Spicing up Images

In this tutorial I will teach you how to spice up some of your nature images in some very easy steps by using adjustment layers, Gaussian blurs, blend modes, apply image and an artistic eye.

We will be taking a boring photograph or image (I used this one that I took in Vermont) and make it look a little more decent.

This is the image I'll be using.

Click to enlarge

Step 1 - Color

My photograph had greens and oranges that just weren't showing up. The oranges / reds were located in the dead leaves and the greens were located in the evergreens. I decided to saturate these colors using the Hue Tutorial: Final Result / Saturation window, which is accessed by hitting "CTRL + U". I increased the Saturation by 10% and hit OK. This gave my image a little more color without being too over the top.

Step 2 - Gaussian Blur

My photograph was lacking some contrast so I decided to make it a little more vibrant. I duplicated my background layer and gave it a Gaussian blur of 2 pixels, then set the blending mode to "Multiply".

However, I felt the effect was too strong so I lowered the opacity of the Multiply layer to 50%

Step 3 - Channel Mixers

After the previous step I was happy with the contrast, but it was time for another color adjustment. You can access the Channel Mixer by going to "Layer -> New Adjustment Layer -> Channel Mixer". The "Channel Mixer" adjusts how much RBG there is in Red, Blue and Green. I wanted my reds to be redder so that the leaves were more vibrant, and my greens to be more vibrant so the trees looked good. I used the following settings.

Step 4 - Gaussian Blur

I decided to repeat step two only I used the blend mode of "Soft Light". Once again, I set the opacity down to 50%. However, since my image wasn't only 1 layer any more, I couldn't just duplicate the background. I made a new layer with "CTRL + SHIFT + N" and I went to "Image -> Apply Image", THEN I used a Gaussian blur and set the blend mode to Soft Light. I then duplicated this layer and set it to "Lighten" and reduced the opacity to 33%.

Step 5 - Curves, Levels, Contrast

These tools all adjust the white, gray and black areas of your photo. I am going to make the blacks blacker and the whites whiter.

Step 6 - Sharpening

My image was now nearly complete; however I decided to make it more defined. I did this by making a new layer and going to "Image -> Apply Image" and hitting "OK". I then went to "Filter -> Sharpen -> Sharpen". If the effect is too strong, you can reduce the layer opacity until it isn't too overpowering.

Click to enlarge

Congratulations! Your image is a more contrasted and interesting then before.