Digital Diversity

I previously wrote an article on basic exposure blending. This was a basic guide on how to create multiple exposures using either exposure bracketing or a single RAW file and then blending them together. This tutorial is a more advanced version of this technique where you take one RAW shot that is exposed correctly for the land and then sky is recovered afterwards and saved as a second file. These 2 files can then be blended together using masks. To finish off, this tutorial will show you how to use photo filters to alter the light in your image.

For this tutorial it will help if you already now the following:
• Layers and Masks
• Photo Filters

This shot was taken from the top of the Scottish history museum. Its just a throw away shot really, not sharp and not that interesting but will be a good example to show off this technique.

(more…)

A common question I get seen asked is about how to adjust skin tones in a photo. This can be anything from someone coming out looking a bit overly red to hiding a rash that isn’t normally there.

There are many ways to fix these things but the method I will show you is simple and fast. A few adjustment layers with some masking can fix all sorts of issues like these in no time at all.

The most common people to ask this question are people photographing newborns. The Reason for this is that newborns often have bruising or skin discolouration when they first arrive in the world. While some people happily include such things in there photographs, others prefer to hide them. Because of this, this tutorial will use a new born picture to demonstrate this technique. The picture is owned by ‘New Beginnings Photography’ and you can find her on Flickr here.

For this tutorial you will already need to understand:
• Layers and masks
• Adjustment layers

In this picture the baby has had some bruising to the face during delivery. This has caused it to go very red and also dark in comparison to the rest of its skin tones. The idea here is to use adjustment layers and masks to make the face match the rest of the body.

(more…)

E3NPFTXFZSNK

In this third instalment of my Portrait re-touching Photoshop tutorials I will be talking about altering the hair. Hair is a big part of some ones over all look and simply changing the colour can give big impact to your photographs.

This tutorial will cover 2 areas. The first is removing stray hairs from around the head and face. The second is changing the colour.

For this tutorial I recommend you have an understanding of the following. Each subject is linked to the appropriate Photoshop tutorial
• Layers and Masks
• Adjustment layers
• Hue / Saturation adjustment layers
• Cloning and healing

(more…)