Quick and Easy Editing To Make Your Images A Whole Lot Better

MM140 - Multimedia Production - Photography Project

A recent project involving a photo shoot and some post production in Photoshop has greatly improved the appearance of my photographs. My instructor threw in a tutorial mostly involving adjusting levels, burn, dodge, and sponge tool options, along with applying an unsharp mask.

• Adjusting Levels (image~adjustments~levels)
• Bring in more black by sliding the black arrow over until it reaches a peak
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• Unsharp Mask (filter~sharpen~unsharp mask)
• Use to sharpen your photos
• Amount - 50-60%
• Radius - 1-2 pixels

- The following tools can be found by clicking and holding the dodge tool on the toolbar. -

• Dodge Tool (toolbar)
• Use to lighten areas
• Set range to highlights or midtones
• 15-20% exposure
• Burn Tool (toolbar)
• Use to darken areas/shadows
• Set range to shadows
• 15-20% exposure
• Sponge Tool (toolbar)
• Use to saturate/desaturate areas
• 15-20% flow
• Using this too much can make your photos look "shopped"

Using these fairly basic tools you can make your pictures brighter and sharper. The flow and exposures are set pretty low, so as not to dramatically change the areas you apply them to. Minimal changes can make a big difference to your photos. Another rule of thumb our instructor gave us was spend no more than five minutes overall adjusting your photos with these tools. Spending too much time on them will make them look overworked and unnatural. The images below are the photos I used for the project. See the comparison side by side, to give you an idea as to what little you need to do to improve the look of your photos.