To get this post-processing example series kicked off, I wanted to start with an image I took recently. This series of processing shows some simple and quick steps used to give an image a little more pop.

My personal goal for working on images is to not spend a lot of time on images. As you know, when working on client images the more time you spend the less money you are making. The quicker and more efficient you can work the more profitable you will become. I dont watch the clock on my personal work because I enjoy it, but for these tutorials I would like to keep the processing time to 15 minutes or less. This example took about 5, maybe 10 minutes.

The image on the left was the SOOC shot, taken with a Nikon D700 and 50mm shot at f/1.4. Not too shabby on it’s own, and I realize a good bit dull when sitting directly next to the final processed shot.

For the post-processing here, my only goal was to add a little pop to the image and sharpen it up. I do everything that I can within Lightroom and if I can, I stay in Lightroom without moving to Photoshop. Here, I increased the vibrance and clarity and then brought the image into Photoshop. Here is a screenshot of the layers for the image:

The color overlay layers were meant to bring out the fence and nest to better contrast against the green in the background. I sharpened up the image a tad bit using a high pass layer. One little touch was to pull the eggs into a new layer and darken them a notch as well. With the green background, I would have wanted a stronger orange or wood color for the fence. However, that conflicted too much with the nest, which to me needed more of the orange-like color. So I placed a layer of pink/purple on top for the fence, which offered a nice barrier between the green background and the nest in the foreground. The best part about using the solid color overlay is that you can easily open it back up and adjust the color, getting a live preview while you do it.

For a very subtle vignette, I copied all of the layers (copy merged) and pasted this into a layer above all of the others. I set the blending mode to multiply and then masked off the center. I like this method for adding a vignette instead of adding a layer of black because the black is just too harsh. Using multiply takes the existing image and darkens it which, to me, feels more natural than a solid color.

View the larger version on Flickr.

If you have an image you would like to see processed and used here on this blog as an example with a write-up, please email those to jason [at] dubtastic.com. I would prefer to have the hi-res raw files directly out of the camera without any adjustments. If you feel better sending the JPG files send those as well. Just make sure larger files are compressed or sent via YouSendit.

So this article has two purposes. The first was for me to test a new screen recorder application that I have been wanting to use. I am working on some Photoshop screencasts and figured this might be a great testing ground.  The second purpose was to offer a little insight into some post-processing that goes into some of my work.

The image I used was one that I did not take.  A special thanks to Monroe Harbour Marina in Sanford, Florida for permission to use the photo.  I was born in Florida and have family in Sanford, so this is a frequented spot.  If you look in the original photo, down toward the bottom left area on the bulkhead was where I took my own Marina Nightfall image .

Back to the topic at hand. Here is what I started with:

Is this a bad image?  Certainly not.  Could I have taken better?  Who is to say, really?  The point here is not to critique the photo or label it as bad by any stretch of the imagination.  The thought process here is to take an existing photo and build upon it.  Many times I take a shot and like it in-camera.  But my desire to tinker and improve in Photoshop carries the image further. What I tried to focus on with the image was making the colors pop a little more and sharpen it up.  I also threw in a little tilt-shift effect.  Here is the video (I sped this up to make it look like I really knew what I was doing):

In total, I spent about 15 minutes on the image.  This is a little longer than average as I normally know what I want to do with the image before starting to process it.  Having a direction in mind will save you a lot of time in the long run.

Here is the final image:

If you would like to see a larger view, check out my Flickr page.

Photo Credit:
Monroe Harbour Marina
Sanford, Florida
(407) 322-2910

OK, so I am going to cheat a little with this tutorial.  I did not take this photo for the purposes of writing something up about it.  Yet, the more that I think about it, the more it makes sense to use such a photo.  How many times have you put something before a client that you really thought out and they passed right over, yet they rave about something you took in passing?  So this tutorial covers some basic and quick steps you can take to give a quick portrait a little more pop.

The setup for this was pretty simple.  There were two White Lightning X1600 strobes (triggered with Cybersyncs) in softboxes to each side of Dan (Dan is also a gifted photographer). We were actually getting the lighting right for this shoot with Bonnie.  If I had bothered to jot down their power settings then I would have been able to include that here as well.  This was taken with a  Nikon D700 and Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 with ISO 200, 1/250th, at f/10.  Again, this was not meant to go in my portfolio, have printed, or hang in a gallery.  It was merely a test shot to make sure the subject was lit and that we had the background gray instead of white.

So being a Photoshop addict, I started to tinker with this one.  Immediately looking at it I can see that the subject is positioned a little off. And there is a small black spot on his hat that is driving me insane because my eye is drawn to it!

The first few steps I take when correcting portraits involves any correcting to the framing/composition and then I move to blemishes.  And for Dan, that would take at least 3 hours (Kidding!).  For those of you who have not yet used Nik Color Efex you might want to go try it out because it is a really nifty add-on.  I especially love their cross-processing options, which I used here to give this portrait a little pop. They have a lot more to offer in their product than merely cross-processing.  I realize that there are plenty of actions and presets to accomplish the same thing.  However, Nik really gives you quite a bit of control and many of their default settings work just the way that I want them to.

To bring out Dan’s eyes, I used the Dodge Tool.  Zooming in to 100% and focusing on the eye area makes this easier.  With the Dodge Tool selected (Range: Midtones; Exposure: 100%) I selected a round soft edged brush that just about covered the eye.  A few clicks and you get a lot more pop to the eyes.  Be careful not to go overboard and create laser eyes.  You want them to stand out but not become the focus.  One tip would be to copy the eyes into a new layer and make your adjustments there.  You can then adjust the opacity of the eye layer to control the strength of the effect.

With that done, I usually move on to any blemishes.  Thankfully, Dan didn’t require a lot of fixin’.  However, I had to get rid of that small black dot on the hat.  Ha! Depending on the amount of work, fixing blemishes is done with a combination of the Healing Brush Tool and Clone Stamp Tool.

If Dan were a woman (wow, does that open the doors to a whole new conversation or what?) I would soften the skin and tones to compliment him, uh her.  But with guys, its OK to be a little rough.  Afterall, Dan drinks Diet Coke by the liter and is a lifetime member of the NRA.  The guy needs to be a little rough in his photos!  This is all personal preference but I like to add a subtle sharpener type effect using the High Pass filter.

Select your current layer of Dan and promote it to a new layer (Command + J or Control + J).  Select the new layer and rename it to “Sharpen”.  From the menu, select Filter > Other > High Pass.  Drop the radius down to 2 pixels.  You should have something similar to this:

Next, set the blending mode to the “Sharpen” layer to “Soft Light”.  You might look at it and wonder what that actually did.  Like I said, with this setting and blending mode, its subtle, but its there.  Turn the layer on and off a few times and you will see what I mean.  If you want a stronger effect, experiment with different radius amounts when running High Pass and also try a few different blending modes.  Just another word of caution, all of your processing should be used to enhance the photo not over power it.  The last thing you want someone to see is only processing and not the subject of the photo.

Not too shabby.  Definitely more interesting that what came out of the camera.  So let’s keep going a bit.  I will often times use vignettes to draw some more attention to the subject as well.  You could fill a new layer with black, masking out everything but the edges, but solid black is rather harsh at times.  Assuming everything you have done thus far is in a single layer, copy that to a new layer (Command + J or Control + J).  Set the new layer’s blending mode to multiply.  Now, add a layer mask and paint in the center of the image, which leaves the darker edges and a more subtle vignette-type effect.

One final step is a little texture effect.  For this photo I used one created by ghostbones which can be found here http://www.flickr.com/photos/telzey/3114945482/in/set-72157611268347999/.  Simply drop the texture into a new layer and set the blending mode to “Soft Light”.  Since I don’t want a texture on top of the subject I mask it out.  As a side note, if you are using layer masks and want to see what you are painting a little easier, you can press Shift + | (pipe) to get a better view of whats happening.  What that does is allow you to see the mask with a bright red color while you “paint”.  Here is an example:

After I was done masking off the texture, I set the texture layer’s opacity to 65%.  With some trendy black stripes and text, we are done!

View large version on my Flickr page.

Might seem like a long tutorial, but once you get into a workflow, this becomes painless and should only take about 10 minutes max.

Do you have to do any of this stuff?  Absolutely not.  Much, if not all of this processing is personal preference. Some people hate textures, some love them.  I love using them but in this case I tried to include the texture in such a way that would compliment the overall image.  You have to find the look that YOU are trying to achieve and strive for that.

Lately I have been working on processing a group of photographs taken in an abandoned home here in Georgia.  To make room for development, the old has to be tossed out, leaving a small gem for those interesting in exploration photography of this type.

As uncomfortable as I was being in this house taking pictures, I enjoyed it thoroughly.  It was not until I got back home and began working the images that I realized just what I had done and where I had been.  I believe that many times we get caught up in composing the right shot, visually planning, and positioning that the past and buried memories are directly underneath us.  I thought about the living room, with destroyed fireplace and couch turned upside down, and imagined how many Christmas mornings were shared in that room.  I imagined how many arguments and lectures were given between parents and children in the rooms.  I imagined the meals shared in the kitchen area.  It became more of an experience for me than I had initially thought it would.

Secondly, I processed these photos more than I normally would do.  Bordering on more Photoshop than photography, I really did not care.  I have spent too much time lately worrying about traditionalist photographers and their disdain for the digital world.  I worry too much about the digital world and the need to get that perfect shot.  I simply did what I wanted to do and there is so much freedom and power in that artistically that I could never explain it on a blog.

All of these images are also available on my Flickr account. I would love to hear your feedback on them, either here, or on the Flickr set. And if you feel so inclined, you may purchase prints as well.