Today, I was thinking about sharing simple Photoshop edits to make your blog images pop. Ideally, you can get a perfect shot with a little practice and with lots of natural lights. Sometimes that works, but in most cases, photos ended up in dull, gloomy colors. Editing photos can make such a huge difference. And remember there are multiple ways to edit a photo. But what I have shown you is what I do to quickly edit my photos.
BASIC EDITS
STEP ONE: ADJUST BRIGHTNESS AND CONTRAST
Go to the Adjustment panel and click Brightness/Contrast button, highlighted in below image. If not go to Image ->> Adjustments ->>Brightness/Contrast. Adjust until you are happy with the result.
STEP TWO: ADJUST CURVES
Go to the Adjustment panel and click Curves button, highlighted in below image. If not go to Image ->> Adjustments ->>Curves. Make a point on the top and drag it upward until you are happy with the result. Make a second point on the bottom and drag it down until you are happy with the result. You can see in the below image how I add two points and drag them in order to adjust the image.
STEP THREE: ADJUST VIBRANCE AND SATURATION
Go to the Adjustment panel and click Vibrance button, highlighted in below image. If not go to Image ->> Adjustments ->>Vibrance. Adjust the vibrance and saturation until you are happy with the result.
STEP FOUR: ADJUST HUE AND SATURATION
Go to the Adjustment panel and click Hue/Saturation button, highlighted in below image. or go to Image ->> Adjustments ->>Hue/Saturation. Adjust the saturation until you are happy with the result.
Those simple edits are enough to make a huge difference in your image. Look at below images how the above simple edits transform the dull image to vibrant and colorful one.
BEFORE | AFTER | |
EDIT TWO – ADD SOFT CREAMY LAYER.
If you have more time, we can add a creamy overlay to make it even softer whiter image. Go to the Layers panel and click Channels tab, highlighted in below image. Then click the circle at the bottom, also highlighted in the below image.
Then go to the Layers tab again. From the previous post, you know how to add adjustment layer now. right-click the ‘create new fill or adjustment layer’ button. From the drop-down list select the solid color. It will create a new solid color adjustment layer.
select a creamy white color and click ok. For example #fdf2e4.
Now you will get a whiter creamier image. To remove all washed out feeling select the background layer and then hit cmd + J. This will create a duplicate layer on top. Select the newly created duplicate layer and change the blending mode to ‘Soft Light’ as shown in the below image.
You can see how the image changes from adding a soft creamy layer.
BEFORE | AFTER | |
In the below image I have added both basic edits and creamier effect. It gives unnecessary creamy feels to the image.
So what you have to do is select the adjustment layer that we have created to add creamy effect, and reduce the opacity down as shown in the image below. It all depends on your image. You may not want to reduce the opacity or may have to reduce the opacity way more down.
In the below image you can see adding both basic edits and creamier effect change the original image.
BEFORE | AFTER | |
And that’s how I do my edits in Photoshop. Hope this has been helpful to you. What is your editing procedure to edit your blog images?
More Photoshop tutorials for you
Photoshop for bloggers – Basic Photoshop for beginners
Working with Photoshop layers as a blogger
Photoshop Clipping mask tutorial