Photoshop Tip 1: Brightening Up Shadows

Posted on March 7, 2012

We have decided to offer some photoshop tips for those clients of ours who are new to photography. This series will include things like sharpening, bulk saving for web, brightening shadows, using actions, etc. Today I will be explaining how to brighten shadows. You can do this with the shadow/highlight feature built into Photoshop, however sometimes it comes out less than desirable and blows out the highlights. The method I’ll be highlighting today is the ‘Load channel as selection’ way.

 

Step 1: Open up the backlit or shadowed image in Photoshop. Make sure the Channels tab is open. Click On the Channels tab.

 

Step 2: Click on the ‘Load channel as selection’ button in the bottom left of the channels tab. This will select all the bright areas of the image

Step 3: Inverse the selection by going to Selection->Inverse OR using CTRL+SHIFT+I (APPLE+SHIFT+I for Mac)
Step 4. Make a copy of the image layer to be on the safe side
Step 5:  Open up the Curves Tool by going to Image->Adjustment->Curves OR using CTRL+M (APPLE+M for Mac)

Step 6: Adjust the curve line up to lighten the shadowed areas. The curve will affect light areas as well, but this method does create a more natural brightening.

 

BEFORE ADJUSTING SHADOWS/HIGHLIGHTS

AFTER ADJUSTING SHADOW/HIGHLIGHTS

QUICK TIP: Sometimes adjusting the shadows/highlights will affect color balance. To correct go to image->adjustments->color balance OR CTRL+B (APPLE+B for Mac)

AFTER ADJUST COLOR BALANCE

Posted in photoshop tips | 1 Comment



 

 
One Response to “Photoshop Tip 1: Brightening Up Shadows”
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  1. Matt

    Nice works, guys. Tips like these are always a good reminder. I hope that this becomes a recurring thing you do.

    5:42 pm on 3/7/12
 

Photo Project #1

Posted on March 1, 2012

At WPPI this year, it came to my attention that I have not really picked up my camera, unless going on a trip, in about 4 years. Considering this is what I went to school for it was a rather disappointing realization. All the photographers we spoke to there were so excited about the new technology in cameras and what they do I got a little jealous. ;-)

Because of this Jen and I have decided to do one project per week each. I will do photography projects and Jen, who is a talented graphic designer and photographer, will show Photoshop tricks and tips she uses. You can follow along or if you do any of the projects we do show us! We would love to post what you all are doing too.

 

Photo Project #1 – An Everyday Object Study

I used the Photo Idea Index for the inspiration of this project. They challenged the reader to take over 50 images of 1 everyday object, using different angles and focuses for each image. I figured this was as good a place as any to start as I often take awhile to warm up, especially, being so out of practice.  Below is what I came out with.

I ended up starting the project on Tuesday and finished it Thursday. I took a few pictures each day leaving my camera and the sewing scissors on the table so that whenever I walked by it I took a few. The first thing I found was that my automatic settings on the camera were not helpful. ;-) I ended up fiddling with the f-stops and shutter speeds manually to get the exposures I was looking for. I also turned off my automatic focus and practiced my manual focus skills. Really my favorite images of this set are the ones where I played with the focus.

My favorites :-)

I will be doing another project next week. No idea what it will be yet but I will think of something. ;-)

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CanvasPop.com

Posted on January 31, 2012

Probably one of my favorite things I did last year was blowing up an image I took in Venice and printing it on canvas. When I say blow up, I mean BLOW UP. It is a 36 X 54 and it is right next to my bed so when I wake up in the morning it is the first thing I see.

One of my mentors in school used to always say “do not be afraid to make it BIG, you never know how it will change your photograph.” I love the size but I also really like the look of the texture of the canvas with photography. Not having to frame it was awesome too!

This was the image I used and, yes, there are people in it I do not know. Trying to find an empty cafe in Venice is impossible and I find I like the people there because it is more of a snapshot in time. Takes me right back to standing on that bridge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I used canvaspop.com for my print and love, love, loved them! I used my iPhone and natural light for the image on the right so you cannot tell but the color is almost dead on. They are a bit pricey but if you sign up for emails they are not stingy with their sales. For Valentine’s Day I received a 25% off coupon and plan to put it to good use. ;-)

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Happy New Year!!!

Posted on January 5, 2012

I cannot believe December is over! Between our Christmas party for the PSitez team and all the holiday madness it has been quite awhile since my last post. I have a few important things to go over with you all in the New Year.

#1 If any of you heard about the GoDaddy boycott, it is something we are participating in. We have moved 14 domains to NameCheap.com and will no longer be using them or referring our clients to them. Their business practices have spurred our involvement in the boycott and if you would like to also transfer your domain it is something we can help you with.

If you were not aware of the boycott, here are a few resources for you that spurred our involvement:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidcoursey/2011/12/28/idiot-godaddy-deserves-boycott/

http://community.namecheap.com/blog/2011/12/26/godaddy-transfer-update/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2012/01/05/why-the-esa-is-wrong-to-support-sopa/

We encourage all of you to do your own research on this SOPA bill as we know copyright is a big issue in the photography industry also. Another alternative bill to look into would be the OPEN Act.

GoDaddy’s original support of the bill is not the only reason we are pulling as much of our business as we can from them but it is a factor. Mainly we want to be involved with businesses with the same business ethics we put into our own company. Not to mention, I LOVE elephants! (have to read the first recommended article to understand that one) ;-)

#2 We have an abnormal amount of people suspended for nonpayment. We are assuming it was because of the holiday and we did try to postpone suspending as many as we could over the holidays. If you have been suspended please email us at billing@portfoliositez.com and we will help you get your site back online. Please be aware, this is done after 3 overdue notices are sent out over 10 days. Suspensions of sites are a last resort to get the client’s attention to the billing issue that has arisen. As soon as payment is made the site comes back up and email is updated.

If this is embarrassing we do apologize but we have no other recourse in these cases. We cannot keep services active that have not been paid for. Clients with this issue may want to consider changing to the discounted Yearly payments as we have far less issues with those than we do with Monthly payments.  Also, please be aware, no matter how frustrated or angry you are at the suspension we cannot tolerate profanity. If one of our employees used the profanity we have seen in emails to us they would be fired IMMEDIATELY. When a client does this it is our policy to ban them from our services and their site with us will be terminated.

Please be aware because we are a small “family-run” company all you need to do is ask us for an extension, if you are having trouble making your payment on time. We often give the extension because we would much rather avoid having to suspend your site. We also offer holds to our clients for just $2/month if you have run into financial trouble. Most of the time though these overdue payments come from issues with PayPal. Because of this we do now also offer credit card payments. The credit card option gives us more control over when and how you are charged which also helps us to avoid suspending sites.

#3 Less serious more exciting news: WPPI is coming!! ;-) We are so excited to be participating in the trade show again and we are busy making plans. We always have so much fun meeting our clients and cannot wait for this year. Make sure to post on our Facebook giveaway for a chance to win a free full pass to the convention. It includes access to all the classes as well as the trade show and that giveaway ends later today.

Everyone have a happy and prosperous New Year! :-)

 

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Flexcart Version 2.0

Posted on November 28, 2011

We have added new features to the Flexcart! If you already have a Flexcart all you will need to do is update, there is NO charge for upgrades. If you are considering purchasing, all new orders will be set up with these new features included.

Here is a list of the biggest changes:

  • Image Stats
  • Non-Image Products
  • FTP Upload Capabilities
  • Favorites and Compare Images icons can be turned off (set at client level)
  • DPI setting for Digital Downloads
  • Coupon Limitations Settings
  • Package Descriptions
  • Packages can have an Auto Coupon (when used with coupon limitations, this allows the ability to discount specific other items when a package is ordered)
  • After order has been placed, “change payment method” and “pay now” buttons are available on the “view order page” that clients can access at any time. Availability of “change payment method” is set in general settings of cart admin.

We are continuing our improvements of the cart and plan to have more and more features for you all. If you have any suggestions for features please let us know.

If you have not checked out the Flexcart before you can see our sample here: http://www.portfoliositez.com/flexcart. The password to enter the cart is “test”. Be sure to take advantage of our Thanksgiving sale to receive $10 off or $100 off depending on which service you want. That sale ends today so order soon!

CONTEST: Don has been working very hard to get this release out to you all. Post how awesome Don is on our Facebook wall and we will select a random person from those posts to win a free Flexcart.

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