PRETTY PORTRAITS WITH PHOTOSHOP. 6.13.06
Before anyone gets unnecessarily turned on or off, this tutorial is an extremely simple and useful technique for anyone who snaps or archives digital photos, namely portraits. All you need is 30 seconds and a copy of Photoshop.
Even seasoned design veterans sometimes fail to notice that, in their original JPEG forms, photos off the web or photos out of your camera are often dull, desaturated, and grainy. A lot of this is caused by the JPEG compression algorithm; if you want to make your portraits as flattering as possible, you ought to breathe some energy back into them. Ok, enough already with the talking:
This is a portrait of the rather attractive Maria Menounous (what, I can't watch E! every once in a while??). Looking at this by itself, you figure, "eh, a professional shot it, it must be good". And it is good, except that it's been compressed for the web, and thus, a lot of the color and depth has been sucked out of it. Now look at my version on the right... ah yes, now all of a sudden you too have the urge to watch E!, correct?
You see now that the original photo was not doing her hair or skin justice, and had also flattened the depth of field. The effect I use to get her back to her appropriate hotness is very simple to implement; I call it the "Soap Opera Star" filter (simulating the flattering lighting and sheer lens look of Soap Operas). So, pull up a portrait, and:
- Apply a moderate Gaussian Blur (Filter-->Gaussian Blur).
- Fade the blur with an overlay (Edit-->Fade Gaussian Blur).
Note: "Fade Gaussian Blur" is only available under the Edit menu immediately after you apply the blur. Do not make any changes between these two commands. You can choose whatever overlay gives your portrait the best effect, but depending on the lighting and amount of detail you're willing to sacrifice, "Multiply", "Screen", and "Soft Light" (used here) are usually the best options.
The overlay adds saturation and depth to the photo. The blur has a smoothing effect on the skin, and with the overlay applied, gives off a slight glow, which is where the whole Soap Opera thing comes into play. Try the technique out in other situations as well, using the "Screen" overlay fade to fix low light, or "Multiply" to do the opposite.