Welcome to my first installment of a new blog series that I will call “Recipe Mondays”. I will choose one photo and take you step by step in showing you how it becomes the finished product. In all of my Recipe Mondays installments, I will be using Photoshop CS4 and Totally Rad Actions unless otherwise noted.
Here we go! We’ve got this shot of an adorable couple I shot last week (check out their blog preview later on today). Here is the original straight out of the camera:
Step 1. Clone-stamped out the extra shrubbery by the tree & adjusted the curves slightly in Photoshop.
Step 2. A little “Yin” on the couple, and a little “Yang” on the tree.
Step 3. Oh, Snap! @ 100%
Step 4. Flare-Up (golden) @ 40%
Step 5. Warm it up, Kris! @ 100%
Step 6. +Contrast @ 100%
Step 7. Burn-Out @50% and erased from the “extreme edges burn” layer from the sky
Step 8. Get Faded (winter) @ 50% and there you have it!!
Now look at the before & after side-by-side.
If you thought this was helpful and would like to see more from me each week, I would love to hear your thoughts. Leave a comment and let me know!
UPDATED 10/27/2009: I know there are lots of photographers who would prefer not to use “someone elses” actions. And I can understand some of the reason why, but in MY CASE, here’s why I owe so much to Mr. Doug Boutwell (creator of Totally Rad Actions). I’ve got four little ones and a high end clientele. These actions were probably my favorite investment in my business and I say this because it has helped me get the “look” I’d always tried to achieve in Photoshop using my own methods, and it has brought my editing time down to at least half the time it had originally taken me. In the end, I have higher quality images + less time on the computer = more time with my husband and kids also = p.r.i.c.e.l.e.s.s. What I love even more about the actions is that there are so many different ones and so many different combinations that you can create.This allows you to manufacture your own “look” just by creating a set of actions from these to get the style you want. I am very thankful to Doug for offering his actions to photographers. I know it must not have been an easy decision for him to share them. In my opinion, you cannot put a price on them. It will be the best $300 bucks you ever spent. Once again, you can buy them HERE!
*By the way, I did not get asked by Doug nor anyone over at Totally Rad Actions to post their links or say what I’ve said. I think I’m pretty hard to please so when I find something I really believe in, I have to tell everyone!
by Caroline
15 comments