photoshop and learn how to do professional editing.
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Of course, a job as professional as that busconductor , requires a high level of skill, long practice and great talent. Fortunately, you don’t need such tricks to process product photos. Moreover, they may be unnecessary. If you “correct” uneven seams, enlarge the beads, retouch the flaws, perhaps you will attract more buyers. But you will also ruin your reputation if your actual product disappoints buyers.
But Rezza talks about basic photo processing very simply.
“Why are people afraid of Photoshop? One of the reasons is communication with “experts”. Unfortunately, having gained a certain amount of knowledge, some citizens become arrogant, arrogantly put their hands on their hips and arrogantly stick out their lower lip. By asking a question about basic photo processing, an inexperienced user risks getting “ specialist" jokes and mockery instead of a clear answer. And demonstration of inept work can provoke boorish criticism.
You can, of course, sign up for special courses or study textbooks, but not everyone has the time, especially since To process a product photograph, only a minimum set of techniques is required.
Now I will tell you about them. There are no magical secrets, except for one thing - there is absolutely nothing to be afraid of here.
There is nothing to be afraid of.
Now you look at this bunch of screenshots with incomprehensible inscriptions and, of course, you will still begin to be afraid. ;) Don't be scared. I made a lot of illustrations to explain each action in detail. In fact, everything will take about ten minutes, and this is out of habit. Then, when you learn, you will cope in one and a half hours. Turn on Photoshop, open the desired photo, and go ahead.
So, here is your photo, taken in accordance with the recommendations from the articles on product photography. The frame is not bad, but there are a number of significant shortcomings: the picture is dark, there are dust specks on the white cardboard, the color of the pendant is not bright enough, the photo is large, there is a lot of empty space. And there is no copyright.
So, we need to take 8 steps to a great photo:
1. Lighten the photo and correct the tone.
2. Perform proper framing.
3. Remove dust particles from the background.
4. Adjust brightness and contrast.
5. Put "copyright".
6. Make the photo smaller.
7. Increase image sharpness.
8. Save for publication on the Internet.
Step 1. Color and tone
Here the Artificial Intelligence program itself comes to the rescue. Go to the Image menu and click on the line Auto Color
And Auto Levels/Auto Tone
Important: in different versions of the program, instead of Auto Levels there may be Auto Tone (as in the picture above). In some versions, the Image menu looks like this:
To get to Auto Levels and Auto Color, click on the Image menu and then on the Adjustments line.
If you don't really like the result, open the Edit menu and click on the Fade line.
This tool allows you to reduce the effect of the previous tool (for example, Auto Color). Move the slider (that blue “drop”, in your version it may look a little different, but the essence does not change)
If you don’t like the result at all, there is a magic Undo button. It cancels the effect of the previous tool. Made a mistake? Click Undo, and the erroneous action will be canceled.
Step 2: Framing
Click on the tool Crop. The cursor changed to a frame. Press the left mouse button and, without releasing it, stretch the frame around the picture, cutting off all excess. Release the button. The picture is surrounded by a frame, behind which remains what will be cut off - it is darkened.
You can change the size of the frame by clicking on the square on the frame and dragging it in the desired direction.
If you are satisfied with the result, click on the checkmark. If you are not satisfied, cancel it by clicking on the icon next to the check mark (the crossed out circle).
Result: the most important thing remains in the frame - the product. It is best to place the product horizontally in the frame. Sometimes a vertical frame does not “fit” into the screen - you have to scroll to see the entire object.
Step 3. Specks of dust
There are specks of dust on the white cardboard that I didn't notice while shooting. This is where the tool comes to the rescue Spot Healing Brush.
Choose the appropriate brush size - so that it extends slightly beyond the edges of the dust particles. Click on each speck of dust.
Result: the cardboard is clean again. By the way, this tool will help not only remove dust particles from cardboard, but also retouch pimples in your boyfriend’s photo;)
Important: do not forget, if the tool did not work the way you wanted, click the Undo button.
Step 4: Brightness and Contrast
Here you have a whole arsenal of tools.
First of all Levels. Using the Levels tool, you can make light colors even lighter and dark colors darker.
The middle slider, moved to the right, will lighten the shadows.
If the colors in the picture are not bright enough, use the Hue/Saturation.
Pull the middle slider slightly to the right - Saturation. 
And finally, the tool Brightness/Contrast.
If the photo still doesn't have as much contrast as it should, move the Contrast or Brightness sliders slightly to the right.
Important: these three tools must be used very carefully, in moderation. Overdo it and the photo will no longer look realistic. The buyer will suspect deception and decide that the product actually looks worse. Photos that are too contrasty or too bright can look tacky.
Congratulations, you're halfway through, and it was the HARD half. Then it will be much easier.
Step 5. Copyright
Surprisingly, what prevents many from copyrighting is not so much laziness as false modesty. “I’m not Christian Dior, just think, I sewed a dress.” Great attitude if you want to amuse your competitors. And let them make money from your ideas. A photo of a dress or beads can go “for a walk” on the Internet and one day end up in the hands of a potential client. Without knowing who the author of the product shown in the photograph is, a potential client will not surf the Internet in search of the creator, that is, you. He will go to a friend who also sews/weaves/knits/sculpts, etc. And a friend, looking at a photo of your product, will make exactly the same and earn money that could have gone to you.
And no one is to blame for this but you. Neither the potential client nor his friend knows that the anonymous “rootless” photo shows your unique author’s design.
So open the tool Text(indicated by the letter T on the side toolbar).
Choose a place for the copyright - and then as with the Crop tool - press the left mouse button and move it over the picture. You will get a frame inside which you can write the blog address. In the font window in the top toolbar, you can select the desired font (see the following illustration).
The result: a font that is simple and stylish.
Letters with curls and vignettes most often look clumsy.
The color of the inscription should not be too contrasting or bright, otherwise it will distract the eye from the product. Let's try another one. Select your text with the mouse. Click on the color box, a palette will open where you can select the desired color for the inscription.
Result: yes, this color is more suitable.
Adjust the letter size. Select the text with the mouse again and open the dimensions window. Choose the right one. If you are satisfied with the result, click on the checkmark (again as with the Crop tool) 
The result: noticeable to the eye, but not pretentious or too bright copyright.
Now the potential buyer will know where to go for your wonderful product. Over time, it will be possible to develop a “corporate” logo style, but it should always have an address - a nickname or first name with a last name is not so effective.
Step 6. Making the picture smaller
Typically cameras, even the simplest ones, take fairly large photographs. This is necessary for printing photos onto paper, but A small image is enough for the Internet. Open the Image menu and click on the Image Size line.
Replace the numbers. For the buyer to have an idea of the product, 600-800 pixels on the larger side are enough. Please note that there must be a checkmark in the "Constrain Proportions" box.
Result: now your photo will not tear apart friends’ feeds and will not force the viewer to click on the arrows, scrolling kilometers of extra pixels to the sides and up and down.
Step 7: Sharpness
Making a photo smaller results in less sharpness. But this can be fixed. There are many ways to increase sharpness. I'll tell you the simplest one.
When you made a copyright inscription, the program saved it in a separate layer. Now you have two layers of the picture - the “bottom” layer with the photo and the “top” layer with the inscription. Before increasing the sharpening, first we “slush” both layers – the photo layer and the copyright layer – into one. Open the Layer menu and click on the Flatten Image line.
Result: You now have a single-layer image. You can start increasing the sharpness.
Go to the Filter menu, select the Sharpen line, then Unsharp mask.
Very moderately, without fanaticism, move the sliders to the right.
Result: the sharpness lost during reduction has returned.
Important: with this tool you also need to know when to stop. If you make the picture too sharp, it will be unpleasant to look at and will spoil the impression of the product.
Step 8. Save the photo for publication on the Internet
Open the File menu, click on the Save For Web line.
Check the quality – Quality (High is usually enough) and save the file (Save button).
What happened?
So, the photo is light, bright, sharp, normal size and with copyright. All these steps are very simple and clear. Don't be afraid to make a mistake - you're not in the exam. Plus you have an Undo button ;)
Take good photographs - first of all, you need it yourself. But those around you (including your potential clients) also prefer to look at beautiful pictures. :)
Good luck,
Rezza
"
From this issue we begin a detailed acquaintance with the best graphics package for photo processing - Photoshop CS. Let's start with the fundamental points, knowledge of which will guarantee your success in photo processing. Unfortunately, many photographers neglect these features, which leads to a significant waste of time and effort on work that could be done much easier and faster. This issue will be some introduction to the fascinating world of Photoshop and will allow you not to get unnecessary bumps along this long path.
The first axiom is working with adjustment layers.
What are they, what are they for and where are they located?
The fact is that photo processing (brightness, contrast, saturation and other adjustments) can be carried out directly on the source material, which is what many amateur photographers do. But if you do not use adjustment layers, the following problems arise:
1. During the work process, you cannot go back to previous adjustments and make any amendments to the changes you have made (and this is almost always necessary, especially if it is a large and complex job).
2. Even if you manage to return to this step (you have a lot of computer RAM, and the history palette is configured for a large number of steps), you will thereby undo all subsequent changes you made with such difficulty.
3. You cannot change in a wide range the strength of the impact of the settings you have made for applying any filters. Applying adjustment layers eliminates all of the above and turns your work into fun. Therefore, accept the first rule for yourself - the original photo must remain untouched until the very last moment!
There are two ways to access the adjustment layers menu. Layer/New Adjustment Layer/desired layer or, more simply, a pictogram Create New fill or Adjustment Layer (see photo 1). Now let's take a closer look at the main representatives of this glorious instrument.
Levels
Photo processing begins with this layer. For example, let’s open in Photoshop a frame with a meadow stonechat sitting on a melilot stem (see photo 2).
Let's face it - the frame is very inexpressive. There may be many reasons for this, but we will not dwell on them, since we are unable to change them. We will work with the investigation. It is clear that the image has a very narrow dynamic range, which is clearly visible from the histogram of the tool Levels(levels). Let's expand our range in order to give our photo more richness. To do this, you can simply click on the button Auto and... get a completely “unexpected” result (see photo 3).
The photo took on an eerie purple hue. In fact, nothing unexpected happened, you just need to enable the histogram in the panel first Histogram by checking the boxes opposite All Channels View and Show Channels in Color (see photo 4).
It can be seen from the histograms that the blue color is significantly shifted relative to red and green, so when expanding the dynamic range, the program will try to equalize them, which will lead to the following consequences. This does not mean that you cannot use auto-correction at all. On well-balanced shots it often produces excellent results. Therefore, it is best to use manual adjustment in difficult cases. To do this, we will simply move the black and white level sliders to the beginning of the main histogram (see photo 5).
At the same time, we lost a small part of the information in the highlights (to the right of the white level slider), but this is not a problem, since we will return to them a little later (now, with the use of adjustment layers, this is not a problem for us). Our picture has already begun to look more beautiful, but we still have to work...
Selective Color
To do this, enable and edit the Selective Color layer. In this layer, we can selectively adjust the components of the primary colors and the color components of neutral shades (black, gray and white). To make it easier, I will post all the adjustments made separately in a layer Selective Color (see photo 6).
The remaining colors were left unchanged. The result is the following picture (see photo 7).
Of course, the strength of influence on a particular color depends on you and your tasks. If it seems that the saturation of the picture is too high, then you can apply a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer.
Eliminating overexposure
Now let's get back to recovering lost information in the lights. The enlarged fragment clearly shows that the throat area is overexposed, let's restore it in a form close to the original one. To do this, select the layer with levels, turn on the Brush drawing element (brush) with the B key, adjust the brush size with the [ and ] keys, and the hardness (blurring of boundaries) with the keys Shift + . Set the transparency of the brush to 30 percent by simply pressing the 3 key on the keyboard, and the painting color is black (see photo 8).
With light movements of the brush (it is very convenient in such cases to work with the pen of a Wacom graphics tablet), we will restore this fragment to the state we need. Each brush pass over one spot will return 30 percent of the original condition.
Cleaning the memory
Our history palette and RAM are quite full and need to be cleaned. It is advisable to have surgery before doing this. Snapshot(state snapshot), to do this, in the history palette, on the last operation, click the right mouse button and select from the pop-up menu New Snapshot. After creating a snapshot of the state, you can right-click and select Clear History. Is it possible to completely clear the RAM more radically and correctly? Edit/Purge/All.
Sharpening filters
Now you need to add clarity to your photos. Since sharpening cannot be applied to adjustment layers, and, as we already said, we are not working with the main image, we need to create a copy of our original image. This can be done in different ways. For example, selecting our original drawing in the Layers palette is always the bottom layer Background, then just press Ctrl+J or drag this layer to the icon with the mouse (see photo 9).
In general, the topic of increasing image clarity is a topic for a separate issue, since there are many methods for solving this very important issue. For now, I will tell you about the simplest photo processing techniques.
So, we have with you a copy of the main image called background copy, We will work with him. Photoshop has a special tool for sharpening - Unsharp Mask. It's on the menu Filter/Sharpen/Unsharp Mask. Let's open this filter (see photo 10).
This filter has three adjustment sliders.
Amount(impact strength) - set in the range from 0 to 500 percent.
Radius(radius) - set in the range from 0.1 to 250 pixels. This is the radius of effect of your filter. As a rule, you should not set its value to more than 5 (usually 1-3). Ultimately, it all depends on the specific tasks. You can see the effect for yourself.
Threshold(threshold) is a very important parameter that sets the brightness threshold of the filter’s effect (the effect will be applied to all adjacent pixels that have a brightness difference threshold greater than or equal to the set one). The lower this number, the more image elements will fall into the filter's area of influence. Typically set in the range 1–10.
You can see the effect of applying this filter in the picture. In this case, the picture looks a little overdone. This is also not very good. Basically, the effect of “sharpe” is very noticeable on the contours of the object in relation to the background. To eliminate the “oversharpening” effect, simply take the eraser (E key) and erase the outline in the image in those places where it is most noticeable (the lower part of the beak and the dark outline on the white neck in the previous image) (see photo 11).
In the same way, you need to carefully go through the entire image, if necessary, changing the transparency of the eraser in specific places.
Personally, I don’t really like this filter for subjective reasons, and I want to talk about another method. It's called High Pass(high pass filter). In my opinion, the effect of this filter is more intelligent in relation to photography and has more opportunities for creativity.
So, Filter/Other/High Pass. Set the parameter Radius in the range of 1.5–2.5. What happened to our picture? (See photo 12.)
Do not worry, everything will be OK! ...Or bad. This is dialectics! Let's change the blend mode from Normal on Soft Light. Oh miracle! I told you everything would be fine! (See photo 13.)
In this case, the strength of the filter can be smoothly changed using the Opacity slider. If you want to further enhance its effect, change the blending mode from Soft Light to Hard Light. Next we use the eraser as described above. We will return in more detail to the use of this and other sharpening filters in another issue of the magazine.
Blur filter
Another important and frequently used filter for photo processing, which I would like to talk about at the beginning of our journey, is Blur(blur). There are several varieties of this filter, but I want to focus on Gaussian Blur(Gaussian blur). Often, using this fairly simple tool gives a very good effect when you need to smooth out background elements, for example. They can mask “noise” in a photograph, add softness and mystery to the picture, and much more. To begin with, we will simply get acquainted with its work on our bird. So, Filter/Blur/Gaussian Blur.(Did you remember to create a copy of our main image again? Well done!) (See photo 14.)
Set the blur radius to 3 pixels. In general, in this filter this parameter can be set within very wide limits, depending on the required task. As you can see, the background has acquired a more even and beautiful appearance, although looking at the bird makes you want to wipe your glasses. So let's wipe them down. We take our familiar eraser and start wiping. In the center of the bird, you can set the size larger and the opacity to 100 percent, and as you get closer to the edges, reduce the size and set the transparency to about 30 percent. Make the eraser hardness (blurred boundaries) minimal and move on. There is no need to exactly repeat the contours of the object; it is advisable to slightly capture the background area at the transition border, then the picture will be more natural (that’s why we make the border more transparent). Then we will learn how to make a layer mask, which will make our work easier, but not all at once! And here is the result (see photo 15).
It’s quite good for a start, but imagine what it will be like later! Now we need to frame our picture correctly to improve its composition. If we have finished our photo processing, then all layers can and should be combined into one. Press Shift + Ctrl + E or Layer-Merge Visible (merge visible layers). Turn on Crop (trimming) with the C key on the keyboard and stretch the “elastic band” from the upper left to the lower right corner (see photo 16). If necessary, adjust the cropped fragment in accordance with our desires and preferences and press Enter.
Change of size
The physical size of the photo has been reduced. We need to enlarge it to the size of an A4 printed sheet (for example).
Choose Image/Image Size. The most optimal image resolution option can be considered 300 dpi (dots per inch), which is perfect for printing in a minilab and for printing on a home printer. Next we set the size of our image. For A4 format, this, taking into account the margins, is approximately 20x28 cm. Therefore, depending on the aspect ratio of your photo, set one of the parameters (width or height), and the second will be set automatically. In this case, Constrain Proportions must be checked (preserve proportions), and the Resample Image conversion method must be set to the best quality Bicubic (bicubic) (see photo 17).
Sometimes, after resizing the image, it is desirable to perform a second sharpening operation, but its strength and necessity must be determined in each specific case. At this point, the lightweight version of photo processing can be considered complete. For most cases this is quite sufficient.
