By Keeva Stratton
To Photoshop or not to Photoshop – it’s the current debate of magazine editors – but like fashion, diet and exercise secrets, there’s no harm in benefitting from a little celebrity knowhow.
Below are 5 technical tips from Photoshop expert Stephen Farnow on how to transform your images from cover-up to cover-shot:
1. Stay composed
If your subject appears more background than fore, you need to give more attention to how you compose your shot.
Stephen says: “Photoshop’s crop tool can come to the rescue. With it, you can create a frame that zooms in on your subject, eliminating uninteresting background.
Consider zooming out a bit when you take your photos; this will give you more flexibility later when recomposing your image within Photoshop.”
2. Never fade away
Ever wondered why professional shots always seem to pop, while yours just fizzle? It’s all about contrast – something the human eye enjoys when looking at an image.
Stephen says: “While Photoshop has an Auto Contrast function that will make a big improvement, consider using a Levels adjustment to really optimise your image.
Levels will allow you to darken your darks and lighten your lights, while stretching all the tones in between. The result is a much more vibrant image, both in contrast as well as colour.”
3. Just a hint of colour
We know that colour gives an outfit a lift, so it makes sense that it will boost your photos as well.
Stephen says: “Digital images often lack colours that really pop, even after fixing contrast. Boosting colour with Photoshop’s Hue/Saturation adjustment will really make a difference.
Increasing saturation makes every colour more vivid and intense. The higher the saturation, the more vivid and intense the entire image becomes.”
4. A little game of hide…
It’s funny what you don’t see through the lens, only to find later as little surprises post-shot. Celebs love to hide wrinkles, but just by eliminating foreign objects that obscure your subject, you’re drawing the eye to what’s important.
Stephen says: “These edge intrusions can be difficult to notice when composing pictures because your attention is focused on your subject. Photoshop’s clone tool, although designed to create copies (or clones) of objects, is a great tool for removing these intrusions. With it, you can copy adjacent scenery (grass, sky, etc.) over the intrusion and eliminate them altogether.”
5. …and seek
And finally, a great tip on how to always capture the spotlight.
Stephen says: “To really make your subject stand out and hold the viewer’s interest, give it, and only it, an extra color boost with Photoshop. Subtly done, everything will still look realistic.
The easiest way to do this is with the Sponge tool. The Sponge tool “paints” on increased (or decreased) saturation. Using a soft edge and the “saturation” mode, brush over the key subject in your image and the heightened saturation will make it pop out. Just be careful not to overdo it.”
Stephen Farnow is the author of Photoshop: Just The Skinny. He has spent 30 years in management at high-tech companies such as Intel. He is currently a management consultant and also writes about graphic arts. For more information, please visit www.JustTheSkinny.com/photoshop.html.
