Posts Tagged ‘Post Processing’ (Page 2)

With digital photography it is quite easy for us to manipulate our photos using image editing software. Some of us make some adjustments to nearly all our photos. This is often known as post processing - processing applied to the photo after it was captured.

But just how much post processing is it 'acceptable' to apply? The answer to this question lies partly in what you yourself are comfortable with, but also what the image is to be used for.

A Little of This a Little of That Processing by fauxto_digit on flickr (licensed CC-BY-ND)

In this post we'll look at how to apply a realistic looking texture to a person's face using a displacement map in Adobe Photoshop.

The end result we will be working towards in this tutorial

The process is exactly the same in the full version of Photoshop and Photoshop Elements, they both feature the displace filter and work in the same way. GIMP also features the displace filter, as does Paint Shop Pro. This tutorial focuses on Photoshop, but the process is similar in GIMP and PSP.

A selective color photo is one where part of the image is in color, while the rest of the image is black & white (or heavily desaturated). Selective color photos work very well to draw the viewer's attention to the part of the image that is in color.

Highway Insomnia by Nrbelex on flickr (licensed CC-BY-SA)

Post processing can be used to improve your portrait photos, and really give them that professional look. The following three techniques are relatively simple and easy to implement, but can make a big difference.

Learning how to use layer masks is very important for performing more advanced, localized edits on photos. Thankfully they are very simple to use once you understand how they work. Masks are available in most image editing software, including Photoshop Elements, Photoshop, PaintShop Pro, and GIMP.

Layer masks can be used for creative composites of photos, blending photos together for exposure, blending images for panoramas, and applying effects selectively. For the purpose of this tutorial we'll look at using masks to blend exposure bracketed photos in a landscape photography context.