(For reference only. What I am sharing here is not the ONLY way to edit your photos. Different photographer prefers different work flow)

Let’s face it, we have flaws. Let’s accept the fact that our skin is not perfect.

And let’s admit it, the photos you see on magazines, those models’ skin is NOT as smooth. Those photos are digitally enhanced and edited to make it more appealing to the public.

Again, there are always two school of thoughts.

1. “I don’t believe in post processing. What I get out of my camera is PERFECT! Screw post processing”
2. “Ohh… post processing is magical! I can’t live without Adobe Photoshop. It is embedded in my DNA”

Alright, this is an ongoing debate, just like the debate on “Which is better? Nikon or Canon?”.

For myself, I am a STRONG BELIEVER on getting it right on the camera. Once you have that, you have half the battle won. Post Processing is only the FINAL step to enhance the image, it is not a “MUST” step to CORRECT the image. In other words, off camera, the exposure, composition and concept must be correct. It means, post processing is for enhancement, NOT correction.

In this posting, I will share with you how to smoothen the skin. I don’t use any of my model BUT MYSELF!!! Ha ! Don’t be disappointed to see my ugly face but feel honoured bout that ! I always want my model to appear beautiful hence I’m not using their photos.

Software needed: Adobe Photoshop CS3

1. Open the image in Adobe Photoshop

2. Press Ctrl+J to duplicate a layer, then goto Fitler > Blur > Gaussian Blur.

3. Keep the “Radius” in the range of 10-25% depends on your subject’s skin condition. The higher the value, the “smoother” the skin will be. Click “OK after that.

4. Don’t panic if you’re entire image is blur now. You are in fact on the right track.

Now, at the Layers window on the right where you see all the layers, press “Alt” and click on the “Add Layer Mask” icon.

5. You’ll see the image resume back to its original state, which is fine.

Now, make sure that your foreground colour is WHITE.

Select the brush tool in the Tool menu, and use 15% is the opacity.

Then select an appropriate brush size and start using the brush to paint on your subject’s skin. MAKE SURE THAT IT IS EVENLY painted, else it will look patchy.

You may paint on the same area a few times depends on the skin condition. It is ok to slightly overdoing it at this stage (NOT TOO OVERLY, THOUGH).

6. When you are satisfied with the smooth skin, goto the layer window on the right and adjust the Opacity according to your preference.

I personally do not like human skin to be TOO SMOOTH and look like Porcelain. I prefer to have some texture on the skin. But some people love it to be porcelain smooth.

So, adjust the “Opacity” slider to achieve what you want.

7. When you are done, flatten the image.

I didn’t overdo in this tutorial coz I cannot look at myself if I have PERFECT smooth skin. But basically the fundamental steps have been illustrated above.

This is the before and after (click image to enlarge):

… Continued from my previous post Post Processing Tips: STEP-BY-STEP How to Produce HDR (Part 1) . If you haven’t read it, please read Part 1 first.

After you created the tone mapped HDR image following the steps in Part 1, you’ll need to “fine tune” the image in Adobe Photoshop.

(1) Open Adobe Photoshop, goto File>Script>Load Files into stack

Select three different exposures AND the tone mapped HDR image that you created in Part 1. This will load the 4 images into a “stack” in different layers. We need this to fine tune the final HDR image.

In this Part 2 tutorial, I use EV-2, Normal Exposure, EV+2 and the tone mapped HDR image that I created in Part 1.

Once you click “OK”, MAKE SURE that the tone mapped HDR is on top of the rest of the layers, follow by the normal exposure (EV+0), Over exposed (EV+2) and Under Exposed (EV-2). You can click and drag the layers in the Layer Pallete to get the sequence right. Just drag and drop it on top of each other.

(2) Now, goto the Layers Palette on your right, select the TOP layer (tone mapped image) and click on “Add Layer Mask” at the bottom.

Goto the TOOL PALLETE on your left, Select “Brush Tool”. MAKE SURE that the foreground colour is BLACK.

(3) Select a brush size that is suitable for your image and adjust tthe Opacity level to approx. 20% (located on top on the toolbar), and start painting on the “layer mask” on the tone mapped image.

Basically this step is to bring the details/exposure from the layer BELOW the one that you are working on. In this case, it is from the EV+0 layer. This is very subjective. you need to have your own judgement what’s work for you.

In this image, I painted mainly on the sky to bring back some details and also to eliminate the “halo” effect around the tree on left created in Photomatix.

Once you are done, goto Layer>Merge Down (Or shortcut press Control+E) to collapse the layer to the one below.

(4) Repeat Step 2 & 3. But this time, it is to bring out the highlights taken from the layer below (EV+2).

In this image, I use it for  the field on right and the tree on left.

(5) Again, repeat Step 2 & 3. But this time, it is to bring out the shadows taken from the layer below (EV-2).

In this image, I use it for  the bushes on bottom left.

When you are done,your final image should look like this:

CONGRATULATION!!! YOU HAVE JUST CREATED A HDR IMAGE!!!

You can further proceed to further finetune the image by adjusting the curve, contrast, brightness, colour etc. I will not go into that in this tutorial as the fundamental has been covered.

Practise, practise and practise. It you don’t get it right the first time, you will get it right eventually after some practices.

ENJOY!

(For reference only. What I am sharing here is not the ONLY way to edit your photos. Different photographer prefers different work flow)

Software needed:(1) Photomatix; (2) Adobe Photoshop CS3

I received quite a number of request asking me to share how to produce a HDR (High Dynamic Range) image. HDR imaging is a set of techniques that allows a greater dynamic range of luminances between light and dark areas of a scene than normal digital imaging techniques. The intention of HDRI is to accurately represent the wide range of intensity levels found in real scenes ranging from direct sunlight to shadows.

The technique is actually very simple. HDR is produced from a set of photographs taken with a range of exposures (under exposed > normal exposure > over exposed) to bring out the shadows and highlights of the photographs.

In this tutorial, I will use 5 exposures (-4 stops under, -2 stops under, normal, 2-stops over and 4-stops over) to create the HDR image. You can create it using less or more exposures. It is up to you.

This is the starting image in normal exposure.

Processing Workflow:

1. Open the different exposures in Photomatix.

2. Goto HDR > Generate. Make sure that all your exposures are loaded, then press OK.

3.  Make sure that you enter the correct exposure stops. Pls enter the value according to your exposures.

Example, if your exposures are -4,-2,0,+2,+4 stops, then the interval is 2 stops from one value to another, you should select “2″ in the “E.V. Spacing”. If they are -2,-1,0,+1,+2, then the value should be “1″.

Make sure that “Align Source Images” is checked before you click OK

4.  Now, your image should look weird and not appealing at all (like below). Don’t worry. We are not done yet.

5. Now, we are at the magical moment. Goto HDR > Tone Mapping.

6. Play around with the value in tone mapping. These values are VERY subjective, it depends on what effect do you wanna achieve. I will explain some of the functions and what it does. I will skip some of them (esp in the “Color” & “S/H” tab) as they are pretty self explanatory.

But please play around with the value to suit your own taste.

7. You had just produced your HDR image in Photomatix.

BUT THAT’S NOT THE END!

As you can see the result is not the best and there’s a halo effect on the edge between the shadow/highlights contrast. We still need to touch up in Adobe Photoshop to “fine tune” the image. STAY TUNED FOR PART 2

I was introduced to Loo and husband by Len when she was in her 9th month pregnancy (yeah, her tummy was HUGE!).

Lovely couple, husband and wife are sporting with great sense of humour.

We shot this in a park which I asked Loo to roll up her blouse and hold her tummy. then I asked the husband to hug her from behind by placing his hands supporting Loo’s.

Today, the baby is healthy and cute too. And am glad to see this new life esp knowing that I took a photo of him when he was inside her mother’s tummy.

(For reference only. What I am sharing here is not the ONLY way to edit your photos. Different photographer prefers different work flow)

Software needed: Adobe Photoshop CS3

Some portraits are nice with a soft vignette to draw attention to the subject in the center.

There are many causes for vignette. The common cause is what we called “optical vignette” which caused by the lens. Often, optical vignette is perceived as a “photographic defect” in many photographers’ eyes, but it is a subjective matter.

Alternatively,  we can create vignette in photoshop. I will show you how in this tutorial.

Processing Workflow:

1. Create Layer
2. Set foreground colour
3. Draw & set vignette area

This is the original image:

Step 1: Create Layer

Create a “Layer Via Copy”

Step 2: Set foreground colour

Make sure that the foreground colour is set to black (if you want white vignette, you can choose white. any colour, infact)

Press “Alt + Delete” to “paint” it with the foreground colour you selected. Don’t panic if you see your entire image is in BLACK (or in any colour you selected earlier).

Step 3: Draw & set vignette area

Goto the layer pallete on right, and click on the little “eye” on “Layer 1″ to make that particular layer invisible.

Now, goto the tool bar on left and select the “Rectangle Marquee  Tool”.

From right to left, now goto the top and enter 250px in the “Feather’ field, this will soften the edge.

Now draw around the inner corners of your image.

Again, go back to the little “eye” box on the layer pallete and click on it to bring back “the eye”.

Once you bring back the eye, you image will turn into black colour (or the colour you selected) again.

Press “DELETE” to form the vignette.

You have just created the vignette…. BUT it might be a bit too strong.

So goto the Layer Pallete again, and adjust the Opacity slider on Layer 1. For this exercise, I used 75%.

Final step, goto LAYER>FLATTEN IMAGE to merge the layers into one.

The final image will look like this:

Before & After:

(For reference only. What I am sharing here is not the ONLY way to edit your photos. Different photographer prefers different work flow)

As promised in my previous post processing tips titled “Get Rid of Those Red Worms!“, in 5 simple steps, I will share with you how to make your loved one happy when she asks for “Gimme sparkling eyes!”

Software needed: Adobe Photoshop CS3

Processing Workflow:

1. Create Layer
2. Magnetic Lasso Tool for selection
3. Adjust Curve
4. Dodge the bright area
5. Burn the dark area

I will use back the same image I did in “Get Rid of Those Red Worms!“.

Step 1: Create Layer

Create a “Layer Via Copy”

Step 2: Magnetic Lasso Tool for selection

2a – Explore the Tool Panel on left and select “Magnetic Lasso Tool”

2b – Make sure that the “Anti alias” is checked and enter a value in the “Feather” to soften the edge transition. For this image, I entered 5 px (it depends on the size of your image, pls play around with the value).

2c – Use the Magnetic Lasso Tool to draw on the edge surrounding the dark area of the eyes. You may press “BACKSPACE” if the tool accidentally selects an area which you do not want it to be selected.

Once you are done on one eye, in order to select the other eye, you need to press the SHIFT key WHILE you use the Magnetic Lasso Tool to draw on the edge.