Some tips for editing photos

Ok, so several people have asked for editing tips and I thought it was about time I do something like this…yeah. 

Sharpening

Sharpening is good for unclear photos, but over doing it can ruin the picture. 

Bad Example of Sharpening:

looks like my old edits

This picture needs sharpening because it’s a bit unclear. You don’t want to sharpen a lot. When I sharpen I put the strength at around 10-30 and lower the opacity of the layer if needed.

Good Example (the strength is 30, the opacity is lowered)

Curves

I don’t use the brightness/contrast tool in editing photos. I prefer to use curves. Here you can adjust brightness and colors as well. There should be “Red”, “Green”, and “Blue” setting under the curves, as well as “Value”. Mess around with these until you get the colors you want. I’M BAD AT EXPLAINING THIS. SORRY. But once you see it you should know how to use it. Drag the curve up and down until you get what you want. 

After messing around with Curves:

Now, after you understand curves you need to start using layer modes. “Color” and “Overlay” are my favorites. And I don’t know what the photoshop equivalent for “Color” is. Editing is all trial and error. You just need to spend some time and learn it.

Ok, so here’s the finished edit. I didn’t use anything but sharpening, curves and different layer modes. That’s it!

Sorry for this crappy tutorial

Picture from: http://foxroom.co.kr/