Simple and Effective Photographic Results for Beginners

Simple and Effective Photographic Results for Beginners

1. Overlay

The overlay is the simplest and the easiest way to enhance almost all kinds of photographs.

• Steps:
  • Duplicate the Layer
  • Gaussian Blur the duplicated layer (avg. range from 3 to 5)
  • Set the Layer Blending Mode to Overlay
    
  • Adjust Layer Opacity get cool results. (below images are set to 60%)

You can experiment with other Layer Blending Modes too.

. Gradient Map ( Black and White )

• Steps
  • Just one step - Apply the Gradient Map by choosing Image > Adjustments > Gradient Map. In the samples below - Left is the actual B&W image and Right is the enhanced image

The gradient map doesn’t restrict you only to Black & White. You could also experiment with various other sets of Gradients

3. Levels (Ctrl + L)

Levels are a usual tool but for those who are not aware… below are the results you can get trough Levels. ( Image(menu) > Adjustments > Levels)

Photoshop Actions

There are lot of Photoshop actions you will find for free but we thought we could share our set too… While working on this article we were working on a few actions to enhance photography. They are not too advanced (just created them on trial basis) but we thought its worth sharing here. Below is the download:
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And below is how you load the actions into Photoshop (sample in CS3). These were built on Photoshop CS3 and works perfect. Not sure if it works on the other versions.



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For those who are not even aware of Photoshop, we would say Picasa is the best tool for you. Picasa (product of Google) is one of the simplest Photo Editing and Management desktop app. Below are few screen shots of Picasa:


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[Only Registered and Activated Users Can See Links. Click Here To Register...]
With these simple features any photographer will fall in love with Picasa