Effective photo processing in Photoshop. Program for working with photos

“You need to find what you love.

And this is as true for work as it is for relationships.

Your work will fill most of your life and the only

The way to be completely satisfied is to do what

what do you think is a great thing?

And the only way to do great things is to love what you do."
Steve Jobs

What does it take to become a stock photographer (illustrator)?

If you don’t know how to sell your photos online, what you need to start collaborating with photo banks, read this article.

First of all, you need to understand that money is not paid anywhere, including in photo banks.

Collaborating with photo banks is a job like any other. The only difference is that it allows you to combine a creative component, a decent level of pay and independence from where you live.

It is better to work with several banks at once, because... this increases income, and does not require much more effort if you upload it by 1-2 (if you attribute the photo immediately in Photoshop in the file properties and send the files via FTP to all stocks). More positive point when working with several photo banks - if you have strange reasons didn't take it good photo in one, they will most likely be taken for sale in the other.

Here's what you'll need to get started first:

For photographers: a high-quality camera, Any will do mirror Basic work in Photoshop. For illustrators: knowledge vector programs and the ability to draw; .

Computer literacy and a computer with Internet access. Moreover, it is desirable that access is not via a regular modem (Dial-up connection), but via an ADSL connection or leased line. You will often need to upload large amounts of data to photo banks, so it is better to take care of the convenience of this process. Although, many at the initial stage manage to make do with Dial-up access. Availability ;

Basic knowledge of English. You will need it in order to compile short description your works, and select keywords for them. The job description is simply one short sentence (about 5 words). A optimal quantity keywords - from 30 to 50 pieces. At first, it is convenient to use a free online translator or this one from Google. Shutterstock has a feature for easy keyword selection (more details in).

Enough quality work with a theme suitable for stock photography (people in different situations, isolated objects on a white background, etc.)

These works will be needed for the exam, which is required when registering with leading photo banks. It is advisable that the resolution of your work be at least 4 megapixels (for example, 2000x2000 pixels). Otherwise, you will not be able to work with all photo stocks. If your photos show people's faces or other recognizable body parts (tattoos, piercings, etc.), then you will have to caption them. This is a one-page document that must contain the signatures of the photographer, model and one witness.

After that, proceed to registering in photo banks.

Work requirements

First of all, quality. The work must be at least 4 megapixels in size (resolution 2000x2000 for example), jpg format maximum quality(minimum compression quality), color space sRGB.

If this is a photograph: the photo is checked at 100% magnification, there should be no noise, there should be correct exposure and white balance, there should be no CA (blue or red border at the edges of objects, easily removed when converting RAW), the frame should be sharp and contain any idea (except in cases of isolated photos of objects or the like), the focus should be where the buyer wants to see it.

The issue of image quality requirements on microstocks is discussed in more detail in the article:

If this is 3D: at 100% magnification, noise and polygons of objects should not be visible (smoothing, smoothing and smoothing again :)), the model or plot should not be very simple, or should contain an idea, as in cases of conceptual work. In addition, the photo or 3D should not contain compression artifacts that are obtained during translation, for example from tiff format in jpg, if you set compression, you should save work only with quality level 12 regarding Photoshop.

Requirements for video clips:
- duration - no more than 60 seconds, NTSC 29.97fps or PAL 25fps
- frame size - no less than 480 in height, aspect ratio no less than 4:3
- any digital format file, including DV, Windows Media and QuickTime
- sound accompaniment is missing or you are its copyright holder
- absence of logos, recognizable faces and brands in the frame without a permit release.

Secondly, the topic. This is a very important point that not all beginning stockers manage to meet.

Topics in demand: business, people, health, sports, object shooting(mostly on a white background).

Unclaimed: flowers, cats, dogs, view from an airplane window, forest.

Thirdly, keywords and descriptions of photos on English language. The most important thing to remember here is, despite the fact that you can write descriptions of photos immediately after uploading the file to the stock - this is completely inconvenient, since with a large number of photos and stocks, this is quite labor-intensive work.

But the way out of this situation is simple. After processing the file in Photoshop, just open File - File info and fill in the three fields that interest us in the window that appears:

Title (title);

Description (description);

Keywords.

Let's use the keyword selection system - Service for selecting keywords by entering into the "Keywords for search:" one or more keywords in English that vividly describe your work (for example, if you photographed a tree, you can enter "nature tree") and from the ones that appear works, select by ticking those that are most similar to yours, then you will be taken to a list compiled based on your choice. Shutterstock has a feature for easy keyword selection (more details in).

Next, select the necessary ones (30-50 pieces) and fill them in keywords in Photoshop. Place keywords in in a certain order- the most important words come first. This determines whether the image appears on search pages. IN keywords It should be what is in the photo, and not what is not there. Spam in keywords and descriptions may result in account suspension.

The title can be described in a few words, and in the description you need to write what is shown in the picture, and perhaps some nuances such as isolated on white.

If the photograph shows an architectural monument or a building with a special design, then a property release () may be required, which can also be found on photo banks. You shouldn’t be afraid of this, because as a rule, many architectural structures are included in the register of those permitted for filming, and if, for example, you yourself drew a picture that you photographed, you can fill out a property release for yourself.

In what order should you master photo banks:

There are 2 ways, and it’s up to you to decide which one is more suitable for you:

1. The most common way is to start with

When reading articles about Photoshop, I'm often surprised by how many authors make the solution inherently complicated. simple tasks on processing. Many “monumental” writers suffer from this, such as Dan Margulies. But this can be forgiven for him - his task is to write about all the subtleties and nuances of the processing process, to consider it from all angles and sides. Although it is precisely this feature of the presentation of material in his books that repels many readers.

In fact, the roots of such methods of “sharpening in 40 steps” grow from a very simple thing - the people who write these tutorials have never worked with a large volume of photographs. That is, as a rule, they have a couple of photographs and are ready to spend an evening or two in the process of processing them. But when you have constant orders, and from each photo shoot you need to seriously edit several dozen frames, you begin to think about simpler and convenient ways processing.

We'll talk about them today. I'll tell you about five simple but very effective Photoshop tools, which I constantly use in my work.

Before processing photos in Photoshop, I always work with the frames in a RAW converter first. This is where I do the main color correction and primary photo processing. Essentially, I create a “skeleton” of processing, and in Photoshop I work with the details of the photo.

So, we have worked with the photo in the RAW converter and open it in Photoshop. Photoshop meets us a huge amount processing tools for all occasions. But we will talk about the simplest and most effective of them.

The main function of the Dodge Tool/Burn Tool is to brighten/darken individual plots Images. Essentially, you can “draw” darkness or vice versa – lighten the photo. It's very simple, try it: I'm sure you'll appreciate this tool. Dodge/Burn Tool has only two, but very important settings.

Range — Select the application area

You can use this tool on the dark (Shadows), light (Highlights) or neutral (Midtones) areas of the photo. For example, you need to lighten the dark areas of the chin (when processing a portrait), and leave the light areas untouched. In this case, we set the Shadows mode in the Dodge Tool, and it will only lighten the dark areas of the places where we apply it.

Exposure - force of impact

It is very important to set the impact force correctly. Many people, when experimenting with Photoshop, try Dodge/Burn 100%. And by darkening the image, you get black “holes,” and by brightening it, you get complete overexposure. Of course, having received such a result, they no longer return to this tool. But Dodge/Burn is thin instrument. If you are working on shadows or highlights, try an application force of 7-10%, if with neutral areas - 10-20%. For each case, the force of influence is selected separately, but after working a little with this tool, you will begin to feel what kind of power is needed in each specific case.

Usage

Dodge/Burn has many uses:

• Brighten your iris

Just apply the Dodge Tool to the iris - this is the easiest way to brighten it. Thus, you focus the viewer’s attention on the model’s eyes.

In all these portraits, I highlighted the iris of the eyes precisely in order to draw the viewer’s attention to the eyes and add psychology to the frame.

• Darken the lines of the face shape in a man's portrait

Cheekbones, jawline, nose line, eyebrows - any facial lines, if darkened a little, will acquire greater volume and contrast. The man in the photo will look tougher and stronger-willed.

I use this technique when processing almost all male B/W portraits. This technique is not always suitable for color, as it “ruins” the colors, but on a B/W picture it works just fine.

In a female portrait, this technique must be used very carefully, since a woman will only be adorned by emphasizing those facial lines that give her femininity. Otherwise, you will get a portrait of a masculine creature.

• Brighten backlit areas

Backlight in itself is a wonderful thing. But if you use the Dodge Tool to enhance its effect, the picture will become even better. This looks especially great in concert photographs, when the musicians are illuminated by good backlight.

• Whiten your models' teeth

Using the Dodge Tool is the easiest and most effective way to whiten teeth in a photograph. A little later I will definitely write a separate lesson about proper teeth whitening using the Dogde Tool.

2. Clone Stamp

There are several tools for retouching images in Photoshop, and each of them is good in its own way. But “Stamp” is the most versatile tool to use.

Its function is to take specific area image and copy it. Thus, we can, for example, retouch wrinkles - simply “replacing” them with areas of smooth skin. To do this, press Alt and select the area from which the image will be taken, and then, simply by clicking on the desired areas of the image, we will copy it to them.

In stamp settings, it is important to pay attention to two parameters:

Mode

These are the modes in which the stamp will operate. For example, in Darken mode, the stamp will only “replace” lighter areas than the selected area. Essentially, you can darken the light areas of the image, which is why the name of the mode is Darken. And, accordingly, in the Lighten mode, the stamp will only work on the darker areas of the image, brightening them.

Clone Stamp has many modes of operation - experiment with them, I'm sure you will get interesting results.
In my opinion, it makes no sense to describe the operation of each mode - in Photoshop, essentially the same principles of operation of the modes apply to all tools, only changing slightly to suit the specifics of a particular tool.

Opacity means opacity. Simply put, the lower the percentage you set in this setting, the more transparent the “work” of the stamp will be. For example, at 100% the stamp will completely replace the selected area, and at 50% it will be translucent. For face retouching, as a rule, 10-30% is used, otherwise the stamp mark will be too clearly visible.

Using Clone Stamp

• Retouch

Retouching in all its manifestations is the main purpose of the stamp. First of all, the stamp is used for skin retouching - removing wrinkles, dark circles under the eyes, swelling and other beautiful creations of Mother Nature.

You can also retouch, for example, an unwanted object in the frame. Unless, of course, it takes up half of the photo.

It is very convenient to use a stamp to eliminate small overexposures. For example, your model has a small spot of overexposure on the tip of her nose. We take a stamp and put it Dark mode and in a couple of clicks we darken this spot.

3. History Brush

History Brush is a time machine for photo processing. You can take any stage of processing and use a brush to paint from it according to your image.

History Brush is fraught with enormous possibilities. I have already written in detail about the operation of this tool in a separate article. In it you will find detailed lesson on using history brush and learn how to sharpen only the areas of the image you need.

Of course, increasing sharpness is not the only area of ​​its application. In future articles, I will tell you how to work with color in a photograph using the History Brush.

4.Black&White

The Black&White tool is located in the Image—>Adjustments tab. Or you can simply create an Adjustment layer on the photo.

The main function of the Black&White tool is the “correct” conversion of a color image into black and white. Correct because you can change the black and white display of each of the colors. This way you can get a beautiful and “tasty” b/w picture.

But the functionality of B&W is not limited to this.

With this tool you can get very interesting and color picture. Let's apply B&W to our image, and then turn on the layer mode Overlay.

Now, by manipulating the B&W controls and layer transparency, we can get very interesting picture. For greater clarity, I set the Opacity of the layer with B&W to quite high - 62% and turned the Greens, Cyans, Blues and Magentas levers to maximum.

As we can see, the picture immediately became richer and more contrasting (click on the picture to enlarge).

Now let's pay attention to the tick Tint. By turning it on, we can tint the image in the color we need.

Usage

There are a lot of options for using B&W both when working with color and when processing B&W.
In one of next articles Using the example of processing several photographs, I will tell you about all the main nuances of working with Black&White.

5.Shadow/Highlights

Shadow/Highlights is also located in the Image—>Adjustments tab (by the way, there are a lot of interesting tools there, I advise you to experiment with them all)

This tool is designed to darken highlights and pull highlights out of shadows. In addition to the most obvious use - eliminating overexposure and underexposure, S/H also works great for creating a feeling of greater depth in the picture. We can add dark undertones to light areas, and light tones to dark areas. Thus, the picture will become more voluminous and deep.

For example, in this photo using S/H I added volume to the puppy’s fur and the picture immediately became more interesting.

In fact, Shadow/Highlights is an absolutely indispensable tool for any serious editing. Almost any photo can be made better if you use S/H wisely.

I would like to talk about all the S/H settings and its functionality, but this is really a topic for a separate article. In the future, I will definitely return to the Shadow/Highlights theme, but for now just try to experiment - try it different variants settings and look at the result. In my experience, this method is the most effective for learning new things.

As we can see, all these tools are very easy to use, but at the same time incredibly effective. Try experimenting with them and you will feel how many possibilities they provide when processing.

I think it’s worth making a series of articles about simple but very effective tools in Photoshop. And in the next article I will talk about tools for serious work with color in photography.

Each of us wants to learn how to process photographs ourselves, without resorting to the help of specialists and photo salons. To remove any defects in the picture and significantly improve it, you should use a Russian language program - for example, the Home Photo Studio program. In this review, we will pay attention to the main functions of the product and figure out how to work with photos at home.

"Home Photo Studio" - powerful and convenient program for working with photographs

Limitless possibilities for creativity

The program for working with photographs allows you to perform complex processing of images of any format and resolution, including photos in TIFF and RAW. Superficial and deep retouching, conversion from one extension to another, elimination of visible defects, cropping, applying effects and masks - this is not a complete list available opportunities. In addition, the list of functions is constantly updated.

Catalog of functions for photo processing - just select the option you need and get started

This application can be used as absolute beginner in the field of photo editing and a confident professional. Thanks to clear interface in Russian, easy navigation and a visual online textbook, even a schoolchild will not have any difficulty learning the basics of working with the program.

Retouch photos without leaving home

The photo program gives all users an excellent opportunity to try themselves as a retoucher, improving the image themselves. Due to special filters presented in the “Home Photo Studio”, in just five to ten minutes you can make a photo suitable for posting on social networks or on a website.

The stamp allows you to remove minor defects in a portrait photograph, as well as “extra” objects in the frame

If there are foreign people or objects in the picture, they can be easily removed by cropping. The standard red-eye reduction option is activated by clicking on the exposed pupils. And for those who want to get rid of pimples and correct clothing defects, the editor offers very handy tool a “stamp” that masks any imperfections in a few clicks. The program will not leave aside those who are interested in correcting brightness settings or eliminating noise.

Artistic processing: effects, editing, etc.

For people with creative inclinations, it will be good news that the Home Photo Studio has wide artistic editing capabilities. Thus, these include a catalog of effects and masks, a built-in generator of postcards and calendars, as well as convenient features photomontage, background replacement and blur.

In the editor you can easily create a spectacular photo montage and combine photos

For your relatives’ birthday, you can stylize the photographs in an antique or pencil drawing, and give your other half a photo in a beautiful frame on Valentine’s Day. If you want to prank or surprise a friend, just make a small collage by placing a face or silhouette on an unusual background. In addition, you can generate bright postcard with congratulations or calendar for the New Year.

PhotoScape photo editor can do almost anything with photography!

PhotoScape photo editor, which you can download for free on this site, in Russian

For those who like to watch video tutorials on how to use the program, I have prepared 3 video tutorials. I myself, sometimes, am too lazy to read some article about this or that program, but I try to find video tutorials.

1 video lesson Duration: 17 min.

This lesson covers the "Editor" section. Namely, what can be done with the image in subsections such as:
- Home;
- An object;
- Trim;
- Tools.

2 video tutorial on working with the PhotoScape photo editor.Duration: 16 min.

This tutorial covers the following sections: "Batch Editor", "Page", "Combination" and "Gif Animation"

3 small video tutorial on working with the PhotoScape photo editor.Duration: 7 min.

This tutorial covers the following sections: Screen Capture, Color Selection, and Page Templates.

For those who do not want to waste their time watching video tutorials and feel that they can master this program themselves (I mastered it myself), I have created a detailed description of working with the PhotoScape photo editor. I hope you find it useful.

PhotoScape photo editor is a wonderful program. It is multifunctional and easy to operate. It has several main sections (they are at the top). Each section has its own functions.

1. Section "Editor"- this is the most large section in PhotoScape. It has many various functions. Here you can:
- change the size of the photo (from a large one to a small one and vice versa);
- you can stretch the picture to the size you need;
- change brightness, color, sharpness;
- use the “filter”, “auto level”, “auto contrast” functions;
- choose a frame and shape for the image;
- rotate the image;

Insert text (font, size, color, tilt, shadow can be edited);
- insert a picture, another image, various figures and objects;
- draw lines and outline objects;
- select color with a “color pipette”;
- crop the image;
- crop the image by given parameters;
- remove the “red eye effect”; - remove the “mole effect”.

. 2. Section "Batch editor"- multifunctional section. Very good for large quantity photographs, as it captures and remembers “overlaid” pictures and text. You can bet the desired picture and text (4 options are saved for each), without selecting an image and typing the text each time. Here you can:
- change the size of the picture;
- use the “filter”, “auto-level”, “auto-contrast” functions;
- add an image and text;

Select the appropriate frame.

.. 3. Section "Page"- a very interesting section. Here you can:
- choose combinations of photographs and images;
- change size and location;
- apply a filter;
- select a frame;
- choose a background.

.. 4. Section "Combination"- makes it possible to create combinations of different photographs: two, three, four... horizontally, vertically - as it suits you. And you can also:
- resize images;
- select a frame;
- choose a background;
- select the interval.

Photoshop is the most famous graphics editor, tearing off ample opportunities on photo processing. Almost everyone who has a computer is aware of its existence. Professional photographers and advanced amateurs know how to process a photo in Photoshop. But what should a beginner who has never done this before do?

There is an opinion that the interface of this program is complicated, and not every beginner will be able to figure it out on their own. In fact, Photoshop is good not only as a graphic editor, but also as an example of optimized usability. This applies to a greater extent to the famous versions CS5 and CS6. By the way, in any of modern versions the basic set of tools does not differ much.

The main menu is located at the top of the program window. Using it you can control the capabilities of Photoshop. On the left side there is a panel of tools necessary for processing photos. On the right is a panel of layers, corrections, masks, text, etc. In the future it will be possible to exhibit required set panels as desired using the “Window” section in the top menu by checking the boxes next to the desired panels.

What can you find out in the article?

In the photo processing wizard section, a beginner will learn how materials software Adobe Photoshop will help you qualitatively change pictures: create a vintage effect, correct appearance, remove problem areas, work with the subject and background, turn a photo into a drawing with pencils or oil paints. Present the result in beautiful frame and enjoy the result. Here you will learn some valuable lessons on photo editing. Learn how to work with basic retouching functions, masks, layers. Get to know useful tricks using tools, speeding up Photoshop, using adjustment layers to create black and white photographs, portrait photos, artistic landscapes, and movie effects.

Experts will talk about the main differences between Photoshop versions CS5 and CS6. You will learn what the computer hardware requirements are for fast and efficient work programs, power performance calculations.

Knowledge gained and useful secrets will help you create work no worse than that of professional designers glossy magazines.

Beginning of work

For a beginner, it will be most convenient to use the Russified version of the program. In this case self-study its capabilities will be close to intuitive, the interface is so convenient. If “Photoshop” is in English, then you can download and apply the crack to it.

To start working with a photo, you need to open it through the “file” menu, “open” or drag it into the program window.

Removing imperfections from a portrait

For many, their acquaintance with Photoshop begins with the desire to embellish a photo of a person - themselves or their girlfriend, girlfriend or boyfriend. That’s when they wonder how to process a photo in Photoshop.

First of all, it is necessary to clean the person’s skin in the photo if it has pimples and other irregularities. To do this, use a set of tools from the left side of the program window: “stamp”, “healing brush” and “patch”.

For more precise work you need to enlarge the image using the combination ctrl keys+. Then select the “stamp” tool, define right size instrument by decreasing or increasing it using the [ and ] keys. Next, you need to left-click while holding alt on the spot next to the pimple. The “stamp” will acquire a gradient base for the copied location; now you can click on the point to be deleted. This is what you need to do with all the small imperfections of the skin.

If imperfections are minor, you can remove them with a spot healing brush. By the way, it, a regular healing brush and a patch are located in the same cell of the toolbar; you can make one or another tool active by clicking on the cell right click mice.

You can correct highlights and larger skin irregularities using the patch tool, selecting desired object and transferring the outline to a nearby area of ​​the photo that is similar in color. Errors in the operation of the stamp can also be corrected with this tool. By the way, the “patch” will also help if you need to remove unnecessary details from the photo bigger size, for example, a person accidentally caught in the frame.

When processing, it is important not to forget about other areas of exposed skin - the neck and arms.

When processing a photo that is fairly clean in terms of defects, a novice “Photoshopper” will only need to remove imperfections using a spot healing brush.

Aligning a face in Photoshop

This stage of processing is necessary if you want to slightly transform the portrait and remove irregularities.

To align the face, you need to copy the current layer using the keyboard shortcut ctrl + j. Next, you need to go to the section top menu“filters”, select “blur”, “Gaussian blur”. In the window that appears, set the pixel values ​​to no more than 5 - 8. The photo will “blur”, this is what you need. Next action You need to convert this layer to a black mask. To do this, find the “layer mask” button at the bottom of the layers panel and, while holding alt, click on it with the left mouse button. The image will become clear again. Now, in order to erase all the unevenness of the skin, smooth it out, you need to select the “brush” tool in the left panel of the program window, select convenient size brushes and gently work over the entire skin of the face, neck and arms. It is important not to touch the lips and nose openings. Otherwise, the photograph risks losing its naturalness.

After careful study, you need to set the “opacity” slider in the upper right corner of the panel to values ​​from 30 to 50%, depending on your desire. After this action, the photo will take on a more natural look.

To make the processed face even closer to natural, and so that no one would guess that the photo had to be processed in Photoshop , you need to add a little noise to the cleaned areas. To do this, you first need to merge 2 layers into one by right-clicking on the top layer and selecting “merge with previous” from the menu. Then, copy the layer, in the “filters”, “noise” menu, find the “add noise” option, set the values ​​to approximately 2 - 2.5. Next, create a black mask and work on all areas of the skin with the brush tool.

After this, the portrait retouching can be completed. If you want to correct the color of the photo, blur the background beautifully, you can use the following tips.

Saturation

Professionals try not to use automatic color correction functions when they need to edit a photo in Photoshop. They have their secrets. Here's one of them.

To make the photo look juicy, rich colors, you can do the following:

— convert the photo to the LAB color space (“Image”, “mode”, “LAB”);

— make a duplicate layer (key combination ctrl and J);

— go to the menu “image”, “correction”, “curves”;

— in the window that appears in channels a and b, change the position of the pointers in turn: the bottom point - by 1 division towards the center, without breaking away from the bottom line, the top point - by 1 division towards the center, without looking away from the top line.

The result is an oversaturated image. To smooth out this oversaturation, you need to select the “overlay” blending mode in the layers panel, then set the layer transparency to around 20 - 35%, depending on your desire.

After this, you need to merge the layers and convert the image back to RGB.

The skills described above are some of the basic ones and can help you process a photo in Photoshop quite efficiently.

How to process a photo in Photoshop CS6

Naturally, different versions Adobe Photoshop programs have some differences. In some cases, very noticeable. Professionals in photo processing say that, for example, versions CS5 and CS6 are significantly different. However, a beginner will not notice these differences, since they exist in areas that he cannot yet reach. Changes concern working with 3D, drawing tools, automatic functions, such as auto-correction, distortion correction and some other functions. In addition, the program interface has changed from the usual light gray color to dark.

For a beginner, processing a photo in Photoshop CS6 will be as easy as in CS5. By the way, thanks to the updated frame tool, cropping a photo is easier. And the auto-correction modes have become more “smart”.

And color correction in this version is more advanced, so processing a photo in Photoshop CS6 may be more pleasant than in previous versions. Work in this application places demands on the computer hardware - working with graphics requires a lot of computing power. That's why comfortable work without “brakes” is guaranteed for modern cars With powerful processor and large volume random access memory, and even better - with a good video processor.