Who wants Pop!

PP is a necessary part of our work flow and we all want our images to "POP", so I thought we could share some simple ways we go about achieving this. Here are some quick and dirty tricks that I have come up with while fiddling around in Photoshop. Forgive me if these are already well known techniques - I'm no boffin (tech geek). Please add some of your own.


Technique 1:

• Create an Exposure Adjustment layer
• Drop the Offset to about -0.0026 (more if needed)
• Raise the Exposure slightly but usually this is not required
• Done

Simple. Toggle this layer on and off to see a slight pop and increase in contrast. Good for hazy images.





Technique 2:

• Create a Black and White Adjustment layer
• Find a filter style you like such as Infrared
• Set the Blend Mode to Overlay
• Adjust the layer opacity to about 15% (just a guide)
• Done

Toggle this layer on and off to see some contrast pop.


Remember 'Less is More', don't over do it. Find what looks good then back-off just a touch. I'm the worst offender when it comes to over-baking an image [:P]

I'll add one (N.B. thereare better ways to do this, look up high pass sharpening to find some more detailed techniques).


Lazy high pass sharpening

• Add a background copy layer, or a merged copy layer (if you'vegot other adjustment layers acting on the backgroundby pressing Ctrl+Alt+Shift+E, or whatever the Mac equivalent is)
• Add a high pass filter to this layer by going through Filter > Other > High Pass
• Adjust the radius to your liking, perhaps 5.0 pixels is a good starting point.
• Change the blending mode of this layer to Overlay and reduce the opacity, again, to your liking. Around 50% might be a good starting point.

If you want to spend another minute, use a layer mask to confine the effect to key areas of your picture (e.g. eyes).


Here's a quick before (left) and after (right)of an eye using that method.


[img]/resized-image.ashx/__size/550x0/__key/CommunityServer-Discussions-Components-Files/13/5140.Before_5F00_after.jpg[/img]


Another thing to remember when sharpening is just because you can make something sharper, doesn't mean you always should.

Thanks William and W349, these sort of tips are great for us beginners.

Thanks William et.al. This is the kind of stuff I am looking for in the upcomming "Tips from Forum Members" ---please check out the post "call to all forum members"


Thanks again,


Bob