Auto Contrast:

To use the auto contrast simply go to Image>Adjustments>Auto Contrast. Like the title says, this
quick tool will automatically fix the contrast in your image.
Auto Levels:
Levels are the amount of specific colors in your image. To apply the auto levels, go to
Image>Adjustments>Auto Levels.
Auto Color:
This one is my personal favorite because it never fails to fully correct all colors in your image.
Again, go to Image>Adjustments>Auto Color.
The next line of correctors is the Blur/Sharpen corrections. Sometimes your images can be too
blurry or too sharp and a simple tweak will fix the problem.
Gaussian Blur:
When your image is too sharp, all you need to do is blur your image slightly. This will make
your picture much more eye-appealing in the end. To apply the Gaussian Blur, go to
Filter>Blur>Gaussian blur. This tool is a little more complex because you'll have to use your best
judgment. When you click the last part, a menu will pop up with a display menu and a slider.
Now you need to choose the radius of pixels you want to blur. Start with 0.5, and work your way
up if you need to.
Unsharp Mask:
The Unsharp Mask, despite its name, does the opposite of the Gaussian Blur. This will sharpen
images that are too blurry. This is slightly more complex than the Gaussian Blur, but it's still
easy. To apply the Unsharp Mask, go to Filter>Sharpen>Unsharp Mask. Again a window menu
will pop up letting you choose different settings. I suggest started with Amount: 75%, Radius:
0.5, Threshold: 0. Go up if your image needs more sharpening.
Tip No. 1- Blur and Overlay
This technique will enhance the color of the image you have. The lighter tones will look lighter
and the darker tones will appear even darker and soft. Therefore, with this type of technique, the
contrast of the colors is greatly improved and the after effect looks a lot better than the original
photo.
First thing you need to do is to duplicate your photo layer by dragging it to the new layer icon or
press Ctrl+J. While on this, choose the Gaussian blur by clicking on filter then choose Blur and
look for the Gaussian Blur choice. Start blurring the photo until you are satisfied with it. It
should retain the shapes of the details in the photo but must be blur enough that you can
only see a blur image and the details are not so distinct.
Then, go to the layers palette and look for the blending mode and change it to Overlay. As you
can see the photo looks more enhanced and vibrant. It feels like its going to pop out of your
screen because of the beautiful color contrast.
Tip No. 2- Background Filter
This technique will show the subject in the photo, the one you want to highlight, and the
background will be filtered to your liking. Start by duplicating the layer of the photo youll edit
then use the lasso tool and select your image subject then type Ctrl+Alt+D to feather your
selection. Choose a large enough feather size then go to layer, choose new then choose the layer
via copy. In your new layer you should have just your subject with fading on its edges. Then
choose layer copy to be under your subject layer then try to filter out this layer. You can choose
different types of filters such as brush strokes for this.
Tip No. 3- Photo Blurring for Softness
Start again with duplicating your layer and then apply the Gaussian Blur once again. Make the
photo blurry but try not to overdo it then set the layer opacity to 50% or whatever percentage
opacity you think would be best. Then overlay. The photo result will be a lot softer.
Tip No. 4- Have Fun with Neon Glow
The neon glow tool will actually give more drama to your photo if you know how to use it. Start
once again with duplicating your photo layer then choose the neon glow tool from the filter tab
and choose artistic then neon glow. Choose the color for your neon glow that would be
complementary to the colors in your photo. Think of what will create a beautiful accent to the
photo for your neon glow. Choose the size of your neon glow and set the glow brightness. It may
not be perfect the first time but just try to tweak it until you find the right size and brightness.
Then change the photos blending mode once again to overlay and choose the type of light you
want. The effect would look amazing.
Tip No. 5- Turn Boring Photos into Paintings
There are photographs that are just badly taken and no matter how you try to artistically improve
it, theyre just plain lousy. Turn those photos into paintings and youll most likely have the best
result. Even bad lighted photos look great when you use the art filter with paint effects.
Tip No. 6- Vector Format
This is most of a professional photo editing technique. Learn about how you could vectorize the
image and youll be able to save those photos with low pixels.
Tip No. 7- Turn the Image into Monochrome
Black and white really adds drama to the photo. Add a bit of extra colors into the picture and
youll have a wonderful monochromatic picture like a pro. The most preferred colors to add to
black and white are green and blue but you can play around with different colors. Just make
sure the color blends in to the emotions you want the photo to depict.
Tip No. 8- Image Noise Addition
Image noise will actually add more life to a photo. If the scene looks boring or lifeless then this
trick will give justice to the photograph. Go to the noise filter and play around with the amount
of grains you want to add to your photo.
Tip No. 9- Give it a Lomo Effect
This is another difficult process but once you learn how to give the Lomo effect you surely
would want to keep on using it. It requires several steps so if you can find a script online for this,
the better. The Lomography is the type of photography that we used to have before the digital
photographs existed. The colors were different with Lomo and you can still achieve that effect by
converting digital photographs to have the Lomo effect.
In making the Lomo effect you need to create the vignette look that is well known with Lomos.
You can do this in Photoshop by creating a circle lasso with the feather set at about 80 px before
you create the freehand circle. Then you need to invert it by pressing shift+ctrl+i. Then add the
layer for Levels that will give the layer a masked-out look on top of the layer of the original
photo.
Now you need to recreate the effect called as cross-processing by flattening the image by
clicking menu then layers then merge layers. Add a layer that is curved then another layer that
is on top of the 2 previous layers and here you can set it to be filled with black paint. Then you
should go to the blending mode with the hue and reduce it to 40% opacity. After this you need to
sharpen the photo and youll end up with an image that has the Lomo effect.
Tip No. 10- Image Sharpening
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It is a great idea to sharpen the images especially if you plan on converting it to a different size.
By sharpening the image you will be getting a more vivid looking photograph. This is a very
easy thing to do and its quite straight to the point. Just go to the mask filter and go for the sharp
filter. You can even click the unsharp mask filter so you can get a preview of how sharp your
photo is so you can make the adjustments until you are very happy with the result of your
photograph.
Tip No. 11- Remove Unwanted Elements from the Photo
Have you ever had a wonderful photo taken yet somethings just ruining it? Its possible that you
have taken a wonderful photo of an infrastructure but someone walked by and ruined it. If thats
the case then theres a way to get rid of that unwanted element in your photograph. Just go to the
clone stamp tool and use it to get rid of that unwanted element. It might be a bit tricky and not all
unwanted elements can be removed but its worth a shot to save that image.
What you need to do is to use the patch tool. Select the unwanted element and click inside the
line and drag it with the mouse. The patch tool is then going to blend in through the area you
selected. The clone stamp tool is a tool you can use if you want to recreate certain patterns so it
wont be obvious that you removed an unwanted element from the photo.
Tip No. 12- Color Effects
Its very easy to give your image some color effects. This is the type of trick used for many
music albums and you too can create your own image with wonderful color effects. Just open the
image you want to edit with Photoshop then go down the layers palette and look for the option
for Hue/Saturation and click on that. Set the Edit at Master then set hue at 0 and saturation at -70
with lightness at 0. The result would look a bit like black and white because of the saturation of -
70.
Now you need to create a new layer and in this layer you need to set it at the mode for soft light
blend then choose a hard brush of 48px and use it to paint around your photo with colors that you
want to use. Now you need to adjust the Gaussian Blur to 90 pixels. You now have a wonderful
edited image and you can add captions or whatever else you want to add. You can set the color to
look like a rainbow, the choice is yours to make.
Tip No. 13- Creating a Panoramic Image
Sure there are cameras now that lets you shoot panoramic images to give a better view of the
place. If you happen to be enjoying a wonderful scenery and you really want to capture the view
but you dont have a camera that can take panoramic images then you can still get the same
effect with a bit of editing using Adobe Photoshop. Its not as easy but it will definitely be worth
it. Take a lot of photographs of the place on different angles but only from one spot so the size
would be the same. By stitching the photographs together you can achieve a wonderful
panoramic view.
Tip No. 14- High Dynamic Range
The high dynamic range effect is a wonderful effect that you can easily achieve when you use
Photoshop editing software. You need to take several photos with at least 3 exposures to create
the high dynamic range image. Make sure all photos look the same but only have different
exposures such as low light, high light, mid tones, etc. If you are taking a photo of an object or a
place, keep your camera steady and take shots when the exposures change. If youre in a studio,
you can achieve this by changing the lighting.
Once you have at least 3 images with different exposures you can combine them altogether layer
by layer and what youll get is a high dynamic range image. It will look like its taken by a
professional photographer.
Tip No. 15- Create Dynamic Lighting
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If you dont like your flat photo and want to change it to be more dynamic then this is the trick
you need to follow. Youd take pleasure at how wonderful the end result would look like. You
can mix two photos together. For example, if you have taken a photo of a background with a
wonderful cloudy sky and you want to incorporate that with another photo then this is how you
do it. Start with the lighting effects with the first photo which will be the main focus of your
image. Click on Filter then Render then choose the lighting effects. You can choose where you
want the light to be coming from, either from the top right or the top left, center or wherever you
wish.
Choose the Soft Spotlight as the style with the light type as spotlight. You can then choose the
intensity and focus, gloss, material, exposure and ambience that you want. Now, you need to
select parts of the photo that youll be hiding and use a pen tool to make the selection. If you
want to change the sunny sky with a beautiful cloudy sky then you can select the sky then while
its active you add a new layer mask.
Now its time to start duplicating the layer for the background. You dont want to use it as it is
but make sure you use the Gaussian blur and adjust it with a radius of 4 pixel or of a different
pixel depending on your taste then go to the blending mode and set it to overlay. Now you can
use this photo as a back layer then copy this layer with the Blending Mode set to a lighter color.
The end result is going to be dynamic. You can play around with this technique and create
other dynamic lighting styles