We thought that this might be an interesting topic, so we’ve taken a few minutes to put some thoughts together about photo editing. When taking photos, we always want to try and get nice clear, sharp, vibrant photos right out of the camera. That doesn’t always work out, does it?
Take this example:
This photo isn’t bad, but it isn’t fantastic either. It was shot on an overcast day right outside a large barn door. We know that this photo can be better, but the question is how. We started up Photoshop and started playing with some things. We made sure the color balance was correct and then used some Photoshop actions (provided by EZ Actions) and came up with a couple of different versions.
Edited version #1:
This is a nice version to be sure. This photo was modified from the original by using a Photoshop action named "ContraPop". The action really helped brighten the photo and put some “pop” on the colors. This really helped bring the horse out into the photo (he was kind of hidden in shadows in the original photo). We also used the healing brush hide some blemishes and give a more youthful appearance to the young lady. If you look closely, you might also notice that the eyes are a little brighter and more flattering.
Edited version #2:
At this point, we really liked what we had but thought it would be nice to see how this would look as a black & white photo. We chose a Photoshop b&w conversion action name “Saddle” (which seemed appropriate) and this was the result. We finished off the editing by adding a simple grunge border and we were done.
Wrap-up
In total, we spent about 10 minutes in Photoshop doing all of the modifications. If you take a few minutes to make a few adjustments to your photos, we’re sure you can get excellent results. We would like to thank EZ Actions for the use of their custom built photo actions. If you use Photoshop or Photoshop Elements, be sure to check out their photo actions, borders, and templates.
To see a larger version of the photos, click on them. You can get more information on EZ Actions by visiting their site at www.ezactions.com.
Thanks for stopping by,
The NickerTown Staff