CS5 HDR Tutorial

In this easy CS5 HDR tutorial I'm going to show you how to make one cool image effect with few easy Photoshop CS5 manipulations. HDR or HDRi stands for High Dynamic Range imaging which in the digital photography and computer graphics means a set of techniques allowing a greater dynamic range of luminance between the lightest and darkest areas of an image. For the CS5 HDR tutorial I'm going to use this photo of the beautiful Bulgarian nature.

1. The first thing we have to do is to duplicate the original layer by right clicking on the layer an choosing "Duplicate Layer". We can name our first layer "original" and our duplicated layer "black and white" or just "B&W".

2. Now we have to adjust our "B&W" layer. First we will change the layer's blending mode to "Overlay". Next we have to desaturate the layer. We can do this by going to Image > Adjustments > Desaturate.

Or we can use the keyboard shortcut combination Shift+Ctrl+U. Now we're going to invert the "B&W" layer: Image > Adjustments > Invert Or we can use the keyboard shortcut combination Ctrl+I. 3. It's time to add some Gaussian Blur to our "B&W" Layer. We'll do this by going to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Tweak the blur radius around 30 pixels. You can adjust this to fit your own taste. Anywhere between 20 and 50 pixels will create the "glow" around the edges. Now if you have followed right our CS5 HDR tutorial, you will have an image similar to this:

4. The next thing to do is to duplicate again the original layer and to drag it on top of all layers. We can name this layer "Linear".

We have to change the layer's blending mode to "Linear Light".

Now tweak the opacity of the "Linear" layer until you are satisfied with the final result. For my image I set it to 60%. At the end you have to get an image that looks something like this:

How to convert Normal Face to Photogenic Face

In this Photoshop Tutorial we will be learning a technique in which you will be able to convert a Normal face into Photogenic face. You must have found a lot of tutotials regarding this, but here we will discuss a different technique. We will also learn How to clean any picture by using a different and very simple technique. This would be really helpful for those who are in photography field.

We have chosen this picture on which we would be working on, after opening this picture, press Ctrl+J to duplicate it so we will be saving the original for comparing it with our final result in the last:

1. First of all we would be cleaning the skin by removing stains and wrinkles using some different and easy techniques. Run the command Image > Adjustment > Levels command or simply press Ctrl+L to open Level box and give the following settings:

After hitting OK our picture will look like this:

2. Now run the command Image > Adjustment > Brightness Contrast and give the following settings:

After hitting OK our picture will look like this:

3. Its time to pick Pen tool and select different parts of Forehead, Cheeks, Nose and Chin but before converting the path into selection, don’t forget to give 10px in the radius so you should have selection like this:

4. Run the command Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and give 2 in the radius (don’t give number greater than 2) and hit OK but don’t un-select it, remain the selection on:

5. Here is the technical part which requires your skills, you now have to pick Smudge tool and change the Strength (from top Property Panel) to 10%, now you have to use Smudge tool on different parts of the face but don’t use more than twice on same place so you should have picture like this:

6. Press Ctrl+J 3 times to duplicate the picture, leave the original picture and select the first duplicated layer, go to Layer Panel and change the blending mode from Normal to Soft light and reduce the opacity of the layer to 25%:

7. Select the second duplicated layer and change the blending mode from Normal to Soft Light, but don’t change the opacity of the layer this time, run the command Filter > Blur > Guassian Blur and give 10 in feather radius:

8. Now select the third duplicated layer and change the blending mode from Normal to Soft Light and reduce the opacity to 50% as:

9. Now create new layer on top of all layers and fill it with #bead72 color and change the blending mode from Normal to Overlay and reduce the opacity to 32%, so picture will look like this:

10. Create another new layer on top of all layers and fill it with #c6c0b7 color, the brighter color you will use the more bright the picture would be, change the blending mode of layer from Normal to Soft Light:

11. So here is our final image, I’ve pasted both images at a time so you may have better idea what was the quality of picture and what we have done it. Difference shows clearly on these two pictures. Hopefully you have learn some new techniques by using this tutorial and enjoyed it a lot.

This tutorial is taking from website www.stunningmesh.com

Change hair color in photoshop

In this tutorial I'll Show how you can easily change someone hair color.
Step 1
Open your photo.
I chose this one:

Use quick mask to select the hair: press Q to start using quick mask.
Take a big hard brush (hardness and Opacity set to 100% ) with the color black, And paint with it over the hair. Don't worry about getting out of lines a little, we'll take care for that later. When you paint with black using quick mask anything you'll paint will be red.

Step 2
When you finished masking all the hair Press Q again, and you'll get a selection of anything except the masked area.
Press Ctrl + Shift + I To select Inverse, and you'll have a selection of the hair.

Step 3
Make a New layer By pressing Ctrl + Shift + N or going to Layer > New Layer.
Set the layers Blend mode to Soft light

Choose the color you want to use and go to Edit > Fill To fill your selection with the color.
The color you choose at this point doesn't matter much because you can easily change it later, But try to choose a color similar to the one you want in the end result.
I want to make her blond so I chose this color: #aca177
After you filled in the layer press Ctrl + D To Deselect.

Step 4
Zooming in the photo you can see that there are many places that shouldn't be colored.

Take the Eraser Tool
Choose a brush with its Hardness Set to O, and Opacity about 50%
And delete or soften all the areas that shouldn't be colored

Step 5
After you finished deleting all the unwanted areas,
Right click on the color layer and choose Duplicate Layer

Zoom in, and you'll see some new parts that should be cleaned,
Remove them with the Eraser Tool

This is my result:

Step 6
If you don't like the color of your end result, you can easily change it.
In the layer menu, Click on the Lock Transparent Pixels Icon.
Do it on both hair color layers.

Now all the transparent pixels can't be colored.
Choose a color, and go to Edit > Fill.
Do it on both layers.
You can also choose different color for each layer for a better result, I think when coloring a dark hair its better you use a darker color on the first layer and a brighter color on the second layer.

Here some examples I made, Along with the colors I used.

First layer color: #bfbf81

Second layer color: #ebebcd

First layer color: #092336

Second layer color: #6692b0

First layer color: #5e2e11

Second layer color: #eaaa87

Create A Soft Focus Effect

Glamour Effect In Photoshop

In this tutorial we will make your portraits look like the glamour shots in fashion magazines.
1. Open your image in Photoshop. Check if photo Mode is RGB Color (Main Menu -> Image -> Mode -> RGB Color)

2. In next step we need to duplicate original Layer. See how I did in image below:

We need to get option like this:

3. Now we need to set filter, go to [Main Menu - Filter - Blur - Gaussian Blur] and set a radius of 3px. See image:

4. Now change the layer mode to Overlay. And check both image to Layer Visibility mode.

In final we will get the next result: