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Photographic Image Adjustments
Skill level: Basic
Programs used: Photoshop 6
In design today, we have to bring out the most in a lot of photographic
images, as the quality of some can leave a lot to be desired for.
We can always use the smudge, rubber stamp, blur and cloning tools
to "touch-up" our images, but what about when the lighting
or the skin tone colors detriment your design?
Take this image for example:
This could be a very good photo, but the sunlight coming in from
the curtains has destroyed any lighting effects the photographer
might have set up. Start by adjusting the brightness and contrast:
go to the "Image >Adjust >Brightness/Contrast" menu
command. I entered in the values below, yours might differ.
The result:
Now run the "Image >Adjust >Autolevels" command,
and Photoshop will automatically adjust the levels so that the highlights
and shadows are at their peaks. Take note, auto-leveling isn't the
best method for some images, try manually adjusting the levels if
you aren't pleased with Photoshop's input levels. I was pleased
with mine :)
Now for correcting the skin tones color-wise. Go to the "Image
>Adjust >Color Balance" menu command, and slide the top
and bottom sliders till the image suits you (leave the middle; red
and yellow are the most prominent colors in skin-tones). The image
I'm working with has a lot of red, but not much yellow, so I used
these values:
The result:
Last of all, The image is slightly pixelated, so I can fix this
using simple filters. Go to the "Filter >Blur >Blur"
menu command and then the "Filter >Sharpen >Sharpen"
menu command. This will slightly soften the picture without losing
detail. Hopefully you can decide which methods are useful to your
image.
Before
After
Considerable difference, isn't it? So now you don't need a good
photographer to take photos, you've got Photoshop.
BlueDesignStudios
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