Photoshop
Photoshop is something I didn't get to explore very freely first year so I wanted to try out some tutorials to see what effect they had on my photographs, whether it enhanced them, helped create the story or if they distracted too much.
3D Effect
For the first tutorial I'd seen a 3D effect on Pinterest and an instagram page I follow, it created a really confusing and interesting vibe to the photo and I really wanted to try it out.
The Process
1. Take the photo you want to edit and open it in photoshop, name the layer left. Do the usual editing on Levels to make sure the photo is well balanced with shadows and light.
2. Duplicate the layer and name it 'Right'
3D Effect
For the first tutorial I'd seen a 3D effect on Pinterest and an instagram page I follow, it created a really confusing and interesting vibe to the photo and I really wanted to try it out.
The Process
1. Take the photo you want to edit and open it in photoshop, name the layer left. Do the usual editing on Levels to make sure the photo is well balanced with shadows and light.
2. Duplicate the layer and name it 'Right'
3. Click the left layer and go to the button in the bottom left of the layers section then select 'FX', then go to 'Blending Options'.
4. Once there look for 'Advanced Blending Options' and uncheck the selection 'R'.
5. Go to the Right layer and repeat steps 3-4 but this time uncheck the selections 'G' and 'B' instead of 'R'.
6. Take the left layer and shift it slightly to the right.
FINISHED.
Outcomes (Click to enlarge)
Black & White
In the studio shoot there were two photos that were really overexposed and any detail was flushed out. I could see a nice figure underneath so I decided to mess around in photoshop to see what I could do to fix them. I mainly changed the exposure, the saturation, contrast and levels but at the end of doing that nothing much changed, I clicked on the Black and White filter just as a last ditch attempt to fix them and surprisingly it worked. I thought I would put down on the photoshop section the steps I took to do this just because I find it interesting how something as simple as a filter can save a photo from being totally ruined.
The Process
These are the images I started out with, as I said the flash I used when taking them combined with the studio lighting and white background really overexposed the photo to the point where the shot was almost just a bright white blur.
1. Firstly, I opened the photo in photoshop and changed the levels...
2. Next I changed the brightness a little, not too much because I didn't want the contrast between the dark hair and pale skin to be taken out...
3. I added the black and white filter, I chose the 'maximum black' one because it drew out some freckles the model had over nose and created a stark contrast between the hair and background which is what I wanted...
You can see the finished photos in my final piece and on the 'Creating Mara Dyer' page.