Photoshop Tips

This is a selection of hints, tips and Tutorials for Adobe Photoshop.
These are tips I have collected from various websites and books.

'Crystal Ball'

This is an effect which to my eye gives the impression of viewing a scene through a crystal ball.

  1. Open you image in Photoshop.
  2. Make a square selection (use the selection tool with Fixed Aspect ratio of 1.)
  3. Make a selection.
  4. Apply the filter 'Polar coordinates' Filter - Distort - Polar Coordinates
  5. In this step use the 'Polar to rectangle' option
  6. Rotate your selection 180 degrees Edit - Transform - Rotate 180 degrees.
  7. Now apply the same filter as in step 4 but this time select the 'Rectangular to Polar'
  8. Now simply crop and save your image.
'Black & White Conversion'

Converting a colour picture to black and white using adjustment layers
  1. Open up the image in Photoshop
  2. Create an adjustment layer: (the grey and white circle icon on the bottom of the ‘layers palette.’) Choose "hue saturation" and click OK.
  3. Repeat step 2 only this time drag the saturation slider all the way back to -100
  4. Go back to the first hue saturation layer- click on the circle opening it up and play with the lightness slider. Now under "edit" you can choose the separate colour channels and change the lightness of each individually.

Alternative sharpening method

  1. Change the Image mode to Lab Colour ( Image -> Mode -> Lab Colour)
  2. Click in the layer palette "channels" and select the "Lightness" channel
  3. Select All and copy the selection 
  4. In channels palette click little arrow on right hand side "new channel" -> just click O.K. then -> edit ->paste -> rename channel "sharp" by double clicking on Alpha
  5. Keep that channel selected and use the Find Edges filter (Filter -> stylize -> find edges)
  6. Adjust the images levels so that you get a nice strong contrast (Image -> adjustment -> levels 'left arrow: pull it towards the middle')
  7. Stay on that channel and apply the Gaussian blur filter with a radius of 1 (Filter -> blur ->gaussian blur)
  8. Still on same channel go back into image -> adjustments -> levels: fine tweak the contrast once more
  9. In channel list select the lightness channel
  10. Go to select -> load selection -> "sharp" with invert ticked
  11. Now apply the unsharp mask filter (Filter -> unsharp mask) with these settinga around 300 % radius 1 threshold 4
  12. Go back into your channel palette and delete channel "sharp"
  13. Click RGB in channel pallet
  14. Click select -> deselect
  15. Convert back to RGB (Image ->mode -> RGB)
Remedy for shooting through glass (also: a good way to improve midtone contrast)
  1. Open image 
  2. Copy the background layer
  3. Apply unsharp mask with the following settings: amount: 40%; radius 30 pixels; threshold 0

    This should eliminate the haze created by shooting through glass and is generally a good way to improve midtone contrast. Play around with the settings a bit but keep the radius high. If it is too strong you can always lower the opacity of the duplicated background layer.
Colour correction- the right settings for levels and curves
  1. Open any image 
  2. Open curves or levels (doesn't matter the settings will be automatically saved for both)
  3. Double click the black colour picker (this opens the settings dialogue box: enter the following values for the R, G, and B fields: 10 in each click OK.
  4. Do the same with the white colour picker but now enter: 245 in all three fields click OK.
  5. Finally do the same with the grey colour picker tool- this time entering 133 in all three fields (this sets the neutral grey) click OK.
  6. Click OK once more it will ask you whether you want to save these settings click Yes

    By using 10 for the dark colour picker we make sure that we get dark shadows while still maintaining some detail- the same for white and 133 is the neutral grey.
Converting to black and white
  1. Open image
  2. Go to Image menu - Mode - Lab colour
  3. Click on the channel menu (next to layers) > click lightness > click back on layers
  4. Select Image - Mode - Greyscale and click OK when asked to discard layers
  5. Go to Image - Duplicate
  6. Set blending mode of the duplicated layer to multiply > lower opacity to somewhere around 10- 20 %
Quick fix for under/- overexposed images:
  1. Duplicate your background layer in Photoshop
  2.  

    a) Underexposed images: set the blending mode of this duplicate layer to screen to lighten the image

    b) Overexposed images: set the blending mode of the new layer to multiply to darken the image

  3. If step 2 is not enough just repeat it and lower the opacity of that layer until it looks good.
How to apply texture to an image


    1. Open your image you want the texture applied to.
    2. Open the image with the texture.
    3. Click the image with the texture to activate it. Make sure that both images are the same orientation.
    4. Ctrl + A > click on the image you want the texture applied to > ctrl +V.
    5. Edit > Transform > Scale > if you hold shift +ctrl at the same time and pull one of the corners you can adjust the size of the texture layer without changing its perspective.
    6. You have now the texture layer on top of the image layer which you can't see
    7. Now set the layer blending mode either to darken/ multiply/overlay/soft light/ and change the opacity of that layer to somewhere around 50%

    Tip: any of these layer blending options might work. The easiest is to first lower the opacity to 50% then click in the layer palette where it says "normal" so that normal changes to blue colour. What you can then do is just scroll down through all layer blending modes by using the downwards arrow next to your number pad on your keyboard!

How to replicate a tilt-and-shift lens (How to make  a scene look like it is a model)


    For Elements or Photoshop:

    1. Make sure you start with a fully adjusted image. You should have corrected perspective if needed and levels/ contrast/ curves/ colours...
    2. Duplicate the background layer and apply Filter > Blur > Gaussian blur > set it to 10
    3. Take the rectangular marquee tool and make a selection around the part you want NOT blurred. Then: select > modify > feather: 70 pixels
    4. Create a new level adjustment layer and just click O.K. without changing anything
    5. Click on the mask sign (it is the square to the right on the level adjustment layer) > ctrl - I
    6. Drag the layer UNDER the blurred layer and hold the alt key while clicking between the two layers (top and second)
    7. To refine the edges: click once more on the layer mask of the levels adjustment layer and paint either with black or white
    8. Click on the top layer > create a hue/ saturation adjustment layer and boost saturation to somewhere around +20-40
    9. Create a levels adjustment layer and boost the contrast
    10. Click on the background layer (the bottom one) and apply sharpening before flattening the image

How to add a signature to your images?


    1. Sign with a black pen on a white sheet of paper and either scan your signature into Photoshop at 300ppi or just take a photograph of it making sure your writing is in focus
    2. Once that signature is in Photoshop: Open the levels palette in Photoshop (Image > Adjustments > Levels) and drag the left (black) slider to the right and the right (white) slider to the left until the writing is pure black and the paper is pure white.
    3. Take the rectangular marquee tool and make a selection around your signature
    4. Edit > Define brush preset > Save the brush as your signature
    5. Open the image you want to add your signature to > create a new layer > select the colour you want to have by double clicking the foreground colour swatch > search for your brush under the brush presets and add your signature. Using the backet keys [ or ] allows you to alter the brush size.
    6. You can now lower the opacity of the signature layer or even add some layer blending effects. These effects could be save as an action for later use.

Toning your images or: Gradient Map toning
  1. Open your image in Photoshop
  2. Click D on your keyboard to set the foreground colour to black
  3. Select Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Gradient Map > O.K. > double click directly on the gradient map > this opens the gradient editor
  4. Click somewhere under the black to white gradient gradient => this will add a colour stop
  5. Click directly on that stop itself and choose any colour you want from the colour picker. Keep clicking or moving the vertical hue slider
  6. Click O.K. 3x
  7. You can now alter the opacity of this layer to your liking!

    Also try:
    Instead of adding one colour stop as in step 4 you can add 2/3/4... and click each time on the stops to choose a colour => this way you can "rainbow" colour your image...
Skin Smoothing
  1. Open your image- do all the usual adjustments first (levels... removing of blemishes...) the next step is the very last one!
  2. Duplicate the background layer
  3. Select Filter > Noise > Media > set the value to about 8 - 10 pixels
  4. Set the opacity of this layer to about 50%
  5. Select Layer > Layer Mask > Hide All
  6. Set foreground colour to white, choose a brush with hardness set to 0 (just click the downward arrow next to brush at the top of your screen) 
  7. Click on the top layer and there on the right on the black square in other words activate your layer mask > paint with white over the face leaving the eyes out. You can change brush size by clicking the left or right square brackets on your keyboard.

    If the effect is too little just adjust the opacity of that layer until it feels right! If you need a stronger effect and you can't adjust it via opacity just set the media to 12 or higher.
High contrast and slightly cross-processed look

This can be highly effective in fashion shots:
  1. Open your colour image and make the usual adjustments (levels/ curves/ removing blemishes...)
  2. Duplicate your background layer
  3. Convert this duplicated layer to black and white using whatever method you prefer
  4. Select  Image > Adjustments > Levels => increase the contrast by moving the black and white sliders inwards
  5. Set the blending mode to overlay
  6. Reduce the opacity until happy
  7. Flatten image (Layer > Flatten Image)
Duotones- Tritones -Quadtones
  1. Convert your colour image to a black and white image using your favourite method.
  2. Once you are finished flatten your image (Layer > Flatten Image.)
  3. Select Image > Mode > Grayscale
  4. Select Image > Mode > Duotone  under type click either duotone/ tritone or quadtone
  5. Let's assume you have decided for duotones: once the dialogue window opens click on the right hand side "load" (you have a lot of presets saved on your computer and once you find them you are pretty much sorted!) Under "Look In" (at the top of your window) navigate to:  C: / Program Files/ Adobe/ Adobe Photoshop CS (or CS2)/ in that folder: Presets/ Duotones: here you will find "Duotones" "Tritones" "Quadtones".
  6. Where we have decided to convert to duotones therefore we need to choose "duotones". Here we find a couple of subfolders- choose anyone of those and any setting inside and click load.

    To see good comparisons- make a snapshot of your conversion by clicking the little camera icon under your history palette- go back to your greyscale conversion and start once again!

    You can get numerous toning effects this way and it's up to you to decide which one works best. Once you are comfortable with these conversions you can fine tune them by clicking next to your "inks" in the duotone dialogue box and playing directly around with the curves displayed.
  • Once you are  happy with this process you can try your own colour combinations. Simply click on the 'Ink' colours and select your own colour swatches I find having a pantone colour chart comes in very handy when choosing your colours.

Beauty tip: whiter teeth

  • Select your teeth in Photoshop (lasso works quite well but you can combine various methods by using shift/ alt etc to add/ subtract from you selection)

  • Feather the selection by 1 pixel

  • Create an adjustment layer "hue saturation"

  • Choose the yellows from the drop down menu

  • Drag the saturation slider pretty much all the way to the left

  • Drag the lightness slider slowly to the right >click O.K. > play around with the opacity of that layer until you are happy.

Adding catch lights in Photoshop
  • Open you portrait
  • Create a new empty layer: Layer > New > Layer > just click O.K.
  • Take a very small fine brush and zoom into one of the eyes
  • For a colour choose either white or something very close to white (double click the black and white swatch in your tools palette and choose your colour)
  • Paint one catch light into the one eye you have chosen
  • Now- either choose the blur filter on that layer (blur it a tiny bit) or perhaps easier: choose the smudge tool from your layers palette: it looks like a tear drop and smudge your catch light a bit
  • Now here comes the cool thing: how on earth do you get the same catch light in the other eye? Just duplicate the layer where you just painted on and move it over the other eye! Layer > Duplicate Layer > choose the move tool (it is the top one in your tools palette and looks like an arrow) and move it over. Flatten the whole thing and bingo you have got two catch lights!
Aging image effect
Now first of all this does not suit all images. Anything in the picture that gives away the fact that it has been taken today i.e the newest Ferrari... will give the effect away. It works well for landscapes.
  • Open image and duplicate the background
  • Go to channels and click them one by one through. You are looking for the one which gives the least clarity- quite often that's the red one. Make sure you select that one by highlighting it in blue- just click on it (the image will turn black and white) and just click on "layers"
  • Make an adjustment layer "hue/saturation" > click colorize and create a sepia effect (good start is hue: around 50; saturation around 25)
  •  hold down ALT/Option and click the "create a new layer" button at the bottom of the layers palette; don't click O.K. yet! Set Mode to "overlay" and tick below that: "Fill with Overlay-neutral colour (50% gray)" > now click O.K.
  • Filter > noise > add noise > gaussian > tick monochromatic > choose a pretty high amount somewhere around 20-40%
  • Filter > blur > gaussian blur > 1 pixel
  • Add a level adjustment layer and pull both sliders (the black and the white one) inwards over the edge of the histogram AND move the black Output slider to the right to about 20
  • Click the original copy of the background layer and add a slight gaussian blur
  • Add another levels layer and this time drag the midtone slider to the left to lighten the image
  • Click on the layer mask of this levels adjustment layer > choose the gradient tool (make sure it is set from black to white by firstly clicking D on your keyboard) > now draw a gradient to simulate fading
  • When happy > flatten the image > choose the elliptical marquee tool and draw a circle nearly over the whole image > click Q > filter > blur > gaussian blur > drag the radius to the right- approx. 50 pixels and watch your quick mask softening at the edges > click O.K. > click Q again and you have a softened marquee > select > inverse > image > adjustments > levels > drag the sliders so that the outside of your marquee gets darker/ or lighter depending on your taste.
Hand Colouring

Some of you might remember the good old days of hand colouring black and white images. Here is what you do in Photoshop:
  • Open your image
  • Convert it to black and white.
  • Make sure your image is in RGB mode: Image > Mode > RGB Color
  • Create a new empty layer: Layer > New > Layer > BEFORE you click OK change the "mode" from normal to color (second one from the bottom)
  • Now choose your brush tool and any nice colour and start painting! To choose a different colour just double click on the black or white little square in the tools palette

    Modifications:

    (a) Don't forget you can change the opacity of this layer
    (b) Don't forget you can also change the opacity of your brush to get subtler colours
    (c) You can also select parts of your image and use the fill tool: Edit > Fill

    Important: Red Eye Removal

    The above method also works very nicely with red eyes! Just choose a colour close to the original eye colour and paint on a separate layer (which needs to be in colour mode) and voila a nice way of getting rid of red eyes!
Faking Infrared

(1)channel mixer method
Make a copy of your background layer > use a channel mixer adjustment layer for this conversion with the following settings: red -50/ green 200/ blue -50 with Monochrome checked. If you have a lot of sky in your image you can also try: red 0/ green 200/ blue -100. You can also try red -70/ green +200/ blue -30 (It is important that you start with green +200 and leave it at that number) > go back to your background copy layer > click channels (next to the layer palette) and highlight the green channel > apply gaussian blur to that channel only: start with something around 5 pixels > click immediately after the last step > edit > fade filter with the following settings: 25% opacity; change the blending mode to screen.


(2)If you prefer to use a black and white adjustment layer:
Make first a copy of your background layer > add a black and white adjustment layer with the following settings: green +300/ cyans +150/ yellows +150/ red 0/ blues -40/ magentas +30 > go back to your background copy layer > click channels (next to the layer palette) and highlight the green channel > apply gaussian blur to that channel only: start with something around 5 pixels > click immediately after the last step > edit > fade filter with the following settings: 25% opacity; change the blending mode to screen.

With both methods you can at the end add some noise: filter > add noise> gaussian > click: monochrome > play around with the settings.