Photoshop curves are cool, I love them! As we saw in ‘the basics’ they can be a really powerful tool for adjusting contrast in a controlled way.

As well as making adjustments to the overall image you can also alter each of the red, green and blue channels independently within the Curves adjustment layer – simply locate the dropdown at the top of the palette and select the channel you want to work on. Altering individual channels will give a colour cast to your image (or remove it if it already has one). Whilst this is of somewhat limited use it can be used pretty effectively to create a vintagey look – who wouldn’t want that? Well – now and again, anyway.

Here’s how – on your curves adjustment layer (see ‘basics’ on how to do this) alter each of the curves in a similar manner as below – the blue channel will have the biggest adjustment, just a little for the green and somewhere in between for the red.

As well as affecting individual channels you also have the option of adjusting the combined RGB levels (it’s the black curve in the image below) if your image appears darkened by the previous changes you can use this to brighten it up again by lifting the middle of the curve upwards.

Being an adjustment layer you aren’t committed to these changes, nor do you have to use them at full intensity – on the layers palette alter the opacity of the adjustment layer until it looks best to your eye.

BEFORE… 

AFTER… 

Obviously all photos are different and some will look better than others with this effect applied – you don’t always have to do something as dramatic as this – I most often use curves to make very subtle adjustments that are hopefully unnoticeable to the casual observer.

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A wider range of affects in a similar style can be found in this free Photoshop action…

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Coming soon: Advanced Photshop – Curves

Also available: Photoshop basics – Curves

There’s a certain day celebrating a certain lovey-dovey Saint coming up soon – and whilst I’m not one for ‘Hallmark Holidays’ I’m more than happy to get on board to celebrate love (just not with overly-priced cards/flowers/perfume/chocolates… OK, maybe the chocolates).

A while ago I shared a technique for creating your very own ‘shaped bokeh’ – you can read about it here but in short it simply involves cutting a small shape from some black card, attaching it to your dSLR lens and shooting some out of focus images of fairy lights (or similar pin points of light).

Well, I think a heart would be seasonally apt the moment, non? Plus hearts are dead easy to cut out which maybe a more compelling reason.

Thing is though, you can’t always combine the bokeh with the thing you want featured in your photograph at the same time. Don’t worry though – there’s an easy way to do this in Photoshop.

1. Take some heart-shaped bokeh shots in low light so your background is nice and dark and you have a nice smattering of love hearts.
2. Open up the photo you’d like to add love hearts to – obviously I chose a rather lovely (Creative Commons) image of One Direction.
   
3. Make your One Direction photo the finished size you’d like it to be – lifesize is an option if you have a big enough hard drive (that’s what she said)!
4. From the main Photoshop menu choose ‘File’ > ‘Place’ and choose one of your heart-shaped bokeh images – keep the shift button held down and drag the corner handles out so that One Direction are completely covered up (don’t worry, you’ll be seeing them again soon). Hit ‘Return’.
5. Locate the layer with the hearts on (‘Window’ > ‘Layers’) and use the drop-down at the top of the layers palette to select the ‘Screen’ blending mode – you should now be able to see through to those cheeky boys beneath but still have the hearts showing on top.
6. You can move the hearts around if they’re obscuring the view of your favourite 1D-er – I copied the layer in order to add even more hearts!

So there you go.

Who would you like to cover in hearts this valentine’s day? I’ll assume it’s One Direction unless you comment otherwise! ;)

Real light leaks
Light leaks. I love them! Light leaks occur simply because ‘unwanted’ light is leaking into the body of the camera and slowly exposing the film. When you’re using a toy or Lomo film camera they provide you with a real sense of adventure – pacing up and down waiting for the film processing to happen – you never really know wheat yo’re going to get!

This was taken with a Diana-F+ and 120 film

Adding light leaks with Photoshop
There are loads of different ways of using Photoshop to create pretend light leaks – I have to say though that for the most part they normally look a bit heavy-handed and obvious. I was determined to find a shareable way of creating something that looked realistic and would truly enhance a digital image. A subtle hand is the key (even though real light leaks can appear pretty drastic at times), that and Photoshop brushes.

First you’ll need to download and install these light leak brushes:

Light leak brushes for Photoshop

(Here’s a quick guide on how to install brushes into Photoshop).

Once installed, here’s how to use them:

1. Open your image – resized to your required dimensions (keep these measurements jotted down).
2. Click the Brush tool, choose a light leak and adjust the size of the brush to match the dimension of the image.
3. Important – make sure you are working on a new layer! (Go to Window > Layers then at the bottom of the layers palette click on the little icon that looks like a new page with the corner turned down).
4. Pick a colour swatch for your light leak – anything from a pale salmon to a bright red will work.
5. Position the brush where you’d like the light leak to appear and click once with your mouse. Don’t drag – you’re using the brush more like a rubber-stamp here.
6. On the layers palette choose a blend mode to get a more realistic effect – try ‘Screen’ or ‘Lighten’ – it will all depend on the image you’re working with.
7. If you want a softer effect simply reduce the transparency of the layers panel.
8. If you want a stronger effect then right-click on the light leak in the layers palette and choose ‘duplicate layer’.

That’s it!

Here are some examples of it in use…