A Photograph’s Life — Before and After Photoshop

You know the old saying "a magician never reveals his secret". Well, thank goodness I’m not a magician. I’m simply a plastic surgeon for photographs.

I’ve always being ask about the "how did you get such effect?" by visitors to yello77.com. I’m always so eager to share, but too lazy to write about it. Finally, I’ve got some time to put something together. I’ve selected a handful of photographs from a variety of albums from my own collection that best illustrate how Photoshop processing can greatly enhance a mediocre photo into something that is picture-frame worthy. Here’s some of the before and after photos along with some simple explanation about the procedure that have been perform to it.

21mm f-2.8 1/400 ISO 200
– Slightly tighter cropping
– White Balance for Tungsten
– Color Balance for a greenish bluish tint
– Clone in background on the lower left side
– Increase exposure by 25% to make it brighter
– Lowering the contrast by 15% to lighten and even out detail
– Recovering shadowed detail around the face and eyes area with the Highlight/Shadow Recovery tool
– Skin retouching around the face and under the eyes with Blurring filter, High Pass filter, Noise filter and Mask
– Lightening of the eyes with Level Adjustment Layer so it sparkle a bit
– Lightening legs for a glowing look with Level Adjustment Layer
– Sharpening ONLY around the face area with the High Pass filter and Layer Mask
– Apply a streaky texture layer set to Overlay for more of an artist effect
– Added snow flakes to filled in negative space
– Vignettes around the edge and corner

35mm f-2.8 1/250 ISO 200
– Really tighter cropping
– White Balance for Tungsten
– Color Balance for a greenish bluish tint
– Increase exposure by 5% to make it brighter
– Smoothening the skin around the face so it looks more even
– Lightening of the eyes with Level Adjustment Layer so it sparkle a bit
– Sharpening ONLY around the face area with the High Pass filter and Layer Mask
– Apply a dirty texture layer set to Overlay for more of an artist effect

35mm f-2.8 1/500 ISO 200
– Slightly tighter cropping
– White Balance for Tungsten
– Color Balance for a greenish bluish tint for the highlight area
– Color Balance for a dark reddish tint for the darker tones
– Increase exposure by 25% to make it brighter
– Recovering shadowed detail around the face and eyes area with Level Adjustment Layer and Mask
– Skin retouching for a smoother look
– Lightening legs for a glowing look with Level Adjustment Layer
– Sharpening ONLY around the face area with the High Pass filter and Layer Mask
– Added snow flakes for a more snowy effect
– Vignettes around the edge and corner

50mm f-1.4 1/1000 ISO 400
– White Balance for Overcast
– Color Balance for a Yellowish tint
– Slight facial retouching for the blemish
– Increase exposure 10% to make it brighter
– Increase saturation by 15%
– Recovering shadowed detail around the eyes
– Skin retouching for bags under the eyes

50mm f-1.4 1/100 ISO 200
– White Balance for Daylight
– Increase exposure by 25% to make it brighter
– Increasing the overall contrast by 20% with Level Adjustment Layer and Mask
– Increase saturation

35mm f-2.8 1/500 ISO 200
– White Balance for Daylight
– Increase exposure by 25% to make it brighter
– Increasing the overall contrast with the Curve Adjustment layer 15%
– Increase saturation by 15%
– Bringing out additional detail in the eyes by the curve tool 10%
– Sharpening of the eyes, eyelash and lips with the High Pass filter and Layer Mask
– Vignettes around the edge and corner

50mm f-1.4 1/50 ISO 400
– White Balance for tungsten
– Color Balance for a slight yellowish tint
– Extensive facial retouching with Blurring filter, High Pass filter and Noise filter and Mask
– Sharpening of the eyes, eyelash and lips with the High Pass filter and Layer Mask

35mm f-7.1 1/80 ISO 200
– Slightly tighter cropping
– White Balance for Daylight
– Color Balance for a yellowish tint
– Color Balance for a dark reddish tint for the darker tones
– Skin retouching around the face and under the eyes with Blurring filter, High Pass filter, Noise filter and Mask
– Slightly blurring the entire image for the slight out of focus look.
– Apply a worn out texture over the image to give it a more vintage polaroid effect

31mm f-6.3 1/160 ISO 200
– Tighter cropping
– White Balance for Daylight
– Color Balance for a warm and yellowish tint
– Increase exposure by 20% to make it brighter
– Lowering the contrast by 10% to lighten and even out detail
– Increase saturation overall by 15%
– Recovering shadowed detail around the entire body (face, arms, blouse, jeans) with the Highlight/Shadow Recovery tool plus Layer Mask
– Blurring around the body to create that soft glowing effect with Blur Filter and Mask
– Applying blur on the background to enhance that out of focus effect with Blur Filter and Mask
– Vignettes around the edge and corner

35mm f-3.5 1/1000 ISO 200
– Skin retouching around the face and under the eyes with Blurring filter, High Pass filter, Noise filter and Mask
– Sharpening of the eyes, eyelash and lips with the High Pass filter and Layer Mask

21mm f-2.8 1/800 ISO 400
– White Balance for Overcast
– Color Balance for a slight greenish yellowish tint
– Color Balance for a slight dark reddish tint for the darker tones
– Desaturation 10%
– Skin retouching around the face area with the Blurring filter, High Pass filter, Noise filter and Mask
– Sharpening of the eyes, eyelash and lips with the High Pass filter and Layer Mask
– Recovering some highlight detail on the sky and tree area with the Highlight/Shadow Recovery tool plus Layer Mask
– Vignettes around the edge and corner

55mm f-20 1/100 ISO 400
– Increase exposure to make the photo slightly more exposed
– Increasing the overall contrast with Level Adjustment Layer and Mask
– Saturation just a bit
– Apply lens flare effect with the Lens Flare Filter
– Vignettes around the edge and corner

35mm f-2.8 1/800 ISO 200
– Increase exposure by 10% to make the photo more exposed
– Increasing the overall contrast by 10% with Level Adjustment Layer and Mask
– Saturation by 20%
– Recovering highlight details in the background with the Highlight/Shadow Recovery tool plus Layer Mask
– Vignettes around the edge and corner

16mm f-2.8 1/50 ISO 200
– Lower exposure by 10% to make a little bit darker
– Color Balance for a slight greenish yellowish tint
– Increasing the overall contrast by 10% with Level Adjustment Layer and Mask
– Saturation by 20%
– Recovering highlight details in the bottles with the Highlight/Shadow Recovery tool plus Layer Mask
– Vignettes around the edge and corner

50mm f-1.4 1/1600 ISO 200
– White Balance for Overcast
– Color Balance overall for a yellowish tint
– Color Balance for a darker yellowish tint on the background
– Increase exposure by 10% to make it brighter
– Increase the overall contrast by 10%
– Darkening the background by 20% with with Level Adjustment Layer and Mask
– Desaturation by 10%
– Recovering highlight detail on the dress with the Highlight/Shadow Recovery tool
– Sharpening ONLY around the dress High Pass filter and Layer Mask
– Apply a crackle texture layer set to Overlay for the rustic effect
– Vignettes around the edge and corner

26mm f-3.2 1/1000 ISO 200
– White Balance for Overcast
– Color Balance overall for a muddy yellowish tint
– Color Balance for a dark reddish tint for the darker tones
– Decrease exposure by 15% to make it darker
– Increase the overall contrast by 20%
– Desaturation by 20%
– Recovering highlight detail on the sky with the Highlight/Shadow Recovery tool
– Vignettes around the edge and corner

50mm f-1.8 1/250 ISO 200
– Tighter cropping
– White Balance for Overcast
– Color Balance overall for a light yellowish tint
– Color Balance for a dark greenish tint for the darker tones
– Increase exposure by 10% to make it darker
– Increase the overall contrast by 20%
– Saturation by 10%
– Recovering highlight detail on the sky with the Highlight/Shadow Recovery tool
– Apply an old and dirty photo frame layer set to Overlay for a more vintage effect

50mm f-8 1/320 ISO 200
– White Balance for Overcast
– Color Balance overall for a muddy greenish tint
– Color Balance for a dark purple tint for the darker tones
– Increase exposure by 10% to make it darker
– Increase the overall contrast by 20%
– Saturation by 20%
– Recovering highlight detail on the sky with the Highlight/Shadow Recovery tool
– Vignettes around the edge and corner