Since light is the most important thing when it comes to photographs and good or bad light can make or break the photo.
Why not try and control the light a bit more by adding or removing light in post-production.
This way you can emphasize on different parts and strengthen the natural light.
In reality this is more or less just like the dodge and burn tool in Photoshop,
but this method is non destructive meaning you have a lot more control to it and can change it anytime you like.
Start with your photo and do whatever magic you want to it. I'm using an one old photo here where the technique have been used to show.
The Guide
- Start with creating a new layer. Click the little notepad or New from the Layer menu.
(Optional step is to fill the layer with 50% grey. You can do this from the Edit menu under Fill.
This will not show when switching to a blending mode but makes it easier to see how you have painted.)
- Set blending mode to any of the ones marked with green. I have used Hard Light in this case. I most often use Overlay or Soft Light.
- Use the Brush Tool and set the tip to very soft flow and low opacity. This way you have to draw more times but will have better control.
- Use black to darken and white to lighten up. Black will only make dark parts darker and white brighten up the brighter parts.
By number 4 on the photo is an example of how it can look when you have painted a bit. Notice I have filled layer with 50% grey here to make it more visible.
- You can choose to paint with black in one layer and white in another or do both colors in the same.
Then as a final step do some adjustments to the layer opacity to make it just how you want it.
Check "secret Image" for version without the layers used for painted light to see the difference.
I have probably made it sound more complicated then this method really is.
Anyway hope you can follow the steps and find it useful. This works well on both color & black&white.
Feel free to leave feedback.
