By Aaron Proia and Matthew
Copenhaver
 For
this presentation, we will be walking
you through two processes that are
commonly used in Photoshop.
 These
are: fixing exposure of photos
through levels and curves, and creating
tilt shift photography with a properly lit
photograph.
You want to work with an image that is
not overly bright or dark, so the first
thing a photographer does when
importing images is to go straight to the
Image tab, and then to Adjustments.
These are the options we will be looking at:
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Brightness/Contrast
Levels
Curves
Exposure
Shadows/Highlights
Professionals use levels and curves most
often to work their image into what they
want. This is because they allow the artist
to do multiple things at once, instead of
one at a time. For this reason let’s take a
look at levels and then at curves.
curves
levels
When working with levels, you need to be
able to understand what the histogram is
telling you. You can open up the histogram
window with Window > Histogram.
This is the histogram
To begin to change the black and white
points in the image, you need to create a
new layer.
Then you can start to adjust the exposure
with the black and white arrows in the
slider under the histogram.
If you move the black slider to the right, more
contrast is introduced to the image, and if you
move the white slider to the left, you can
change where white begins in the image.
The middle (gray) slider lets you change the
intensity of the midtones. This allows you to
make the photo “brighter” or “darker” without
changing the highlights or shadows.
You can even save your levels adjustments for
later, so you can edit all the photos in the same
shoot so that they are at the same exposure.
Average image
Over-exposed image
Pay attention to the histogram here.
The further right the “mountains”
appear, the brighter your image is.
The further left, the darker your
image is. You want to even these
out.
Under-exposed image
The curves panel might look very
complicated at first, but after you figure it
out, you might be working with it every
single time you open Photoshop from here
on.
Where Levels let you control 3 points
(highlights, midtones and shadows) Curves
gives you much greater control over your
image and allows for more subtle work.
Again, like with levels, create a new adjustment layer.
There will be black and white points on this new
display. The white point is in the upper right corner,
and the black point is in the bottom left corner.
highlights
midtones
shadows
Bend this
line to
make the
overall
image
darker or
lighter
Also, you can click the line and create multiple new
points, and change those to however you see fit.
You can use the arrow keys (on your keyboard) for
smaller changes.
Next, you can check out the presets in curves.
Click this bar to view
different presets and
see what your image
could look like with
different curves options
What is tilt-shift photography?
“Tilt-shift photography” refers to the use of camera movements on small- and
medium-format cameras, and sometimes specifically refers to the use of
tilt for selective focus, often for simulating a miniature scene. Sometimes
the term is used when the shallow depth of field is simulated with digital
post-processing; the name may derive from the tilt-shift lens normally
required when the effect is produced optically.” (via wikipedia)
Some examples:
A tilt shift lens
Start by downloading a picture and opening it
in Photoshop. Remember to adjust the
levels or curves appropriately if you feel the
image is too dark or light.
Next, create a copy of the background layer.
(Command+J on a mac) Your panel should
now look like this:
Make sure that you have the Layer 1 selected
(you can rename it if you want) go up to
the Filter menu, then Blur and Tilt-Shift.
This will open a new panel with the controls
for the Tilt-Shift. Your options are on the
panel to the right.
Don’t select
these
This lets you adjust
the amount of blur
that is present in
your photo
So now you can get into editing the filter itself. You
can see something that looks like this in the middle
of your screen:
This also lets you change the amount of blur by turning the dial one
direction or the other. Click the wheel and drag it. This is all
based on personal choice. There is no right or wrong amount of
blur.
The image area behind the solid lines will
always be in sharp focus. The image area
around the dashed line will start to become
blurred.
You can move the pin (that dial in the middle
of the screen) anywhere around the image,
and also resize the area. So, you can make
less of the image blurred, or make more of
it blurred. You can do this by clicking and
dragging the small dot on the solid lines. (if
you hold shift as you drag, it will keep you
from rotating the protected area)
You can also resize the transition area (the dashed lines).
This makes the blurred area stronger between the
dashed and solid lines. If you separate them, it makes
the blur more gradual.
If you go into the distortion slider, you can make a
“zoom” effect. Make sure to select symmetric
distortion.
It will look like this:
If you want to see what your image looks
like without all the lines, you can press
P on your keyboard to turn preview
on/off or go to the top of the blur
gallery and check the preview box.
When you’re happy with your image, hit
Return/Enter and exit the blur gallery.
Now you should have your very own tilt-shift image
and some inspiration to try new Photoshop projects
in the future!
Maybe something like this…?