Quick Photo Fixes in Photoshop

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Reported by Nicole Seitler

Would you love to give your photographs a more professional touch? You are going to be surprised at just how easy it is to do that! There are several small tweaks you can do to make a photo improve instantly. Let me share a few of them with you.

Probably my favorite fix for snapshots is the Levels Adjustment Feature in Photoshop. Let me show you an example of what it can do.

First, let's say that you have a snapshot that looks like this:

Could be a great snapshot, but it's a little dark, isn't it? But by just playing around a little with the Levels, my photo is transformed into this:

Here's how it's done in Photoshop:

There are two ways to get to the Levels toolbox. The first way is by selecting Image > Adjustments > Levels. The second is a simple keyboard shortcut: CTRL + L. When the little Levels menu pops up, you will see a graphical representation of all the light and dark areas of your photo. Here's what it looked like for my photo:

On the bottom of this graph, you will see that there are three sliders. If you were to move the white slider over from the edge to a spot near the base of the graph shown in the window (like I've already done here), your photo will suddenly lighten! That's because you are adjusting intensity of the levels of shadows and highlights in your picture.

Play around a little with the different sliders and see what happens to your photo. The more you play around, the more you will understand how this powerful tool works!

Photoshop is probably the best tool for tweaking photos, but it's not the only program you can use (which is good, because it's a little pricey!). Adobe has also created Photoshop Elements, a program that's geared towards hobbyists and reasonably priced, too. There is also a great program called PaintShop Pro which will do a lot of the things that Photoshop does for a fraction of the price. And if new software s just not in your budget at all, there is a wonderful free program called Paint.net which can also make adjustments like these to your photos.

I have a few other favorite tweaks I like to use, too. Open a photo and trying playing around with the "Brightness and Contrast." Or, if your photo is looking a little dull, select "Hue, Saturation and Brightness" and up the Saturation a little bit (+10 or so). Photoshop also has a few "Photo Filters" that will place a slight colored cast over your photos. You can transform a harsh photo taken with a flash into a much warmer snapshot by selecting a warm colored filter to lay over top of it. These options and many more can all be found under the Image > Adjustments menu.

Another really easy way to improve your photographs is with the use of something called an "action." An action is a programed series of steps that someone has taken the time to create for you so that all you have to do is click a little button to transform your photos. Sounds delightful, no?

I'll show you an example using a beautiful Black & White action from the Photo Pro Series from Microferk Designs. First, here is this cute picture of my kids in color:

And here it is after running the "Industrial" colored Tritone action on the photo:

Isn't that lovely? And so easy! I found all the actions in the Photo Pro Series to be of great quality. Each set includes eight different settings, each with different color wash. I tested the Duotone, Tritone and Quadtone actions on a few different photos. I found that each collection would give the original photo a different intensity. The Duotones generally had a softer black and white look, where as the Quadtones created a higher degree of contrast between the highlights and shadows of my photo. Picking which set made for the best picture was a matter of taste, however, because no matter which collection I used, my photo looked fantastic! If you twisted my arm, I definitely recommend the Tritone collection to you. It's the one I keep returning to for layouts like this:

Another look I'm very fond of is one that's often called "Acidic." That's when you take a photo like this:

And run an action on it, like Acidic Addictions by Amy Eileen Head. At the click of a button, your photo will turn from something that's "everyday" and ordinary to something that's captivating:

Now, I do have to say that this action was a bit tricky for me to figure out at first. One good thing about it is that Amy has programed the script to stop and open up the Curves adjustment menu so that you can customize the amount of "tweaking" you want do to your original photo. But I am far from an expert in Curves adjustments (it just goes right over my head!), so I found I had to really pick the right photo to get the action to work the way I wanted it to (not too dark, not too green). I found that it worked best with high contrast photos with light colored backgrounds that were also taken with a flash.

It could be that I'm just picky because I've already found my all-time favorite action. And best of all, I found it for free! It's called Lomo and it's available from Addicted to Design (A2D). It will transform a boring, overexposed photo into something remarkable. For example, here's a snapshot of my kids at the window (waiting for spring), which I think is a little bland:

But look at what it becomes when I use the Lomo action:

Wowie! Now I want to scrap it! Not only does this action make the colors "pop," it also adds a nice touch of vignetting (a darking around the edges of the photo).

A2D also carries several other beautiful actions, as well. One of my new favorites is 300, which reproduces the haunting sepia look of the movie of the same name. There are three different color choices in this set: natural, sepia and a pretty soft blue. There is also a "Sky Enhancer" effect that helps add a touch of dramatic flair to your snapshots by adding a sort of sideways vignetting to the sky.

Another favorite action of mine from A2D is the Orton Effect. It adds a glow and a "pop" to photos that need just a little help. Take this snapshot, for example. I took it in the hopes that I could scrap this photo for a page containing some of the things I love about our home. But it looks so flat and boring...

Now look at how much better this looks after I've run the Orton Effect action on it (at the 2 px radius setting):

And that was how it turned out without any additional tweaking. So much better! I tried the 25 px radius setting on the original photo and now look at it:

Isn't that neat? So dreamy! All I did was click a button! If that doesn't convince you that actions are fun and easy to use, nothing will!

Well, I hope you have enjoyed this little taste of the varied things you can easily do to transform your photos into professional looking masterpieces. Have fun trying out your own little experiments in Photoshop!