4 Easy Photoshop Techniques to Make Your Pictures Pop!
This tutorial with photoshop techniques for making your images ‘pop’ has been submitted by Elise Hennen from 28 Studios. Read more about Elise below.
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In this tutorial I will be demonstrating some quick, easy methods for adding drama and/or interest to your shots. As always, talk to me in the Post Processing Section of the Forums with any questions or comments. As far as I know, these methods should work for both Photoshop and Photoshop Elements.
#1: blur/overlay
Duplicate your picture layer by dragging the layer to the ‘new’ icon in the layers palette (ctrl+j).
Apply a gaussian blur (Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur…). Blur it enough that the detail disappears but the shapes mostly keep their form.
In the layers palette, change the blending mode from ‘Normal’ to ‘Overlay.’
If you look at the before and after, you can see that this method makes the light tones lighter and the dark tones darker while softening it a touch. Basically, it softly boosts the contrast. If you want a more dramatic effect, try changing the blending mode to ‘Vivid Light’ instead of ‘Overlay.’
Try it on all kinds of shots: portraits, nature shots, you name it. I use this method ALL the time. It works so well with everything!
#2: filter the background
This one can be fun… With a picture open, duplicate the layer (as always). Use your lasso tool to roughly select the subject of your image.
Feather the selection by going to Select > Feather (ctrl+alt+d). We want a pretty large feather, so what you input depends on your picture. Try 50 pixels. Go to Layer > New > Layer via copy. You should end up with just your subject on a new layer with a nice feather to it (fades at the edges).
Select the layer copy below your subject layer. Start trying out filters. I used Filter > Brush Strokes > Dark Strokes for this example. Most of the Brush Stroke filters work well with this effect. Using blurs tends to look a little funny. When you’ve got it all done, your layers palette should look a little like this:
That’s it. Try this out with lots of different filters. If you want to tone down the effect, change the opacity of the effect layer. If you want to get more advanced with your subject selection, you can duplicate the layer, mask it out, and use a large soft white brush to paint the subject back in.
#3: neon glow
Have you ever played with neon glow and wondered when the heck you were ever going to use it? Well, it’s time to give it another shot. This can add a touch of color and drama to your shot.
Duplicate your layer, then pull up Filter > Artistic > Neon Glow. Pick a color that you think will complement your shot. In mine, the cat is lit with sunlight, so I went with a yellow to exaggerate that. Start with a glow size of 4 and a glow brightness of 18, then tweak it to suit your shot. This is what I ended up with:
I’ll bet you can guess what’s next. You got it — change the blending mode to ‘Overlay.’ Also cycle through those modes: soft light, hard light, vivid light, and linear light. I prefer overlay and vivid light with this effect.
#4 easy blur
This one nearly passed me by… it’s a wonderfully easy effect to soften a picture. Try it on portraits.
Duplicate your layer and apply a Gaussian Blur (Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur) so that the details start to go, but not too much.
Set the opacity of the layer to 50%. This is a great, super-simple way to soften a picture. It can give it almost a dreamy look. Play with opacities until you find something that works really well with your shot.
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January 18th, 2007 at 11:43 pm
Hello. I really love this blog and I have read very much interesting and helpfull stuff !
I hope its okay to critizise this entry .[?]. In the beginning of my photography-career I used this filters very often. You can have a “not very good” photo on you pc, but with this techniques the look really good [in the first seconds]. As I recognized this I tried to do better and better shots and less of the filters. Yes, I am a big fan of editing my images, but I try to do this in a way it is not seen … You know what I meen ? In my opinion it looks much more “eyecathing” over the long term if your visitors can*t actually say what you did to make an image look like.. Hope this critique is not too hard ;)
Greetings from Germany,
January 19th, 2007 at 12:02 am
I’m with martin… I’ve been working on ways to make sure my photo’s look the way i want them too with as little editing as possible (if any). I think doing this has improved my photography somewhat. But yes, if your pic’s constantly turn out looking like crap… try some of these techniques to make them that little bit more appealing.
January 19th, 2007 at 1:22 am
Another perspective: While I am obsessed with image quality and I never quit striving to increase the number of my shots that are technically perfect, I believe good technique alone does not make a superior, or even an accurate, image. Photography has many many inherent limitations due to the equipment and, at its best, is an imperfect method of capturing light and documenting ‘reality’. Even shots that are as technically perfect as possible often fall far short of the actual scene. Just changing brands of digital camera could give the same results as the edits of the train set, cat, and bird.
Editing is as old as photography. Most of the really famous images of the olden days are NOT straight from the camera–in fact, ’straight from the camera’ did not exist before digital except with Polaroid type instant pictures. The filters and methods in Photoshop were originally derived from traditional darkroom manipulations of film development and printing, they are just easier, faster and less toxic.
Isn’t photography all about visual communication? If edits/tweaks/effects serve to support what one is trying to say with an image, I say go for it. I wouldn’t rule out any method that could help make my images communicate what I really ’saw’ and/or ‘felt’ at the time. Thanks very much for the tips!
January 19th, 2007 at 1:33 am
While Martin and the SexyNinjaMonkey have some good points — as amatuer photographer who may never get the time or hardware that it will take to make these images without some of these basic photoshop steps — it’s just nice to cheat sometimes.
Nice blog - I read it every day. There’s always something new to learn or to re-realize.
~Cold in Iowa
January 19th, 2007 at 2:54 am
Nice simple tips. I can’t wait to try them out.
January 19th, 2007 at 3:58 am
I’m all for getting good pictures and altering them (if at all) only in the slightest. That’s what I do most of the time. The purpose of these is just to add a little something, and is certainly not meant to use all the time for all your pics.
The only one among these that I use often is the first… it’s a subtle effect and can add a lot to a picture without making it look very Photoshopped. The last one works well on portraits, etc… it usually doesn’t look over-done and helps to soften a picture.
I certainly agree that overly-photoshopped images tend to look cheesy. Photoshop is a powerful tool that should be used in moderation. But sometimes it’s ok to have some fun with it.
January 19th, 2007 at 5:14 am
These tips are great. When I read the headline, I thought it would be centered around the basic editing techniques. But I can see now that this is very much geared toward the artistic side of photo editing.
The Blur/Overlay and the Easy Blur techniques are my favorites from these tips.
January 19th, 2007 at 5:43 am
Thanks for the tips!
I live in a fairly cloudy region and often get dull colors so the first technique does wonders with some of my image.
January 19th, 2007 at 6:36 am
Love the Blur/Overlay tip! I’ll have to try it with some nature shots that I have!
January 19th, 2007 at 7:19 am
While this sort of thing will always be more useful for some than others (photoshop tutorials often get criticised by some and praised by others depending at the commenter’s experience level and personal tastes) - I personally loved these simple tips.
Please can we have more?
January 19th, 2007 at 10:39 am
Good points Martin (I want to visit Germany some day–good photo ops!), but, Hey, it’s all art, anyway! Whether or not you tweak your photos, it’s all about artistic expression! :) Thanks for the tips, Elise! This is a great blog–I just joined. Yay! These are fun tools we can use to express ourselves.
By the way, Martin, you probably get nicer photos in Germany just because you have prettier things to photograph than where I live! With the scenery around here, I NEED photoshop! *g* just kidding (photo opportinities are everywhere if you know where to look….)
January 19th, 2007 at 1:30 pm
“it’s all about artistic expression!”
If it were all about the ‘art’ I doubt you’d be using “artistic” filters in Photoshop that any monkey can use in a couple clicks.
I’m obviously with Martin.
It’s so easy to show someone how to click a few buttons and manipulate something. But I think the understanding of when and how much should be applied is so much more important than the technical process.
January 19th, 2007 at 2:19 pm
Good job on the tips Elise! I liked #2: filter the background. I had fun applying different filters to get interesting effects to the background. Have you tried CS3 yet? Way cool, you can turn “regular” filters into Smart Filters that can be edited at any time.
Anyway keep up the good work and will be looking forward to more of your tips.
January 19th, 2007 at 9:01 pm
Some great tips there, thanks for the detailed run-down and everything.
I also use Shadows/Highlights quite a bit to make the occasional photo stand out a little more, as well as an Omni light under the Lighting Effects menu in Photoshop - quite handy sometimes :)
January 20th, 2007 at 12:14 am
I personally (my opinion) do not like filter effects that you can see. That is just my view.
However, the tutorials - whether you like the results they give or not - offer the reader a further understanding and a point of research. For example, hmm… If I can duplicate a layer and blur it and overlay it to give an effect, I wonder what would happen if I duplicated a layer,’posterized (or other filter!)’ it and set it to colour dodge.
It’s all food for thought - you have to experiment to gain any real world experience and knowledge.
Keep them coming!!!
J.
January 20th, 2007 at 1:22 am
Love the tips! Photoshop is like…magic…and mostly undiscovered for me, so this is really helpful.
I used the last trick quite often when I had access to photoshop, and I really really love it. It’s especially good for stuff like portraits and if you’re into making desktop wallpapers out of your photos. Sometimes you might want to experiment with the amount of blur and the amount of transparency of the respective layers to get subtly different effects.
January 20th, 2007 at 7:07 am
Excellent! Great tips. I especially like #2, always wanted to know how to do that.
January 20th, 2007 at 7:34 am
The first and the last examples jus adding soap effect to the photo. I really hate photos like that!
January 20th, 2007 at 7:39 am
I’ve been doing the gaussian blur+overlay for a while now. It’s particularly useful when you’re trying to clean up a photo that’s been enlarged or has too much mezzotint, grain, or artifacting (from a video source).
Thanks for the other three useful tips!
January 20th, 2007 at 7:51 am
i like the first and last techniques.
January 20th, 2007 at 8:05 am
Always some great tips….however, I have enough blur in all my shots. lol. No help needed.
January 20th, 2007 at 9:45 am
The results from the first tip look decent. I’m going to fiddle around with that a bit.
However, the other three come across looking really amateurish and dated (late 90’s paint shop pro anyone?). Probably because, as Martin said, it’s really easy to see what you did.
Thanks for posting the first one, but the other three I could live without.
January 20th, 2007 at 10:14 am
Very cool, very practical suggestions. Many thanks.
January 20th, 2007 at 10:17 am
Hi and thanks for these quick tips! I just used the first technique on this picture I have of my daughter that I really like and it looks great! Amazing how quick and easy it was to make the pic more “deep” and appealing.
January 20th, 2007 at 11:29 am
a lot of photoshop tutorial on digg frontpage lately, even video tutorials but and i think this is one of the best.. bookmarked!
-So Hot, Asia
http://myagloconetwork.blogspot.com
January 20th, 2007 at 11:50 am
kewl effects …
though i saw it some other sites …
ur is better …
thanks …
January 20th, 2007 at 2:51 pm
Fantastic trick on the #1 blur overlay!!
This is what we have been looking for for our wedding photographs to produce the best quality!
January 20th, 2007 at 4:56 pm
There’s no use arguing on whether you should or should not use PhotoShop filters and how they look so 90’s (or other decade).
Photography can be about personal expression… which means whatever floats your boat goes.
Photography can be about replicating the world as you see it… and if you have to tweak a few things electronically to compensate for your camera… then so be it.
Photography can be about highlighting an issue / subject and if you need to blur out some background in a natural way… or a creative way… use the tools you have available for your need.
There’s a reason that digital photography took off… where else can an individual do so much with so little (sometimes talent, sometimes money)… It’s become the easiest “artistic” outlet for people.
Follow your own desires while respecting others.
January 20th, 2007 at 5:17 pm
Hi and thanks very much for that supercool and easy effects, hope there will come more of such simple and effective tipps. Thanx
January 20th, 2007 at 7:22 pm
Good effects, except for the neon glow on the cat.
January 20th, 2007 at 8:28 pm
Awesome! thx!
Leigh
jltaylor@uk.ibm.com
January 20th, 2007 at 10:09 pm
This is probably the most useful PS tutorial I have ever read. The blur/overlay thing is such an amazing little trick, it makes almost every picture I have ever taken look loads better. I also find it can be useful to tone down the effect by reducing the opacity, and sometimes soft-light works better than overlay, but thanks for bringing this to my attention!
January 20th, 2007 at 10:16 pm
#1
I usually use UnSharp mask with a maximum radius, 0 treshold and 20-40% to bring more contrast to an image. It’s magic.
#4
Set the layer to screen for the real hazy dreamy look. Really gives the feel of a soft-focus filter.
January 21st, 2007 at 1:55 am
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! These tips are amazing, and simple. I love them.
January 21st, 2007 at 6:27 am
Awsome love this site there is always good tips & info to learn from… thank you :)
January 21st, 2007 at 6:38 am
Did you know that your website is blocked in China? I have to use a surrogate gateway like vtunnel.com to view it. Weird huh?
January 21st, 2007 at 7:54 am
I really love your tips. Not everyone has the knack to be a professional, so these tips work great! Thanks for sharing.
January 21st, 2007 at 9:25 am
Thank you, Elise. I’m a PhotoDeluxe holdout (learned on it, have not seen a need to change). This tutorial translates to my older, simpler program, and I’m thrilled! Usually I get apologetic not having PhotoShop . . . not anymore. I’ve been unsaturating that second layer before blurring, and as often as not the overlay setting at maybe 30% opacity gives an atmospheric look. For those of us who cannot buy new cameras on a whim, Thanks again.
January 21st, 2007 at 10:25 am
Great techniques, thanx for doing this. I’ve been doing a lot of post-processing based on photos from the online world of Second Life, as shown here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/torley/sets/72157594265931151/
Some of this I knew before, but it’s good to know they’re handy and practical, and used by others. I’m always hungry to learn more!
January 21st, 2007 at 2:12 pm
Thanks for these tips Elise. I’ve used the Gaussian Blur one before but am keen to try out the others you show in the tutorial.
I’m a bit surprised by some of the comments on this post. I didn’t think it was supposed to be telling people how to take better photos. I expect there are other posts that focus on that. I thought it was talking about techniques to enhance your photos IF YOU SHOULD CHOOSE TO USE THEM. So those commjents about ‘the artistic integrity of photography’ seem pretty misplaced.
January 21st, 2007 at 9:11 pm
love the tips.
work with the gaussian blur and love it much.
January 22nd, 2007 at 1:53 pm
You know, I keep reading the comments that are so critical of using filters and special effects. As a professional wedding and portrait photographer, I have to say that I am surprised that anyone would not use any tool available to them to offer a unique, creative and quality product weather it is for yourself to enjoy or for a client that you may have been contracted by. Also, as with any artform, photography is an always evolving form of expression, it is not just to represent the reality that so obviously exists, but to engage all of the viewers 5 senses. And, Critics, are you all not aware that before digital, not only were many of these effects done in the darkroom as stated so appropriately by “admartist”, but were there not filters and effects that were applied at capture?
And I will guess that abstract art was never a favorite of yours since it looks so “unreal”, god forbid.
Sorry, I had to vent on this. Can we really be applying boundaries into what defines a beautiful image? How limited an imagination that must create, for if it does not exist in reality, it is not to be appreciated for its beauty?
January 22nd, 2007 at 2:03 pm
I’ve heard and used many of these before. The filter debate is a decent one, but as many have said knowing which buttons to push is only half the battle.
It’s not hard to teach someone how to hold a paintbrush or use a camera. Teaching them to take that basic knowledge and make something with it is a whole other story.
So long as filters aren’t abused, they are fair game.
January 22nd, 2007 at 10:16 pm
Wow, I am just blown away by the quality of your tips.
Keep up the great contributions.
Sunny Scarborough
January 23rd, 2007 at 8:24 am
Thanks for these tips. I’m with some of the commenters above in that I don’t like to over photoshop my images, but I think these tips are great.
My favorite was Tip #1. My personal preference on that tip was to set the blending mode to “Soft Light” and then adjust the layer opacity to get just the right amount of “pop”. (For an example of this see http://www.brennphotography.com/blur-overlay). I found that doing this, while less dramatic and way more subtle, was a way to keep the pictures looking more true to life.
No tip is perfect and no tip is perfect for every image, but I think that’s what great about this post. You can learn something from these tips and then apply it in your own way to your own images.
Thanks for the tips!!!
January 25th, 2007 at 1:38 am
That blur/overlay sounds like an exact copy of something writting on dooce.com a few years ago.
January 31st, 2007 at 9:39 am
hello
i have to confess, i am not very good with photoshop other than adjusting contrasts and rotate the photos. but these are some pretty fun tips and i may try with family photos. thanks for inspiring me to “play” with photoshop!
cheers,
cindy@staged4more
February 2nd, 2007 at 11:00 am
I got the blur/overlay tip years ago from [the amazing] Scott Kelby at a Photoshop conference. It’s pretty widely used. You can probably find all of my tips in some form or another elsewhere on the internet… I write my tutorials myself, but that doesn’t mean that other people don’t use the same techniques as me.
and thanks for all the positive feedback! :)
February 3rd, 2007 at 7:37 am
So simple that even I could do it. Your tutorial approach to step-by-step works wonders. Thanks!
February 25th, 2007 at 6:42 pm
nice, the last one really looks cool
February 25th, 2007 at 6:50 pm
I now take most pictures with digital camera (compact 5mp, not DSLR), I found so far on my computer screen, the sharpest pictures with the best colors were those taken with film and scanned. With compact digitals, auto-everything, almost cost nothing to take pictures, I found the output to be 100% family snap shots. With limitations of digital compacts, without photoshop and some time in front of the computer, don’t even dream of many printable pix. For 1 aspect, the depth of field of most digital compacts are way too deep and one can hardly take a portrait with blurred background if the pose is more than 3 feet from the camera. On the other hand, knowing and experimenting with all that photoshop has to offer makes me wonder would there be any “real photo” in a few years from now! Is the advancement in technology killing photography too quickly.
March 3rd, 2007 at 10:45 am
Elise- Thank you for the tips on making my photos pop. I appreciate your simple directions and use of pictures to aid in my learning. YOU ROCK!
March 6th, 2007 at 12:52 pm
Nothing wrong with editing to one’s heart’s desire, as long as he remembers this:
Editing is a SUPPLEMENT to good photography, NOT a replacement for it!
That’s important!
-Vince :-)
April 7th, 2007 at 10:06 pm
Thanks :-)
April 13th, 2007 at 7:14 pm
wow cool!..these are good tips. im lovin it!! thx for that. keep up ur good work,k? ^^
i’d like to see another cool tips.
April 22nd, 2007 at 12:28 pm
You have just increased my enjoyment ten fold. I love to toy around in my graphics program but I must admit….there are so many bells and whistles that I often get overwhelmed. I took the above tutorials and applied them (with variations) to the same photo and got ten different looks - all equally wonderful. Thanks for your efforts.
June 7th, 2007 at 2:21 am
Hi. I just followed a link from a photo group to this site. It’s interesting; I do photography where I work of boring instruments. I’ve been using the Gaussian blur technique for some time, but I use it to make a shadow of the instrument and offset it a bit both horizontally and vertically. Easy to do with text as well and much more flexible than using the ’shadow’ that’s in some font menus.
It’s fun to play with Photoshop–I’ve gotten so much more bold once I learned to use and position layers.
I’ll bookmark this blog. Thanks.
September 8th, 2007 at 2:06 am
Awesome stuff, simple and fast, thx dude
October 29th, 2007 at 1:14 pm
Very simple and tedious techniques.
November 26th, 2007 at 9:14 pm
thx for that
simpel and so nice
i like at
December 7th, 2007 at 4:27 am
I like this tutorial very much. Thanks. It is very easy, effective and handy. I want more like this.
December 7th, 2007 at 8:30 am
This is a magnificent video and tutor
December 14th, 2007 at 5:17 am
Nice stuff
Ima try it out soon!
December 15th, 2007 at 1:48 pm
I have been looking for easy tutorial fixes forEVER
And I am AMAZED at these. I love all of them!!
December 31st, 2007 at 11:12 pm
Hi.. your techniques were very simple yet very effective… It
helps me a lot specially for my rush post-processing before i make lay-outs on wedding albums.. Thanks for the tips .. It’s amazing.. God bless
January 10th, 2008 at 2:04 pm
Hi - great tutorial, thanks. I use most of these techniques myself but there was one or two I had never used before. Another interesting technique is to take a layer that is mostly transparent - duplicate it, gaussian blur it, add a low opacity rainbow gradient blending mode, then merge the layers. Gives a surreal, colourful aura to an object.
January 11th, 2008 at 3:55 pm
Love that blur/overlay! I am a fan of experimenting with blending modes for layers but I haven’t tried that one.
January 24th, 2008 at 10:07 am
As a hobbyist photographer for years, I try and capture the best image that I can, but within the limitations to my creativity that time, location, element of surprise etc can stand in my way of the result.
Some of my favourite images have been captured and then manipulated and they inspire me greatly.
Manipulating the end result of a photo is by far not a new concept as it has always been around since film photography, so learning these varied techniques is something I enjoy.
January 30th, 2008 at 8:32 pm
Wow, I will stry this tecniques.. Easy and with good results…
February 2nd, 2008 at 5:12 am
exelente tutorial, muchas gracias !!
February 21st, 2008 at 11:17 pm
Oh my gosh!!!…this tutorial is so sweet :D
i soooo love it!!!
i havent use photoshop
im trying to use it now ^^ then after that i’m going to show it to my friends and teacher *.*
i wish teacher going to take me for inforama *.* hehehe
maybe she would do that after showing this…i sooooo love you!!!!!!
you rock!!!!
dont worry..i’ll tell them whose that nice person who become my guru :D
my computer and you!!!
March 3rd, 2008 at 3:12 am
Thanks for making photoshop more understandable. Can’t wait to try these!
March 6th, 2008 at 11:59 pm
this really helped me out.. it was great
April 4th, 2008 at 6:22 pm
Great tips will have trying them out
April 5th, 2008 at 3:56 am
wonderful tips, really wonderful.
sreekumar/India