Applying a vignette to a photo in Photoshop. Tone and contrast in portrait retouching
Peripheral dimming or "vignette" used by masters to concentrate the viewer’s attention on the central part of the image. It is worth noting that vignettes can be not only dark, but also light and blurry.
In this lesson we will talk specifically about dark vignettes and learn how to create them in different ways.
For the lesson, a photo of a birch grove was selected and a copy of the original layer was made ( CTRL+J).
Method 1: Manual creation
As the name suggests, this method involves manually creating a vignette using a fill and a mask.
Opacity is selected individually for each work.
Method 2: Feathering the Selection
This is a method using shading of an oval area followed by filling. Don't forget that we are drawing the vignette on a new empty layer.
1. Select a tool "Oval area".
2. Create a selection in the center of the image.
3. This selection needs to be inverted, since we will have to fill the edges, not the center of the picture, with black. This is done with a keyboard shortcut CTRL+SHIFT+I.
4. Now press the keyboard shortcut SHIFT+F6, calling up the shading settings window. The radius value is selected individually; we can only say that it should be large.
5. Fill the selection with black ( SHIFT+F5, black color).
6. Deselect ( CTRL+D) and reduce the opacity of the vignette layer.
Method 3: Gaussian Blur
First, let's repeat the starting points (new layer, oval selection, invert). Fill the selection with black without shading and deselect it ( CTRL+D).
1. Go to the menu “Filter – Blur – Gaussian Blur”.
2. Use the slider to adjust the blur of the vignette. Note that too large a radius may darken the center of the image. Don't forget that after blurring we will lower the opacity of the layer, so don't go too hard.
3. Reduce the opacity of the layer.
Method 4: Distortion Correction filter
This method can be called the simplest of all the above. However, it is not always applicable.
There is no need to create a new layer, since the actions are performed on a copy of the background.
1. Go to the menu “Filter – Distortion Correction”.
2. Go to the tab "Custom" and set up a vignette in the corresponding block.
This filter will only apply to the active layer.
Today you learned four ways to create dark edges (vignettes) in Photoshop. Choose the most convenient and suitable for a specific situation.
A common problem in many photographs - restoring color in dense shadows - has many different solutions. For example, the classic technique of adjusting tonal levels using the “Curves” tool provides a comprehensive, but somewhat labor-intensive solution to this problem.
In this lesson on working with photoshop shows a simple method for selective processing of areas dark photo, generally preserving all other parts of the tonal range. This method is characterized by high versatility and technical simplicity.
The lesson was done in the Russified program CS3, but can be done in almost any version of Photoshop.
Similar publications:
- How to lighten part of a photo
Let's open the original image. This is a picture of generally good quality, characterized by an excessive density of shadow fragments. If you apply any kind of tone correction to the entire original, it will lead to depletion of the lightest parts of the photo.
Let's create a duplicate layer - Ctrl+J.
In the “Layers” palette, click on the middle adjustment layer selection icon and select “Levels” from the drop-down list.
Move the middle slider to the left to the required degree of brightening of the picture (determined visually).
Hold down the Alt key and click on the border of the top layer and Layer 1. With this action we created a clipping mask. The fact that such a mask has been created is indicated by an arrow pointing down to the left of the thumbnail of the layer “Levels 1”.
Let's unlock the background layer by simply dragging the lock from this layer onto the trash can icon.
Let's drag the unlocked layer (after unlocking it was named "Layer 0" by default) to the very top of the "Layers" palette.
For the top layer, set the blending mode to “Soft Light” and, if necessary, reduce the opacity of this layer.
We get this nice result. Everything turned out well for us, the shadows were lightened, but the sky became somewhat lighter than in the original photo. If this result suits you, then you can leave everything as it is. I decided to correct the color of the sky.
Make the layer mask “Levels 1” active. Activate the "Brush" tool (B), leave the parameters at default, and set the foreground color to black.
We draw a brush across the sky and get such a beautiful landscape.
Improve your landscape photography skills by using a variety of advanced dodging and burning techniques to fine-tune the light and shade of your photos.
When it comes to making final adjustments to landscape photos, dodging and burning becomes an art form in itself. This process has been an integral part of photography for many years, but these days, adjusting light and shadow is much easier than it ever was in a dedicated darkroom.
Here we will look at several techniques. However, this is not a case where simply knowing how to selectively adjust brightness is enough: it is much more important to determine which area of the photo needs processing.
When looking at a photograph, the eyes first focus on the lighter areas. We need to take this into account when working. Imagine your eyes wandering around the image: emphasize the main lines and draw your eyes to the desired subject.
1. Separate the earth and sky
Select the sky using the tool Quick selection(Quick Selection Tool), then click Ctrl+J to copy the area to a new layer. Create an adjustment layer Levels(Levels). Set its blend mode Multiplication(Multiply), darkening the photo. Select the layer mask and click Ctrl + I to invert it.
2. Darken the sky
Press and hold the key Ctrl based on the thumbnail of the sky copy layer. Click on the layer mask Levels(Layers). Select a tool Brush(Brush Tool). Set white as the foreground color and the Opacity(Opacity) reduce to 20% . Sketch the areas of the sky you want to darken. When ready, click Ctrl+D, deselecting it.
3. Raise the Foreground
Create a new adjustment layer Levels(Layers). Set its blending mode to Screen(Screen) to brighten the image. Press and hold the sky layer Ctrl and then go to menu Select > Invert(Select > Inverse). Invert the mask of the new Levels layer and use a white brush to paint over the foreground areas that need to be brightened. When you're done, reset the selection.
04. Highlight the stones
Click Ctrl + Shift + Alt + E, creating a merged layer. Right click on the new layer and select Convert to Smart Object(Convert to Smart Object). Go to menu Filter > Sharpen > Unsharp Mask(Filter>Sharpen>Unsharp Mask). Set the following parameter values: Effect(Amount) - 120 , Radius(Radius) - 45 , Isohelium(Threshold) - 4 , adding clarity to the stones. Invert the layer mask that appears and paint the stones white.
5. Attract the eye
Press and hold the key Alt by the new layer icon at the bottom of the panel Layers(Layers Panel). In the layer creation window, set Mode(Mode) on Overlap(Overlay), then check the box next to " Fill..." (Fill with…) and click OK. Install Opacity(Opacity) brushes on 10% . Paint with white to lighten areas, black to darken; use this layer to draw attention to the subject.
6. Highlights and shadows
Click Ctrl + Shift + Alt + E to create another merged layer. Select a tool Clarifier(Dodge Tool), install Exhibition(Exposure) - 10% , A Range(Range) - Backlight(Highlights). Paint over the areas you want to highlight. Use the tool Dimmer(Burn Tool) with By exposure(Exposure) - 10% And Range(Range) - Shadows(Shadows) to add depth to the shadows.
In Photoshop, you need to start working with tone. In this article we will talk about changes in tone, meaning darkening and brightening the frame. This does not apply to changes in color tone or shade.
From previous Photosearch materials, you learned that all darkening or lightening can be done most efficiently by working in a converter with a raw file. The fact is that the raw format contains all the information that will allow you to change the brightness components of the image with minimal losses. And for local transformations, it is best to work with the Photoshop converter, with its masks and layers.
This problem is often solved using “multi-export”: in the most convenient converter (CaptureOne, Lightroom, etc.) several versions of the processed photo are created with different degrees of brightness. Next, the image is exported to .psd or .tiff, all its variants are accumulated in Photoshop as layers. Now you can work with masks, making local corrections.
We will offer you a less resource-intensive and more effective method.
Let's start working with a raw file using the ACR (Adobe Camera RAW) plugin. If you are used to processing images using the tools of certain converters (such as Lightroom), then you can continue. To do this, you just need to save the files in DNG format and continue working with the DNG files.
Let's start retouching the photo. First, let's open a raw file of a certain image as a smart object. You need to hold down the Shift key before clicking the "Open..." button in the ACR window. This is done to replace the name of the “Open image” button with “Open object”:
In this case, we get a layer containing a smart object, as evidenced by the icon in the corner of the menu.
For the retoucher, this means that the ACR image can be edited many times, returning to the original file. It will not lose quality. To change all the parameters as needed, you can double-click on it to open the ACR window.
The overall brightness of the picture will be determined by the bottom layer. Sometimes the brightness of a picture can be difficult to assess. We recommend that you reduce it to the size of a small preview. In the ACR window, you can change the photo scale using the “ctrl+” and “ctrl-” keys. In many cases, it is the small size that helps to see the lack or excess of brightness.
In the proposed version, it is clear that the original needs to be made brighter. By moving the Exposure slider by one third of a stop, we obtain sufficient brightness.
Let's return to the main Photoshop window by clicking "OK". It's time for local changes. We have to lighten or darken certain areas of the photo.
We remember that the lighter areas of the image primarily attract the viewer's attention. This is a characteristic of the psychophysiology of our vision. When looking at any image, we move from lighter to darker areas.
It follows from this that when processing a photo, the so-called “semantic centers” need to be brightened against the general background. Leave bright areas where you want to hold the viewer's attention. If you neglect this rule, you will inevitably cause a state of mental discomfort in the viewer. A logically important area will constantly elude attention, pulling your gaze to the periphery. When processing a black and white photo, this nuance is most noticeable.
If you are processing a portrait, then you only need to slightly lighten the model’s face. The rest of the image can be slightly darkened. The frame will look much better.
In our example, the girl’s face is far from the brightest place in the portrait. A lighter dress attracts attention. An overly active background also attracts attention. We will now begin to correct these shortcomings.
To change the photo, let's select individual areas that we will adjust and create for each of them its own layer, which will contain the same smart object. Right-click on the layer you need and select “New Smart Object via Copy” from the menu that appears. Many people think that they can simplify the task by pressing “Ctrl+J”. This is a mistake: you will create another layer with the same object!
In our photo retouching example, let's create new layers for the model's skin, her dress, and the background of the composition:
This will allow us to open each ACR layer with a double click and work with its tone. We suggest changing the tone using tone curves. In the corresponding menu we see sliders:
. Highlights
. Lights
. Darks
. Shadows.
With their help, we will lighten or darken light and dark, medium-light and medium-dark areas of the photo:
Now let's make visible the area of each layer that we will work with. To do this, we use a regular mask. Let us remind you that using smart objects will allow you to return to ACR and adjust the parameters after creating the mask. This can be done at any stage of processing.
The results of our work will look something like this:
Now the model does not blend into the background, the viewer’s gaze is immediately fixed on the face. A lighter dress is also less distracting.
That's the minimum. If you want to do more, work on other, less significant areas. For example, volume can be added to a composition. Work on your hair by lightening or darkening individual strands. We will not go deeper into this now, the main thing is to outline the principle of operation. While you consolidate your skills, experiment!
Working with contrast.
Having worked with the distribution of tones in a photograph and obtained a good result, we will learn how to adjust the overall contrast of the image.
Let's start with the simplest and very effective way to change contrast when processing photos.
1. Create a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer.
2. Discolor the image. To do this, in the “Properties” window, set the “Saturation” slider to “0”.
3. In the adjustment layer, change the blending mode to Soft Light.
You will immediately see that the contrast has increased dramatically.
4. To soften the effect of step 3, lower the Opacity value for the adjustment layer. In our case, 20% is enough.
But there is another way to increase contrast. It's a little more complicated, but the result is less spontaneous. So that you immediately understand what we are talking about, let us explain: this method is similar to the one just described, but here we do not desaturate the image, but use a channel mixer. So:
1. Using the Channel Mixer, create an adjustment layer.
2. Check the box for “Monochrome” in the “Properties” menu. The photo becomes black and white. By changing the ratio of the “Red”, “Green” and “Blue” color channels, we set the optimal contrast. In our case, the value is “0,+100.0”, which allows us to make the model’s face more voluminous. The sum of the values of all color channels must be equal to 100, otherwise you will darken or lighten the entire photo.
If you look closely at some photo albums, you'll see that many photographers use vignetting to darken the corners of their photos while leaving the center of the photo lighter. Why do they use this technique? The answer is quite simple. If you look at photographs, you will notice that the eye is first drawn to the lighter areas of the photo, and only then the eye moves to the darker elements. Vignetting helps direct the eye from the edge of the frame to the center of the composition and, thus, puts a certain emphasis on the main thing in the photograph. This is the easiest way to draw the viewer's attention to the most important thing in the photo and make it expressive. In addition to vignetting, there are more effective ways to lighten and darken certain areas of your photos using Photoshop. Let's look at an example in which the photograph has already been processed.
The photo shows Punchbowl Falls located in the Portland, Oregon area. Here the first step is to lighten the majestic stream of water that roars into the stream and grows into light ripples in the foreground, and to darken the abundant vegetation around it. To draw the viewer's attention to this particular part of the photograph, a technique based on subtle calculations was used to lighten and darken.
The areas of the image highlighted in red were lightened, and the blue areas were darkened. The part of the image highlighted in yellow was not processed, since it was already quite light. significantly increased the visual impact of the photograph. This was done as follows. After uploading the photo, the first thing to do was add a new layer. To add a new layer, you need to hold down the Alt key and at the same time click on the create a new layer icon at the bottom of the layers palette. In the dialog box that opens, the function is selected Lightening and Darkening(dodge and burn) and the blending mode is changed to "soft light" ( Soft Light). Next, check the “fill” box and set the gray color to 50%.
Then take the Brush tool with soft edges. Set the opacity to 4-8%. If you set the brush to white, it will work in dodge mode. If you set the color to black, then it will work in dimming mode. Use a low opacity value to make it easier to control the process. Use the brush to work on selected areas of the photo, lightening or darkening them. Keep in mind what you want to highlight in the photo and apply your brush strokes accordingly.
Some Photoshop experts may ask, why make it so complicated? After all, you can lighten and darken the desired areas of the photo separately on different layers. It’s hard to argue with them here, but this technique involves working with just one layer and allows you not to overtax the program. In addition, if it turns out that some areas of the photo are too dark or light, you can easily correct them on the same layer.
If you still go too far, you can always reduce the transparency of the layer itself and create a soft transition of colors between individual parts of the photo. To do this you need to select Filter->Blur-> (filter->blur->Gaussian blur) and set the blur radius somewhere around 10-30 pixels. This filter guarantees a soft and imperceptible transition of colors in the picture.
The above method can even be used to correct portrait photographs, in order, for example, to emphasize cheekbones, forehead line, emphasize hair, etc. When working with portraits, the radius of Gaussian blur settings should be significantly larger than in landscape photography, and can reach 30 pixels. Below are several photographs that were corrected in a similar way.
Now you know another method for correcting photographs. Use it to enhance drama, create mood, or simply de-emphasize some distracting elements in your photos.
