Photo Editing - Advanced (PSP7 Tutorial)

[ScottDoom]

couldnt you select the whole image then deselect the eyes then greyscale everything?

The selection tool is really defined and it could stand out a lot, which is the reason I wouldn't use it.

But hey, I'm not saying this is the only way to do it. Pretty much any editing I do is very simple, and could probably be done a number of ways. I'm just writing these because I think more people should get into the habit of making their pictures kick ass. In this day and age I'm tired of seeing shat photos all over the internet.

[Reese]

couldnt you select the whole image then deselect the eyes then greyscale everything?

[ScottDoom]

First make sure you know the basics. Got it? Gooood.

One thing you may need for this tutorial is a tripod, although it isn't necessary. If you are looking to get a tripod get one over $40-$50 because anything cheaper is usually a piece of crap and you'd be better off chopping your ManTool off and setting your camera on it. Seriously.

Ok, it's serious time:
Instead of having a particular image I'm going to show you, I'm just going to cover many different things since I don't usually apply more than one advanced editing technique to the same photo.

First off, the colored eyes effect:




There are several ways to do this, but as you can see my norm is the greyed out image with colored eyes. To do this I first take a portrait picture where you can see someone's eyes. Now you could try this with a photo that doesn't contain any eyes but you'd have to be high or something. Now a picture where the eyes are well lit is good, but if not we can fix that.


Ok, now you can either apply the normal editing (the basics) or you can leave it as is, but once you're ready go ahead and find the Layers Palette and Duplicate the background layer (basic image).

Now that step is a very important step and can help in all sorts of advanced editing. Having a duplicate layer aids in creating neat little effects that make people say: "Ooooo, what kind of camera do you haveplzthxkbaiaslbutsecks?"

Alright, now that you have a copy of your original image sitting on top of it not much has changed in the looks of the image, but now the fun can start. Since we just want the eye colored, the rest of the image is going to have to be black and white. To do this go to Colors -> Colorize... in PSP7 and then set the Saturation to 0 (the other option doesn't matter). Note: Don't convert to greyscale because that's like doing your mom (as in it = teh noes).


Now grab the eraser tool and choose a round size with 0 Hardness and 100 Opacity and erase your eyes! Oh wow! The color underneath comes up like photochop magick. In this part make sure your eraser isn't a small size because it can make the edge of the erased part stand out. In other words you want a larger brush where the edges are soft (as to why Hardness should be on 0) so that it sort of blends in with the black and white at the edges. Even if it is a little noticeable after a resize hopefully it'll be hidden.

Ok, now let's say you didn't want the rest of the image to be black and white. You could desaturate it to a level that your eyes stood out. Ok, now normally you could use the tool Effects -> Enhance Photo -> Automatic Saturation Enhancement... and select Less Colorful and let 'er rip, but sometimes it's a *****. So instead we will make the black and white layer blend into the colored layer to make it less colorful. To do this drag the Layer Opacity bar down to 70 or 80, or whatever you feel is appropriate on the black & white layer (top layer).

*Ignore the three layers there, I was being n00b.

Well now you might say: "My eyes aren't really standing out that much since the rest of the image is slightly colored. My eyes are a bit pale." Well we can fix that. Select your bottom layer once again and go to Effects -> Enhance Photo -> Automatic Saturation Enhancement... and select More Colorful on the Strong setting... You can also increase the contrast/brightness through Adjust -> Brightness/Contrast to get more vibrant eyes. Then slam those two layers together, finish the basic editing if you haven't done it yet, and wham-bam you're done! Touchdown!

Ok, next up I'll talk about the Aged Newspaper... effect, the glow-blur effect, and the make girls in your photographs nude effect. Plus more, and minus that last one.