Picture This: Making your pictures brighter

Are you ready for the second installment of Picture This, our photography tips, tricks and cheats?

Today we're going to show you some basic tricks for brightening up a dull photo and fixing/enhancing color in Photoshop. If you don't have Photoshop, take a look at our list of free editing software (most interfaces will look similar to photoshop).

Let's get started!

Step 1: 
 The 1st thing you want to do, after opening and saving your image, is create a new layer. A new layer is important because you want to preserve the original file in case of any mishaps. Name   your layer whatever makes sense to you. We named ours original layer 1.

 

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

Step 2:
 Towards the lower right corner you will find a small round icon

that is half white and half black.

Click and find "Levels".

A small new pop up will appear to the right of the image. Use the black and white arrows to make adjustments to your photos.

Moving the black arrow makes all of the dark tones darker and moving the white arrow makes all of the light tones lighter.  This tool is perfect for increasing the contrast in your photos.

 

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Step 3:
 For the next step, go back to the black and white icon from the previous step. Click and find "Curves".

  A small new pop up will appear to the right of the image. Drag the curve line up or down to adjust your photo.

 You can also go to the RGB drop down menu and select individual colors you wish to fix or enhance. For instance, if you photo appears a little too pink, you can adjust by selecting Red from the drop down menu and moving the curve line down and away from the middle.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Step 4:
 If you don't like the results or wish to delete a layer or action, simply drag the unwanted layer/action towards the trashcan icon on the bottom right.

 Save and enjoy!

Come back next week for a cheat sheet on giving your photos that vintage look.

(image via The Sartorialist)

Tweet