Some things can’t be done on the camera. Post processing is where a lot of stylistic, personal trait, or artistic elements of a photo can be enhanced. This post process is not a replacement of good camera work but is used to make camera work look even better. This post is about the 5 most important tools in Photoshop that can be used to edit a photo.
1. Hue, Saturation, and Vibrance
The Hue/Saturation command adjusts the colour, purity, and lightness of an entire image or of individual colour components in an image.
To get to the Hue/Saturation dialog box, you choose Image in the top panel then click Adjustments, then click Hue/Saturation. You can also click Command on the keyboard and click U at the same time for it to pop up automatically as a shortcut.
The first colour bar in the dialog box represents the colours in their order on the colour wheel and this is where you change the hue of the photo. The second colour bar in the dialog box represents a light saturated colour to a strong one and this is where you change the saturation of the photo.
2. Curves
The photoshop curves command is the most powerful tool for adjusting tones to brighten, darken, add contrast, and shift colours. The key concept with curves is that you can never add contrast in one tonal region without decreasing it in another.
To get to the curves dialog box, you go to Image in the top panel, you click on Adjustments, then click Curves. A shortcut for this is Command on the keyboard and click M at the same time.
There is a line from the left bottom corner of the box to the top right corner. Anything over this line affects the highlights and anything below affects the shadows.
3. Selective Colour
Selective colouring is a tool that allows you to cross blend your individual colour channels using sliders within Photoshop. The panel is broken into 9 different colour channels, each with their own colour channel adjustments.
By choosing the Colour you want to effect in your photo you change it by clicking in the tab that says “Colors” and expands. Once you’ve chosen the colour you want to effect, decide what in that colour you want to change by moving the slider left or right.
For the photo that is being worked on, the colour that is most prominent is the cyan or blue so if selective colour is used thats the colour that will be effected the most next to if another colour was chosen.
4. Filters
Filters are used to apply special art effects and to create unique transformations on your photos. There is a filter gallery where you can preview all the types of filters that are offered.
In this dialog box you can click on your options which are artistic, brush strokes, distort, sketch, stylize, and texture.
5. Healing Brush
The healing brush is used if there is something in your photo that you want to change or duplicate. This tool is in the left side panel and its symbol is in the shape of a bandaid.
You click this tool, then for whatever you want to fix you just click and drag your mouse on the area you want it to heal.
