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Two weeks ago we published the first part of Photoshop tips and tricks for photo retouching. Today, we’ll be presenting the rest of the article. We hope that these techniques will be quite useful for your workflow. You may know some of them, but hopefully not all of them. We have had articles on various tools in Adobe Photoshop but this one is focused more on the techniques rather than the tools provided. Please note that all images used in this article were purchased and are used according to their licenses.

Here is a short overview of the techniques we’ll be covering in this follow-up:

• Defining Colors
• Controlling Folders
• Split-Toning Effect
• Flexible Vignette
• Skin Retouching In Camera Raw
• Setting Lights
• Distinguished Paleness
• Dodge And Burn Look
• Bright Eyes
• The Orton Effect
• Optimizing Lasso Selections
• Aligning Layer Contents
• Restoring Selections
• More Photoshop Tips and Tricks

Defining Colors

If you want to redefine the foreground and background colors, use the Eyedropper tool to select the foreground color, and then switch the position with the background color, maybe by using the shortcut X, and pick up the next color. But there is an easier way. First, define the foreground color just as you’re accustomed to, but then define the background color by holding the Alt/Option key. Instead of changing the foreground color, you’ll redefine the background color with just one click.

Define foreground and background colors.

Controlling Folders

Folders give structure to layers, which is especially important if you’re working on demanding compositions. Folders are often collapsed, so you can’t see the contents at first sight. This conserves space but it’s not always desirable. If you want nested layers to reveal their contents and offer a quick overview, hold the Control/Command key and click on one of the triangles to expand. All folders at the first level will expand. You can collapse them again using the same trick. To expand all nested folders inside the folders as well, hold the Alt/Option key as well as the Control/Command key.

Hold the Control/Command key to expand the folder.

Split-Toning Effect

Create two new gradient maps via Layer → New Adjustment Layer → Gradient Map. You could, for example, create a gradient from dark-blue to beige and another from dark-brown to white. To change a gradient, click on it to open up the “Gradient Editorâ€� dialog box. There, click on your chosen color patches and open up the color picker via the “Color field.â€�

Blending Options: This Layer

Confirm with “OK,â€� double-click the layer with the second gradient map and, under “This Layer,â€� move the right slider to the left. To make the transition a little smoother, click on the slider while holding down the Alt/Option key and move it to the right. Confirm with “OK.â€�

Split-Toning Effect

Flexible Vignette

To create a non-destructive vignette, go to New Adjustment Layer → Levels. Darken the image completely by, for example, setting the Highlights down to 80. Now use the Brush tool with black color to paint the light center into the layer mask. Instead of using a brush to paint the area, you could use the Elliptical Marquee tool and fill the selection with black.

Adjustment Layer: Levels

You can use the Move tool to adjust the vignette’s position any time, or blur it using the “Gaussian Blur.� You can also increase or decrease the darkening. To do so, open the Levels Adjustment dialog box again.

Skin Retouching In Camera Raw

Again, open a photo in Camera Raw (for example, by using the right mouse key from Bridge and clicking “Open in Camera Rawâ€�). In general, you can use the Spot Healing Brush tool and all other tools and sliders to improve the image. When you’re happy with it, hold the Shift key and click on “Open Object.â€� The image will be put on a new layer as a Smart Object.

You could also click the blue link at the bottom of the screen, which opens the “Workflow Optionsâ€� dialog window. From there, you can control some other settings as well. Make sure to check the “Open in Photoshop as Smart Objectâ€� checkbox, and then confirm with “OKâ€� to open the images (without having to holding Shift).

Here, layers are smart objects.

Right-click on the layer and choose “New Smart Object via Copy,â€� and then open the Camera Raw dialog box again by double-clicking the layer icon. Set the “Clarityâ€� value to -100 and confirm with “OK.â€� Hold the Alt/Option key and click on the “Create Layer Maskâ€� button, then use a soft brush to paint over the optimized skin. Use the opacity slider to control the amount of retouching.

Here is optimized skin with the help of Camera Raw.

Setting Lights

If you want to do some virtual re-positioning of your strobes, then neutralize the shot first. Go to Select → Color Range, and set Select option to “Highlights.â€� Copy the selection content to a new layer by hitting Control/Command + J. Activate the background layer again, and select the “Shadowsâ€� this time. Bring those to their own layer, too, with Control/Command + J, and then set the blending mode to “Screenâ€� and the highlights to “Multiply.â€�

Highlights and shadows

Reduce the opacity to about 30%, depending on the image content. “Shadows/Highlightsâ€� might also help. On a new layer, filled with a neutral gray and its blending mode set to “Overlay,â€� paint in the desired light quality with the Dodge and Burn tools. Alternatively, add a new layer and set its blending mode to “Soft Lightâ€� or “Overlayâ€� and, with a low opacity brush, paint black and white on this layer.

The lights were neutralized a bit.

Distinguished Paleness

For a distinguished paleness, copy the background layer and set its blending mode to “Screen.â€� Use Image → Adjustments → Desaturate or “Black & White,â€� then “Shadows/Highlightsâ€� to increase the effect. The exact adjustment options can vary according to your image content.

Here’s the layer after creating the mask.

The effect will cover the entire image unless you click on the “Create Layer Maskâ€� button while holding the Alt/Option key, and then paint the pale areas with the brush tool and white color. You can control the effect’s strength with the opacity slider.

Distinguished paleness.

Dodge And Burn Look

Copy the reduced layers to a new layer with Shift + Control/Command + Alt/Option + E, and then set the blending mode to “Vivid Light.â€� Use Control/Command + I to invert the layer content, and apply Filter → Blur → Surface Blur with a radius of about 70 pixels and a threshold of 40 levels. Press Shift + Control/Command + Alt/Option + E again, delete the layer below, and set the blending mode to “Overlay.â€� Apply a “Gaussian Blurâ€� to make the contours a little softer, and then click Image → Adjustments → Desaturate.

Dodge and Burn Look

Bright Eyes

To make eyes appear brilliant, click on New Adjustment Layer → Exposure. Fill the layer mask with black (or invert the mask), and paint with white over the irises and with black over the pupils. Set the blending mode of the adjustment layer to “Luminosity.â€� Increase the exposure in concert with the gamma value to give the iris structure more contrast. Also, try changing the “Offset slider.â€�

Create beautiful eyes with exposure.

The Orton Effect

With the Orton effect, sharp and blurred versions of a photo are mixed together. Copy the background layer with Control/Command + J, and click on Image → Apply Image. Change the blending mode to “Screenâ€� and click “OK.â€� Copy the current layer again with Control/Command + J. Apply a Gaussian Blur to this copy by clicking Filter → Blur → Gaussian Blur. The value will depend on the size of the image. The shapes should always blur slightly. Set the blending mode for the layer to “Multiply.â€�

The Orton effect creates contrast and depth.

Optimizing Lasso Selections

Many users (even professionals) prefer the Lasso Selection tool to the Path tool for uncomplicated selections. To switch to the Polygon Lasso tool for a short stretch, hold the Alt/Option key while working. To switch back to the regular Lasso tool, just release the Alt/Option key while depressing the mouse button.

Switching between the Lasso and Polygon Lasso tools is easy.

It often happens that, during a zoom, you hit the edge of the work area while making a selection. Just keep the space bar pressed to switch to the Hand tool, and you can quickly change the displayed image section.

Aligning Layer Contents

Some areas in Photoshop are hardly ever noticed. This is one of them. If you activate the Move tool, you’ll see some mysterious symbols to the right called Align tools, in the option bar next to Auto-Select and the Transform controls (which are basically equivalent to Free Transform).

Align tools

If you activate just one layer, the Align tools won’t do anything, but if you select two or more layers by holding the Control/Command key, then you can align the layer’s contents with these buttons. Choose from options such as “Align Top Edgeâ€� and “Align Vertical Center.â€�

Restoring Selections

Often, while in the middle of working on a tricky selection, you’ll accidentally deselect it by clicking once too often. You can restore the lost selection by pressing Shift + Control/Command + D. This will get the ants marching again. You can also undo (Control/Command + Z) the action, and even perform multiple undos with Control/Command + Alt/Option + Z.

By the way, you can hold the Alt/Option key to subtract elements from the selection at any time, or hold the Shift key to add to the selection. Pressing a combination of both keys creates a selection intersection. Important selections that you might need later can be saved by going to Select → Save Selection.

Restore lost selections.

More Tips and Tricks to Improve Your Workflow:

• Mastering Photoshop: Unknown Tricks and Time-Savers by Thomas Giannattasio
• Compositing in Adobe Photoshop: Time-Saving Tips by Daniel Durrans
• Mastering Photoshop: Noise, Textures, Gradients and Rounded Rectangles by Marc Edwards
• Useful Adobe Photoshop Techniques, Tutorials and Tools by Vitaly Friedman
• The Ultimate Guide To Cloning In Photoshop by Joshua Johnson
• The Ultimate Collection Of Useful Photoshop Actions by Jacob Gube
• Unveiling Photoshop Masks by Thomas Giannattasio

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© Dirk Metzmacher for Smashing Magazine, 2011. | Permalink | Post a comment | Smashing Shop | Smashing Network | About Us
Post tags: photoshop

When it comes to designing in Photoshop, there is a myriad of ways one could use to achieve a certain result, especially when it comes to photo retouching. Designers use technique they are most confident as well as comfortable with, which is great because it’s always useful to peek into the workflow of our colleagues and learn new design approaches. We have had articles on cloning, compositing, masks and obscure Photoshop time-savers in the past. This article is different.

I’ll be covering some of the useful techniques and tricks which I’ve learned from my experience. You may know some of them, but hopefully not all of them. All images used in this article were purchased and are used according to their licenses. The second part of this post will be published in 2 weeks.

Here is a short overview of the techniques we’ll be covering:

• Naturally Increased Light
• Simulate Infrared Images
• Levels
• Color Look With An Adjustment Layer
• Controlling Mid-Tone Contrasts
• Sunset
• Creating Smiles
• Colorful Water Drops
• Skin Color
• Matching Skin Tones
• Reducing Noise
• Retro Look With Curves
• Identifying Layers
• Conserving Resources
• Classy Sepia Look
• Precise Positioning
• Applying Layer Styles Multiple Times

Naturally Increased Light

The light of the sun creates texture. There are shadowy areas and spots where the sunlight can shine without interference. To control the intensity, you can draw more light onto a separate layer or increase already existing light. Create a new layer by going to Layer → New → Layer, or by pressing Shift + Control + N on Windows or Shift + Command + N on a Mac. Set the blending mode to “Color Dodgeâ€� and the opacity to about 15%.

Increase light on a separate layer.

Then use the brush tool with a soft brush, and hold the Alt/Option key to pick up colors from the area that you want to brighten. Continue to brush in some light, picking up appropriate colors if the background changes. This way, you increase not only the light, but the saturation, which makes for more realistic results.

The blending mode “Color Dodge� creates realistic results.

Simulate Infrared Images

Open a photo in Camera Raw; you can do this either in Bridge, using the right mouse key and clicking “Open in Camera Raw,â€� or directly in Photoshop, by selecting File → Open as Smart Object. Apply basic adjustments to optimize your image (for example, with the “Recoveryâ€� and “Fill Lightâ€� slides), then switch to the “HSL/Grayscaleâ€� tab. Check “Convert to Grayscale,â€� and set the Blues down to around -85. Set the Greens to +90 and the Yellows to +20.

Trees and bushes should now shine in the typical white, and the sky should appear almost black. If you want to go on and simulate some grain, switch to the “Effects� tab, and enter 15 for the amount, 20 for size and 80 for roughness. You could also apply a “Vignette.� Here I used -30 for the amount, 40 for the midpoint and -35 for roundness.

It’s almost like an infrared image.

Levels

When applying a “Levels adjustment,â€� you can set black and white points in order to decrease color tints, but where are the darkest and brightest spots in the image? Go to New Adjustment Layer → Threshold to find those areas. This function is available under the “Layerâ€� menu.

Move the slider so far to the right that only a few white spots remain in the document. Use the “Color Sampler tool� and set down a point there. Move the slider to the left until only a few black spots remain, and set a second point down there.

One could also find a neutral gray in the image by using a “Threshold adjustment layer.â€� Add a new blank layer between the original image and the threshold adjustment layer, and fill this layer with 50% gray. Go to Edit → Fill or press Shift + F5, then select “50% Grayâ€� under “Contentsâ€� and click “OK.â€�

Here is the threshold adjustment layer at work.

Change the blending mode of this layer to “Difference.� Select the “Threshold adjustment layer� again and move the slider all the way to the left. Slowly move the slider back to the right until black dots start to appear. These are the neutral gray areas in the image (if neutral grays are present). Add a “Color Sampler spot.�

Now delete both the threshold adjustment layer and the 50% gray layer. Create a new adjustment layer, “Levels.� Use the first Eyedropper tool to click on the darkest area, then use the third Eyedropper on the brightest area.

Here’s a before-and-after comparison.

Now you can use the gray Eyedropper tool on the third Color Sampler spot. The color tint will be decreased. Color Sampler spots can be deleted by dragging them off the canvas with the Color Sampler tool.

Color Look With An Adjustment Layer

Go to the Layer menu, and then New Adjustment Layer → Hue/Saturation, and set the blending mode to “Soft Lightâ€� and check “Colorize.â€� Use the Hue, Saturation and Lightness sliders to control the color: for a cool look, for example, set the hue at 210, the saturation at 50 and the lightness at 10; for a warm look, set the hue at 30, the saturation at 30 and the lightness at 5.

Here is Hue/Saturation and Color Fill.

Alternatively, you could use several color layers. Create them from the layer palette with the “New Fill/Adjustment Layerâ€� button. Choose a color, then set the blending mode to “Vivid Light.â€� Reduce the opacity to about 12%, and invert the layer mask with Control/Command + I. Paint in the colored light with a big brush and white color. This works especially well for the lighting in portraits that have a textured background.

Here’s the Color Look with an Adjustment Layer.

Controlling Mid-Tone Contrasts

To increase detail in landscape shots, boost the mid-tone contrast. Copy the background layer with Control/Command + J, and then click on Filter → Convert for Smart Filters in the menu. Then go to Filter → Other → High Pass and enter a radius of 3 pixels. Change the blending mode to “Overlayâ€� and double-click the layer next to its name to open the “Layer Styleâ€� window.

Layer Style window: This Layer

For the first gradient, “This Layer,â€� split the sliders by holding the Alt/Option key and trim the layer effect to the “50/100â€� and “150/200â€� ranges. As soon as you move the sliders, you’ll see where those numbers are. This increases contrast only for the mid-tones. Double-click the “High Passâ€� filter in the layer palette to bring the dialog box up again in order to adjust the radius to your liking.

Check out these mid-tone contrasts.

Sunset

A sunset, especially at sea, can be an amazing color spectacle. The hues will depend heavily on the weather, though — but you can push them a bit with a gradient map. Click on the “New Fill/Adjustment Layerâ€� button in the Layer palette and select “Gradient Mapâ€� from the list. Click on the gradient to open the “Gradient Editor.â€�

Gradient Map

Click on the first color patch below the gradient, and change the color to red. Set the color patch on the opposite side to yellow, and click “OK.� Set the blending mode to “Soft Light� and reduce the opacity to about 50%. This will create a warm, almost golden sunset.

Observe the movement from a blue to a golden sunset.

Creating Smiles

Roughly select the area around the mouth with the Polygon Lasso tool. Go to Select → Modify → Feather, and enter a radius of 10 pixels. Confirm, then click on Layer → New → Layer via Copy (or press Control/Command + J), then Edit → Puppet Warp. Photoshop will put a mesh over the entire layer in the shape of your previous selection.

Here’s the mesh over the layer.

You can control the size of the mesh with the “Expansionâ€� value in the Options bar. Increase the density to “More Pointsâ€� for increased precision. Press Control/Command + H to hide the mesh, then set the first pins to the corners of the mouth. Add more pins to distinctive spots of the mouth. By clicking and dragging the mesh, you can shape a nice smile.

Colorful Water Drops

Macro shots of water drops are appealing, and shapes can be further accentuated with discreet coloring. You could treat the bland surface with a linear gradient from #772222 (RGB 119, 34, 34) to #3333bb (RGB 51, 51, 187). If the photo is on a layer of its own, click on Layer → Layer Style → Gradient Overlay or double-click the layer next to its name.

Layer Style: Gradient Overlay

Set the blend mode to Color, the opacity to 50%, the gradient to “Foreground to background color� and the angle to 90%. The gradient will be saved as a layer style, so you can come back at any time to adjust the values. Double-clicking the style name opens up the dialog window once more.

See the colorful drops with optimized colors.

Skin Color

If the skin is not quite perfect after retouching, it might be because of the general hue. You can control it by going to New Adjustment Layer → Hue/Saturation. Click on the miniature mask, and press Control/Command + I to invert the mask.

Adjustment Layer: Hue/Saturation

Using white color and a soft brush, paint over the skin areas so that only they get treated. For the adjustment, switch from Standard to “Reds� (found in the Hue drop-down menu of the Adjustment layer), and use the Hue, Saturation and Lightness sliders to adjust the skin color. Switch to “Yellows� and optimize the skin tone. Getting the colors exactly right depends very much on the image material. Rely on your common sense.

Optimized skin tones

Matching Skin Tones

A sunburn or a blush can disrupt a portrait, especially if there is a contrasting pale person nearby. Photoshop has a tool to correct that: “Match Color� offers control over skin tones. Open your image and use the Quick Selection tool to roughly select the red skin areas.

You can hold down the Alt/Option key and subtract areas from the selection. Click on Select → Modify → Feather and enter a value of about 15 pixels. Use the Control/Command + J shortcut to copy the selection to a new layer.

Adjustments: Match Color

Using the same technique, copy the non-reddened skin to a new layer. In the next step, you’ll have to differentiate between the source layer and the layer to edit, so rename these two layers meaningfully; all it takes is a double-click on the layer name. You could use the naming scheme shown here and call them “Beautiful skin� and “Reddened skin.�

Activate the layer with the red skin, and select Image → Adjustments → Match Color from the menu. For “Source,â€� select the current document, and for “Layer,â€� select the one with the beautiful skin. Control the effect using the “Luminanceâ€� and “Color Intensityâ€� sliders in the Image Options area. Once you confirm, you can control the effect’s strength with the Opacity slider.

Paler skin after Match Color

Reducing Noise

Noisy images are annoying. One way to reduce noise is through the channels. Copy the background layer by pressing Control/Command + J, switch to the Channels palette, and select the channel that shows the least noise. Drag that channel down to the “New Channelâ€� icon (next to the trash can) and go to Stylize → Find Edges. Then apply a Gaussian Blur with a radius of about 3 pixels.

Look at this copy of the red channel.

Click on the new channel’s miniature icon while holding the Control/Command key to select the content. Activate the “RGB channel� (top-most), and switch back to the Layers palette. When the duplicated background is selected, click on the “Add Layer Mask� icon.

Click on the Layer Miniature icon, and select Filter → Blur → Surface Blur from the menu. Play around with the Radius and Threshold sliders until the noise has been reduced as much as possible. Thanks to the mask you created, the contours are safe.

With and without noise

Retro Look With Curves

Go to Layer → New Adjustment Layer → Curves and switch from RGB to Reds. Then drag the line downwards a little for the shadows and upwards for the highlights, creating a slight “Sâ€� curve. Do the same for the Greens. For the Blues, drag the highlights down a little and the shadows up (for an inverted S shape). The shadows should now be slightly blue-ish, the highlights slightly yellow-ish.

Adjustment Layer: Curves

Create a new layer with Shift + Control/Command + N, and fill it with #000066 (RGB 0, 0, 102). Set the blending mode to “Exclusion.â€� Now copy the background layer by clicking it and pressing Control/Command + J. Set the blending mode for this copy to “Soft Light.â€�

To decrease the effect overall, activate the top-most layer and then click on the background copy while holding the Shift key, thereby selecting both layers. Alternatively, you can add them to a group with Control/Command + G. Reduce the layer’s (or group’s) opacity. Note that in Photoshop versions prior to CS5, you’ll have to reduce the opacity for each layer individually.

Achieve a simple retro look in a few steps.

Identifying Layers

If you’re ambitious with your collages, then you’ll be familiar with this problem: meaningful layer names are often neglected during the creative process. This can result in layer names like “Layer 4� and “Layer 5 Copy 2,� which are not very helpful when you need to quickly identify the contents of a layer.

Photoshop offers a number of solutions for our laziness. For example, you can click on the element you want to select by using the “Move tool� and holding the right mouse key; you’ll see which layer contents are below the tool. Photoshop will display a list in a drop-down menu, from which you can easily select the desired element.

Right click with the Move tool

Control/Command + left-click with the Move tool selected and, in most cases, you’ll select the corresponding layer of the element that your mouse is over (unless Photoshop can’t distinguish between the multiple layers).

You could also Control/Command + left-click on a layer’s miniature icon to get a selection of the content of that layer. The marching ants will show you what is on that layer and where it is.

Another option is to click on the Layer palette’s Options icon, in the top-right corner, and select “Layers Palette Options.� From here you can adjust the size of the layer’s miniature preview and concentrate the miniature’s content to the layer’s bounds, which should cut down on future guesswork when it comes to layer contents.

Layers Palette options

Conserving Resources

Plug-ins save time, but they’re a bit resource-hungry; at least, they lengthen Photoshop’s start-up time. Your plug-ins might have functionality that you rarely use, so deactivate them until you need them. To do so, create a new folder by going to Adobe → Adobe Photoshop CS5 (or whatever your version) and name it something like Plugins_deactivated.

After disabling some plug-ins.

Now move all of the extensions that you don’t need for the moment. When you restart Photoshop now, those plug-ins won’t load, so the program will start up quickly. Your RAM will be relieved. Because you neither deleted nor uninstalled the plug-ins, they’re available to use anytime. If you need them, just move them back to the plug-in folder.

Classy Sepia Look

The sepia look is an absolute classic. To enhance a black and white image with a classy sepia tone, follow these steps. Click on Layer → New Adjustment Layer → Photo Filter, and select the Sepia filter, with a density of 100%. Double-click the layer (not the layer name) to open up the Layer Style window. This will show the Blending options.

A view of the Layer Style window.

At the bottom of the dialog box for the first gradient, move the white slider to the left while holding the Alt/Option key. This creates a smooth transition between adjusted and unadjusted areas. The sepia will now look elegant.

Subtle sepia

Precise Positioning

I’m sure you’ve often been irritated by Photoshop’s tendency to position elements on its own, but the program is just trying to help you align an element that is on its own layer with the outer edge of the document or with the edge of another object. To your frustration, the layer’s content will jump to the edge, even though you wanted to leave a few pixels of space in between. You can temporarily deactivate the automatic snapping by holding the Control/Command key as you position.

A banner, close to the edge.

Applying Layer Styles Multiple Times

Usually, layer styles can be applied only once. For example, if you click on Layer → Layer Style → Drop Shadow, you cannot create a double drop shadow, one of which has an angle of 120°, a distance of 2 pixels and a size of 2 pixels, and the other of which has an angle of 180°, a distance of 12 pixels and a size of 12 pixels.

Actually, it is possible! It just requires a little detour. Create the first drop shadow as you normally would. Then right-click on the layer and select “Convert to Smart Object� from the menu. This smart object can be assigned another drop shadow, and you can convert the smart object into yet another smart object. This way, you can easily add a third and fourth drop shadow. Alternatively, you could apply multiple strokes.

Three shadows in combination.

By the way, to put one or even several styles onto their own layers at once, right-click on the FX symbol and select “Create Layer� from the list. Now you can apply filters to these styles, but they won’t be editable anymore.

Stay tuned

The second part of this post will be published in 2 weeks. Please stay tuned and subscribe to our RSS-feed and join us on Facebook.

Huge thanks to Carlos Lanenga for his valuable suggestions for this article.

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© Dirk Metzmacher for Smashing Magazine, 2011. | Permalink | Post a comment | Smashing Shop | Smashing Network | About Us
Post tags: photo, photoshop, retouching, techniques, tips, tricks