Music by Danielle Tunstall

This is a fantastic portrait anyway but has been enhanced in Photoshop to create a rather surreal and very contemporary work of art. It was created by Danielle Tunstall, who says, “[The portrait was] shot outside using natural light, with a Canon EOS 500D. Although I use a backdrop, I always shoot outside as I prefer natural light.”

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Stripping away detail from images so that you’re left with pure black and white is a great way to add a pop art feel to your shots and will quickly become one of your favourite Photoshop effects to use. If you then duplicate the image for repetitive effect and introduce blocks of bright colour, you’ll create dazzling images that’ll look great on any wall or even a T-shirt.

To get our desired Photoshop effects, we’re going to show you how to strip away all the midtones using the Photoshop Stamp filter, so you’re left with just a black and white shape. After cleaning up distracting blobs from the tarmac background, we’ll duplicate the shot four times and render each version in a different colour for a cool graphic art look.

You’ll also learn how to use Clipping Masks and Fill Layers to add to your creative armoury, so your image is totally re-editable, should you change your mind in the future. So let’s get started and see how it’s done…

Our start image

Photoshop effects: how to turn your photos into graphic art

Step 1: Clone out distractions
To begin this Photoshop tutorial, first open your start image. Here we’ve used a photo of a bike. Next, we’ve select the Clone Stamp from the Tools palette to remove the hand. Don’t worry about doing a perfect job, as it won’t show up later if the Photoshop effect’s been done properly. Crop the image to 4×6 inches at 300 pixels/inch. We’ve done this to change the proportions so the wheels look round: go to Image>Transform>Distort and grab the corner bounding boxes to reshape.

Step 2: Use the Stamp filter
Set the foreground to black and background to white, then go to Filter>Sketch>Stamp and enter a Light/Dark Balance value of 25 and a Smoothness of 5. This’ll strip away all the midtones, leaving just black and white. For your own images, different filters, such as Threshold, might work better. Next, we’ll deal with the pixelated tarmac at the bottom of the image…

Step 3: Refine the details
Change the foreground colour to white and select a hard round brush. Zoom in and paint away the pixels. Press Ctrl+A then Ctrl+C to copy the image. Create a new document, sized 12×8 inches at 300 pixels per inch, then paste the bike shot with Ctrl+V. Duplicate the layer three times (Ctrl+J) and use the Move tool (V) to position each in a separate corner.

Step 4: Add some colour
For a black background, highlight each layer in turn and press Ctrl+I to invert the layer. Select the top layer and create a new Fill Layer using a deep red colour. Set the Blending Mode to Multiply and go to Layer>CreateClippingMask, so the Fill Layer doesn’t affect other layers. Repeat this process for the other layers, choosing a different colour each time.

Top Tip
If you know you’re going 
to use this technique before you start shooting, you can make life a little easier for yourself by using a neutral background. The tarmac between the bike spokes was tricky and time consuming to remove, so always try and pre-visualise your end result.

You may feel like you don’t know how to focus, but the reality is when you’re zoomed in tight on a subject, there might never be enough depth to get everything sharp, even at the lens’s minimum aperture.

The answer is to shoot a series of images with the focus set slightly further away each time, and then use a technique called ‘focus stacking’ to merge the separate photos into a finished picture that’s sharp from front to back.

This can be amazingly effective, and in this example you can’t see the joins! You can quite easily carry out focus stacking in Photoshop.

Step 1
In Photoshop CS4 or CS5, combine all your separate shots as layers in a single image (make sure you get them in the right order before you start).

Step 2
Now you can use the Edit menu to auto-align and then merge the layers. Note that Photoshop will automatically combine the sharpest areas from each image in the final result.

Focus stacking software
The alternative is to use a dedicated focus stacking program such as Helicon Focus 4.2 Lite. You shoot your sequence, load the images you’ve taken, hit the Render button and let the software do the rest. It costs £19 ($30) for a one-year licence.

Red eye has long been the bane of photographers. How many times have we photographed our friends and family in a variety of social scenarios, and the flash photography leaves our pictures of people looking like demons!

Red-eye occurs when your camera uses a burst of flash to capture a decent exposure. In low-light conditions our pupils open wide so that we can see more clearly. This means that a sudden influx of light from the camera will illuminate the eyes’ interior, bouncing off the blood vessels on our retinas – and adding a sinister red glow to our subject’s eyes.

In the days before digital cameras, red-eye related prints that were sent back from the printers were often covered in Quality Control stickers, absolving the film processors of any responsibility for our flash-induced failings. In these digital days, however, red eye doesn’t have to mean wasted pictures. Red eye removal techniques abound.

Of course, for those of you wondering how to remove red eye from pictures, the best way is to use your camera’s Red-eye On/Off command. This reduces the occurrence of red eye by zapping the subject with a pre-flash before the main flash fires to capture the shot. This pre-flash cause the subject’s pupils to shrink, minimising the amount of light that enters the eye when the main flash fires.

Be aware though that the subject may think that the first flash means your photo was taken, causing them to stop posing before being caught by the main burst of flash.

But being realistic, we don’t always remember to use our Red-eye command. In which case it’s best to turn to your computer and remove red eye in Photoshop. Below we’ve shown you how to remove red eye in Photoshop Elements in 4 easy steps.

Red eye removal in Photoshop Elements

Step 1: Auto red eye removal
In theory, the quickest way to remove red-eye is to let Elements do it for you automatically. Go to the Organizer. Choose File>GetPhotosAndVideos and pick From Files and Folders. Browse to redeye_start.jpg. Tick the Automatically Fix Red Eyes box and click Get Media. In theory, Elements should be able to analyse the shot and remove any red-eye while importing it.

Step 2: Try again!
In the case of our image, our subject’s pupils are too small for Elements to identify, so despite trying it fails to remove the red-eye while importing the shot. You can try to automatically fix red-eye from within the Organizer by choosing Edit>AutoRedEyeFix – but here you’ll get a message saying ‘No red eyes were found in the selected photo’. We’ll need to give Elements a hand!

Step 3: Quick fix
Click on the little fly out icon to the right of the Organizer’s Fix tab and choose Quick Photo Edit to go to the Quick Editor suite of common photo fixing tools, including a Red Eye Removal tool. Select this from the mini Tools palette on the left. As our subject’s pupils are small, head to the Options bar and set Pupil Size to 30%. Pop Darken Amount to 60% for solid black pupils.

Step 4: In a click
Move the cursor so the Red Eye Removal tool’s crosshair floats over the first red pupil. Click to sample the red colour and the tool will alter it to black. Do the same thing to the second pupil and you’ll have manually banished the red-eye (and succeeded where Elements’ Auto features have failed!). You’ll also find the Red Eye Removal tool in the full Photoshop Elements editor.

Digital Camera’s 10-part series ‘Teach Yourself Photoshop’ builds into a complete video reference library. These easy-to-follow video guides will take you on a start-to-finish journey through perfecting your photos in the digital darkroom. In this tutorial you will discover how to get to grips with Adjustment Layers to perfect your photos by improving the colours and tones of a shot in just a few easy steps. Click the links to the right and build up the complete collection with each new issue of Digital Camera.

Photoshop tutorial: A dramatic sky brings a landscape photograph to life, and although the colour-filled skies of dawn and dusk are perfect for awe-inspiring landscape shots, fluffy clouds and deep blue skies of midday can produce equally striking scenes. The midday sun presents a few technical problems though, especially if you need to shoot into or in the rough direction of the sun, the result of which can be a complete burnout of the sky or a steep gradient from white to dark blue. So if your perfect scenic shot is ruined by lens flare or bleaching, don’t panic, get the shot you want and rescue the sky in Photoshop later. Follow the simple steps in this tutorial to learn about layering techniques, how to increase tone and give your landscape photography punch.

1. Select the sky

Open the file named landscape_before.jpg. The position of the sun, just out of shot, has caused the left-hand side of the sky to completely burn out. To start the repairs, grab the Quck Selection tool from the Tools palette and drag the cursor across the sky to select it. Click Refine Edge in the top options bar.

 

 

2. Darken the colour.

In the Refine Edge options boxes, set Smooth to 0, Feather to 2 and Expand to 3. Click OK. Go to Layer>NewAdjustmentLayer>Levels and set the three sliders to 50, 1.00 and 255 to darken the blues in the sky. Go to Layer>New>Layer. Select the Eyedropper tool and click into the dark blue patch of sky.

 

3. Create a gradient

Click the arrow next to the colour swatches in the Tools palette to swap the foreground and background colours. Click into a light blue area of sky. Hold down Ctrl. Click into the Levels layer’s mask to reselect the sky. Select Gradient tool. Hold down Shift. Drag the cursor from the bottom of the sky to the top.

 

4. Reveal the clourds

Go to Levels>NewAdjustmentLayer>Levels. Drag the Levels layer below the Sky Image layer. Holding down Alt, hover the cursor between the two layers until it changes shape; left-click. This clips the Adjustment Layer to the image layer. Now select a soft-edged black bruch with an Opacity of 20% and Size of 700px.

 

5. Create a cloud

Use the brush to reveal the cloud on the right. Select the top Sky image layer. Hold down Shift. Click on the bottom layer so all the layers are selected. Hold down Shift+Ctrl+Alt+E to merge the selected layers into a new layer, then use the standard Lasso tool to select the small cloud to the top left of the tree.

 

6. Match the sky

In the same layer, go to Edit>Copy and then Edit>Paste to create a new cloud layer. Use the Move tool to position the new cloud in the upper centre of the image. Before blending the cloud, go to Enhance>AdjustLighting>Levels and increase the Shadows to 40 to roughly match the sky.

 

7. Blend the cloud

Create a new Levels Adjustment Layer. Move it below the image layer in the Layers palette. Clip it to the new cloud layer using the technique described in step 4. Select a soft black brush, size 300px, Opacity 20%. Click into the Layer Mask. Paint around the edges of the cloud to blend it seamlessly with the sky.

 

 

8. Using the mask

Click onto the merged layer and select the Lasso tool. Select the cloud cluster to the left of the tree, including a little bit of the hilltop. Copy (Ctrl+C) and then Paste (Ctrl+V) the clouds into a new layer. Making sure that the new layer is selected, go to Image>Rotate>FlipLayerHorizontal, then select the Move tool.

 

9. Manipulate the clouds

Grab one of the corner anchor points; increase the size slightly. This will help to make the clouds look significantly different from the originals. Move the clouds over to the left of the image. Open the Levels window (Ctrl + L) and adjust the midtones to 0.85 to match the blue in the clouds with the sky beneath.

 

 

10. Blend with the sky

Create a new Levels Adjustment Layer. Clip it to the bottom of the sky layer as in step 4. Reduce the Opacity to 70%. Use a black brush to remove any sky that covers the hill, reducing the size of the brush as needed to get an accurate blend. Once finished, set the Opacity of the cloud layer back to 100%.

 

 

11. Improve the tones

To improve the image contrast, make sure you have the top layer selected, then create a new Levels Adjustment Layer. Adjust the Shadows to 5 and Highlights to 225 and click OK. Click on the Layers palette options and select Flatten Image. This will flatten all of the adjustments down onto one layer.

 

 

12. Boost the colours

The colour could do with a boost, so create a new Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer and increase the Saturation to 5. There are also a few warm colours in the foreground rock that can be enhanced by using the Edit drop-down. Select Red and increase the value to 50. Use Ctrl+E to merge the layers.

 

 

13. Burn in the shadows

You can now use the Dodge and Burn tools to life the detail within the image. Select the Burn tool and a soft brush with a diameter of 700px and an Exposure of 5%. Set Range to Shadows, then start by painting over the rock, foreground grass and tree to darken the shadows.

 

 

14. Highlight the grass

Once you’ve finished with the Burn tool, left-click and hold on the tool icon to select the Dodge tool. Set the Range to Highlights and use the same values as you did with the Burn tool. Now carefully paint over the grass and rock in the foreground to help lift the highlights from the image.

 

 

15. Sharpen up

It’s good to sharpen the image before applying a vignette, because this will help to avoid any noise being introduced to the sky. Make sure that you have zoomed the image to 100% by using the Ctrl and + keys to zoom in, then go to Enhance>AdjustSharpness. Again, make sure the preview is at 100%.

 

16. Adjust the sharpness

Click and hold the left mouse button in the preview window and drag the image to a point of interest – for this image, the rock in the foreground. Now move the Amount slider to 100% and Radius to 1.5. You’ll instantly see the detail in the rock increase in contrast and lose some of the detail. 

 

17. Fine-tuning

Reduce the Radius slider to 0.5 – this will bring back the finer detail – then reduce the Amount slider to 50%. You want a good balance between the two adjustments that avoids haloing, a sign of over-sharpening. You can check the results before and after by clicking on the preview to see the original image.

 

 

18. Add a vignette

The sky looks better, but the uniformity of the gradient looks a little unnatural. To give a more natural effect, go to Filter>CorrectCameraDistortion and reduce the Vignette Amount to -30. You’ll see the corners darken slightly. Click on the layer options menu and choose Flatten Image.

 

Digital Camera’s 10-part series ‘Teach Yourself Photoshop’ builds into a complete reference library. These easy-to-follow video guides will take you on a start-to-finish journey through perfecting your photos in the digital darkroom. In this second part you’ll find a heap of information about Adobe Camera RAW. In the fourth video you’ll see how to adjust the default settings in the Raw editor to match your own camera. Follow the links on the right to watch more videos from this series.

A look that has become increasingly popular in recent times, especially with portrait images is characterised by muted colours and boosted contrast. In this video tutorial we’ll show you how you can add the effect to your own images. We’ve used a simple portrait taken in a home studio, but you can try out this effect on portraits of your family and friends to give them a magazine style makeover – watch the video to find out more, and check out the related links for the text walkthrough of this tutorial.

Most modern desktop scanners have the capability to scan negatives without any major issues. Here, we show you how to take those scans and improve them dramatically.

1. Straighten and crop

The image needs straightening, so choose the Straighten Tool and select Original Size from the Canvas Options. Click and drag the tool along the horizon line from one side to the other. Next, use the Crop Tool to crop away the areas of exposed canvas.

2. Colour cast removal

To correct any colour cast, go to Enhance>Adjust Colour>Remove Colour Cast. Click with the eyedropper in an area of the image that should be a neutral colour, such as the lighter areas within the sky. It may take a few attempts to get this right. Click OK when you’re happy.

3. Healing dust spots

Add a new Layer and choose the Spot Healing Brush. Choose a soft brush, check Proximity Match and All Layers. Zoom in to the image and use the brush at a small size to dab over all the small marks and dust spots.

4. Selective Levels adjustments

Use the Quick Selection Tool to select the sky. Add a Levels Adjustment Layer via Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Levels. Drag the White Point slider to the left to brighten the highlights and modify the midtones with the central (Gamma) slider.

5. More Adjustment Layers

Use other Levels Adjustment Layers to change the tones in other areas of the image. You can restrict the effect of the Adjustment Layer by filling it with black via Edit>Fill Layer. Paint over the area you want to show adjustment by using the Brush Tool with white as Foreground.

6. Fine adjustments

You can make fine tweaks to each Layer mask by painting into it with black and white. Remember, you can always adjust the settings by double-clicking the Adjustment Layer once you’ve painted the mask. When you’re happy, flatten the image via Layer>Flatten Image.

Professional portrait shots from high street photo studios are easy to create when you have Photoshop on your side. By removing the background from your subjects, correcting the colours and warming the skin tones, you’ll be able to present well rounded and polished portraiture with relative ease. This tutorial will also show you how to use a Levels Adjustment Layer to brighten selected areas of your image.

1. Isolate the figures

Duplicate the Background Layer, then hide it and work on the duplicate. Use the Background Eraser Tool, with a Tolerance of 50%, carefully brush around areas of contrast, such as the man;s shirt and hair. Reduce the Tolerance to 25% and brush around the other edges.

2. Correct colour and brightness

Make the Background Layer visible again and select it. Go to Levels (Ctrl+L), click the middle eyedropper, then click on a neutral grey area to remove the orangey colour cast. To brighten things up, move the right-hand (Highlights) slider to meet the histogram (about 200).

3. Boost the contrast

Duplicate the Background Copy Layer, then go to Hue/Saturation (Ctrl+U) and reduce Saturation to -100. Change the Blending Mode to Overlay and Opacity to 50%. Add a Levels Adjustment Layer, andfine-tune the contrast to taste; values of about 8 and 220, respectively.

4. Warm the skin tones

Now Ctrl-click the original Background Copy Layer thumbnail to select the couple, then add a Photo Filter Adjustment Layer using Warming Filter (85) at 25% to give a natural skin tone. Paint black into the Mask to remove the influence from the eyes and teeth.

5. Brighten eyes and teeth

Add another Levels Adjustment Layer as the top Layer and brighten the teeth and eyes – values of about 15/1.25/10 should do it. Now click this Layer’s Mask thumbnail, press Ctrl+I to invert, so the effect is hidden, then paint the whitening back in using a white brush.

6. Flatten and sharpen

Reduce the Opacity of the whitening Layer to 50% so the eyes and teeth don’t jar. When you’re happy with it, flatten the image and go to Filter>Adjust Sharpness. Sharpen using an Amount of about 80% and Radius around 1.6 pixels so you don’t over-sharpen, and you’re done.