Portraiture Post-Processing For The Advanced by Banhup Teh v1-0

Portraiture Post-processing
for the Advanced

1st Edition by Banhup Teh

All images and contents Copyright 2009 Banhup Teh. All rights reserved.
Contents
Introduction.......................................................................................iii
Chapter 1 Sharpening - the final say
Simple Unsharp Mask.......................................................................1
Unsharp Mask with tweaks...............................................................3
Chapter 2 How to enhance facial features...
Initial preparation
Open file in Adobe Bridge..........................................................7
Pre-sharpening of image...........................................................11
Enhancing catchlights...............................................................16

Post-processing proper
Blend modes..............................................................................21
Adjusting Color Balance...........................................................27
Adjusting Levels.......................................................................28
Adjusting Hue/Saturation.........................................................30
Final preparation
Resize for web posting.............................................................32
Sharpening................................................................................34
Convert to Profile.....................................................................37
Chapter 3 How to correct areas of underexposure......................40
Chapter 4 How I do black and white conversion
Step 1 - Processing in color............................................................50
Step 2 - Black and white conversion..............................................55
Sepia...............................................................................................61
Chapter 5 Blend the blend
For black and white images...........................................................66
Portraiture post-processing by Banhup Photography for the Advanced
i

For color images.............................................................................70
Initial preparation
Improving catchlights.....................................................71
Removing skin blemishes...............................................73
Multiply blend................................................................74
Adjusting Color Balance................................................75
Adjusting Levels............................................................76
Adjusting Hue/Saturation..............................................76
Second blend..................................................................78

Chapter 6 Here are some examples
Homesick.......................................................................................83
Pout................................................................................................96

How to get a high key image.......................................................105
Smok-i-n-g...................................................................................112
Chapter 7 And finally...................................................................118
ii
Introduction
This is a sequel to my first ebook on portraiture post-processing for the beginner. In
that book I described how I would process a straightforward portrait from start to
finish illustrated with numerous diagrams to assist the beginner. As mentioned in that
book, even though it was aimed at the beginner, the techniques described is already a
good start to get pro-like results.
However life as a photographer is not always as simple as that. Many a times we will
be challenged by some images begging for more from the photographer to get some
stunning post-processed results. This is where this ebook will have its main
objectives. Let me state clearly here that this ebook is not a description of all the
techniques available in Adobe Photoshop CS3; it is to describe what I personally use.
Like the first ebook, I will be showing many examples with many more images to
illustrate the many challenges one may face. It is my hope again that a picture will be
worth a thousand words. As I assume the reader has either read my ebook for
beginners and/or is an advanced user of Photoshop, I will not be describing in detail
some of the steps mentioned here for not wanting to repeat myself and/or boring the
advanced user. If you think you do not want to miss out anything, I suggest you get
that ebook to make this series a complete collection.
I would like to mention here again that I will be using Adobe Photoshop CS3 on an
iMac computer. For users of Windows operating system I have included alternative
steps to guide you along.
I will be following very much the same tested format used in the first ebook. I will
first give a brief run-through of my workflow followed by the processing of some
examples that require challenges.
All the images used here are my own. If you like to see more you may go to my
various sites to view them at your leisure.
For the benefit of those who do not know me, I am a pediatrician in private practice,
and a very keen available light portrait photographer. I now do almost exclusively
available light photography simply because it allows me to shoot almost anywhere
and anytime with minimal preparations. More importantly the post-processing
techniques described here complement this form of photography beautifully.
Finally it is my sincere hope that you will find this ebook beneficial and that after
reading it, you can enjoy your photography at a higher level. Yes, go out, shoot more
and have fun!
iii
Acknowledgements
Many of us have our own teachers, friends and favorite photographers to provide us
tips and inspirations to guide us along. I have my fair share of these and to them I
extend my sincere gratitude. Special thanks must be given to Manuel Librodo Jr. who
has opened up the world of post-processing for me. He is a true master of portraiture
whose vision and post-processing techniques are simply awesome. Without him and
the many who have helped in one way or another, I wouldnt be what I am today.

I would also like to thank all of you who have made this a possibility as without your
support and encouragement I would not have embarked on this project. I would also
like to thank all my friends who have taken the effort and time to go through this
ebook, and giving me feedbacks and recommendations to make this ebook as what it
is today.
Last but not least, I would like to thank my beautiful wife Li Har, my children Shao
Wen, Sheng Rong, Shao Wei and Sheng Han, for their understanding for allowing me
to spend some precious family time on the writing of this ebook.
Before you continue with this ebook...
For all those who have bought my first ebook you are already aware that I strongly
suggested that you change the default color space in Photoshop of sRGB (which is
the correct color space for Web posting) to Adobe RGB (1998) which supports a
greater gamut of colors. I have also suggested that you set your in-camera color space
to Adobe RGB (1998). If you have not done so (especially if you have not bought my
first ebook and are not aware) I hope you will do it now.
In the same ebook I have also advised the reader to shoot in RAW. I went on the
discuss the advantages of shooting in RAW. I believe that if one is a serious
Photoshop user he/she should be shooting in RAW. Henceforth I will be describing
my workflow with the assumption that the reader is shooting in RAW.
The above aside, lets move on and have some fun.
banhupteh.com
iv
Chapter 1 Sharpening - the final say
We will be using this all the time hence I would like to describe this first.
There are many ways you can sharpen your images and one of my most used
methods is to use Unsharp Mask - a simple straightforward Unsharp Mask or one
with tweaks. Whichever method you use always do your sharpening as the last step in
your workflow. It cannot be over-emphasized that one should get a sharp image in-
camera. Even then one should sharpen his image at the end of the workflow simply
because the post-processing being done will affect the sharpness somewhat.

There is no magic figures to follow but what I am going to describe here are my two
most commonly used sets. Remember to always do it to taste and not to overdo it to
such an extent that you see halos. When that happens your amateurish attempts at
post-processing will stick out like a sore thumb.
1. Simple Unsharp Mask
Start with Duplicate a Layer by pressing Command-J (Windows: Control-J).
Zoom in to 100% for a better view of exactly what the sharpening is doing to your
image. To zoom in just press Command + (Windows: Control +). Go to
Filter>Sharpening>Unsharp Mask and from the submenu that appears use Amount
85% (or more, your choice), Radius 1 pixel and Threshold 4 levels and click OK.
1
Then adjust the opacity to taste.
Practice points: Since we can adjust the opacity slider you may experiment with the Amount level
to achieve an optimum sharpening to your preference. It is good practice to zoom in to 100% when
you perform this step to better judge the effects the sharpening has on your image.
2
2. Unsharp Mask with tweaks
This will involve quite a few steps and as such I would advise you to save this as an
Action. I have done so and saved it as F6 so that at the end of my workflow I just
press F6. I have tried different values for the various steps to be described below and
the values suggested are the best to my taste. You may experiment with other values
but I suggest you use these for a start.
Again start by Duplicate a Layer and zoom in to 100% as stated above.
Click Filter>Sharpen>Unsharp Mask and apply values of Amount 15%, Radius 30
pixels and Threshold 0 levels.
Click OK to apply the values.
3
Now click Filter>Sharpen>Unsharp Mask again and use 120, 0.2 and 0 for Amount,
Radius and Threshold respectively.
Click OK to apply values.
Then go to Edit>Fade Unsharp Mask and change the Mode to Darken and reduce
opacity to 80%. Click OK.
4
Repeat Filter>Sharpen>Unsharp Mask at 120, 0.2 and 0.
Then go to Edit>Fade Unsharp Mask but this time set the Mode to Lighten and
reduce the opacity to 40%, and click OK.
5
With these steps of sharpening your image will be dramatically sharpened. You may
still adjust the opacity of Layer 1 to your taste like so.
You can now appreciate why I have saved these steps as an Action to save me time in
my workflow. I have described the method of saving actions in my first ebook and I
shall not be describing it here again. I have also written a tutorial on this at my
website banhupteh.com. Click here if you want to know more.
I suggest you save this sharpening technique as an Action too. That way you will save
a lot of time whenever you need to use it - which would be very often, let me assure
you.
Practice points: Notice that for all intents and purposes this tweaked Unsharp Mask results in a
more contrasty image. If you already have a contrasty image I suggest you use the basic Unsharp
Mask.
6
Chapter 2 How to enhance facial features
This image will illustrate how I process images of senior citizens where I want to
enhance their facial features. It was taken in Bali in May 2008 at a photo-safari
organized by me. We met this 80 year-old duck farmer at a farm near the villa we
stayed in. It was late morning and the sun was up.
The following steps will show how I would process this image. Notice that I divide
my workflow into 3 stages i.e Initial preparation, Post-processing proper and Final
preparation.
Initial preparation
1. Open file in Adobe Bridge
On opening the RAW file I found the image slightly over-exposed. Hence I reduced
the Exposure slider to -0.60. Below is the result.
7
This is a bit too warm for me hence I reduced the
Temperature by adjusting the slider to the left to
5100K (diagram left).
Notice the histogram. This is still a warm image
(my preference).
Some photographers prefer a perfect white balance where the 3 primary colors merge
in the histogram like shown with the red arrows below. Not my taste for this image.
8
You will notice as we go along that I do many steps to my taste and sometimes I go
against the conventional. To me I must please myself first before I can please anyone
else.
Back to the processing. I like to have a closer crop of this image. I have selected the
crop tool (circled in red) and cropped this image like so:
You will also note that there are many more parameters one can adjust if required but
I honestly seldom use them. I do occasionally play with the Recovery slider to reduce
blown highlights, the Fill Light slider to get back lost details in the shadow areas and
the Clarity slider to improve on the apparent sharpness of the image. More of that
later.
9
Satisfied that I did not require to adjust anything else, I click Open Image to get the
following in Photoshop:
For those who still insist on shooting in jpegs the above steps obviously would not
apply. I do occasionally (very, very occasionally) shoot in jpegs. If I do so I would
apply Auto Levels to it to see if it improves on the captured image before I proceed
with further post-processing. To do that, first Duplicate a Layer.
Then go to Image>Adjustments>Auto Levels and click followed by adjusting the
opacity to taste.
If it does nothing much to the image, skip this step.
10
2. Pre-sharpening of image
I occasionally do this before I proceed with the
processing. I have mentioned it many times in my first
ebook why I always work in Layers and I presume as
an advanced user you should know why.
Duplicate the Layer now.
To do this, press Command-J (Windows: Control-J).
There are other ways to do this which I have described
in my first ebook but I find the above the most
convenient. Hence I suggest we stick to that.
After duplicating the layer you will notice a Layer 1 in
the Layers palette on the bottom right of your screen as
shown on the left here.
Now go to Filter>Sharpening>Unsharp mask.
11
You will get this dialog.
Set the Amount, Radius and Threshold to your taste. I find 85, 2.0, 0 usually works.
You may try that. Then click OK.
You will note a much sharper image. Since we have worked in layers you may adjust
the opacity of the sharpness to taste by adjusting the opacity slider of your Layers
palette at the bottom right of your screen.
If you zoom in to 100% you will note that you have created some noise in some areas
which must be removed. This once again shows the importance of always working in
layers which allows one to make corrections.
12
This is what you will see when zoomed in to 100%. It is not so obvious here but
believe me, noise is there.
Now add a Layer mask by clicking on the 3rd icon from the left on the Layers palette
at bottom right of your screen as shown below. It is the icon like a box with a circle
within it (circled in red).
13
Go to the Tool bar to the left of the screen and click the 8th icon from the top (see
left diagram). Right click it and you see this dialog.
Click the Brush Tool to select it. The keyboard shortcut is the B key.
Now go to the top bar and select an opacity of 100% as shown below.
Change the brush size to an appropriate dimension by pressing the bracket key
[ (reduce) or ] (increase) so that you can erase areas where you want to
remove the noise and/or you do not want sharpened. In my case I just erased over
the background areas. Below is the result. Notice the noise is gone. Alright,
believe me it is gone.
14
Now go to Layer>Flatten Image and click.
Notice that Layer 1 has disappeared (flattened) as seen in the Layers palette where
only the Background layer remains. Now to the next step.
15
3. Enhancing catchlights.
I place a lot of emphasis on getting good catchlights in the eyes. This usually comes
together with a sharp and well focussed image with proper lighting. Even then I make
it a point to further enhanced it to the best I can and still make it look natural.
I have described this in detail in my first ebook but because of its importance I will
describe this again.
Again Duplicate the Layer by pressing Command-J (Windows: Control-J).
Now get the Lasso tool which is at the 3rd icon from the top of the left Tool bar
(see left).
Right click on it and you will get this dialog.
Click on it. Now go back to the image.
Zoom
16
Zoom in to see the eyes better like so.
Lasso one eye first to as near to the cornea as you can. No worries if you cant as you
will have some leeway to rectify any errors later.
Being a right-hander I somehow will lasso the right eye first. To lasso the other eye
press Shift and continue the lasso. If you had not pressed the Shift key your first lasso
will disappear.
This is what I got.
17
Now go to Image>Adjustments>Shadow/Highlight and click.
You will get this dialog box.
Click on the Show More Options checkbox. You will get the menu below.
I want you to concentrate on the top
slider (Amount) and the bottom slider
(Midtone Contrast). These are the two
sliders we will be adjusting when we
perform this catchlights enhancement.
I usually start with the Midtone
Contrast slider and commonly use +70.
You will notice I have already done it
here. I suggest you click the Save As
Defaults button at the bottom of the
dialog for future usage.
Then adjust the Amount slider to your
taste if required. I have not done it in
this image as I think it is good enough.
Then click OK.
18
Below is the result. Notice the extra highlights around the cornea which required
cleaning.
Now add a Layer mask the method of which I have described in the Pre-sharpening
workflow above. Once added you will notice the white box in Layer 1.
19
Now select the Brush tool at 100% as described in the Pre-sharpening workflow.
Reduce the size to an appropriate dimension and use that to clean meticulously
around the cornea. This is what I got.
The catchlights have now been enhanced. You may adjust the opacity to taste. I have
not done so here as the final product looks good to me.
I have described in my first ebook that the next step in preparing the image for further
post-processing should be removal of skin blemishes and any distractions that may be
present followed by skin smoothening technique. These are cool steps that one must
master. For obvious reasons I will not do them here especially the skin creases. In
fact I would like to enhance these creases to get a more dramatic portrait.
Lets move on to the next step which will show you how I enhance this image.
Practice points: It is important to do this step of enhancing catchlights properly so that the final
result looks natural and not cartoonish. I normally zoom the image out to 25% and adjust the
opacity of the applied Shadow/Highlight carefully.
20
1. Blend modes
For this type of image I like to do Multiply blend to get a more saturated and warm
result.
Go to the Layers palette and look for the drop-down menu with Normal in it
(circled in red below).
21
Click on Normal and you will get this menu.
Click Multiply and you will get a darkened, very saturated image.
22
With this darkened, saturated image it allows us to work on two parameters i.e a layer
of light (note that darkness is to further emphasize the light) and saturation/
shadows. Both these will complement each other to produce a final dramatic image.
Note that by returning some of the darkened areas to a lighter tone (leaving the
darkened areas alone) we are actually enhancing these lightened areas. Similarly by
returning some of saturated areas to a less saturated one we are actually playing with
shadows which will mould our image to make it more 3D-like.
How then do we do this? Again we add a Layer mask and use the Brush tool for this.
Now add a layer mask.
Select the Brush tool. Then go to the top of the screen to set the opacity to 30%.
23
Go over the areas that you want to lighten with an appropriately sized brush over the
right eye area as marked in red here. Change the brush size to fit those crease lines.
This is the result of cleaning the right eye area including the eyeball.
Imagine yourself like painting the lighter areas of the creases. I have continued to
brush creases on the right side of the face. Compare the difference from the left side.
24
Now brush the lines of the rest of the face, eyeballs, neck, headgear and his clothing.
This is what I got.
Next do the background with an appropriately sized brush to your taste. This is my
taste. Notice the less saturated background.
25
Compare this with the initial image as shown at the bottom below. See the vast
difference? Our work is not finished here.
26
2. Adjusting Color balance
Notice the change in the color tone as a result of the blending; the red channel has
especially been enhanced. Now go to the Layers Palette and click on the Adjustments
icon as circled in red.
You will get this dialog on the right.
Click on Color Balance to get the dialog below.
Pull the top slider to the left towards Cyan to reduce the
Red Channel to taste. I have reduced it by -4. Click OK.
27
3. Adjusting Levels
Remember that after Multiply blending the image has been darkened. We need to
brightened the image as the Histogram on the top right of your screen will show.
Click on the same Adjustments icon as mentioned above to get this dialog.
Click on Levels. The dialog below will appear.
Drag the right slider (as shown in red arrow) to the left till to taste. This will brighten
the image in its entirety with some areas of blown highlights. Click OK.
28
How do we correct the areas with blown highlights (mainly right side of the face
here)?
Yes, use the Brush tool to correct that. Set it at 60% and go over the areas that you
think needs correction. I went over the right cheeks, nose, chin and the right ear with
an appropriately sized Brush. Below is the result. Notice the return of details?
29
Now do the same for the left side of the face too. This is what I obtained.
4. Adjusting Hue/Saturation
This is still too over-saturated for my taste due to the earlier Multiply blending. Like
in Color Balance and Levels adjustments, go to the Adjustments icon, click it and
select Hue/Saturation. You will get this dialog.
Now look and concentrate on the
saturation of the face. Adjust the
middle Saturation slider to taste till
the faces saturation is more
natural. In this case I drag it to the
left and at -7 the saturation is more
natural.
Click OK to apply the values.
30
The above action will reduce the saturation of all other areas including the
background as well. I prefer to have a more saturated background. Hence with the
appropriately sized Brush tool set at 100% opacity, I went over the background to
correct the reduced saturation due to my earlier adjustment on Hue/Saturation. This is
what I obtained.
The above is my personal taste. Your taste may be different from mine. Therefore I
suggest you play with the adjustments I have described above to experiment what
your preference leads you to. You may be surprised with what you can do.
Now that we have finished the post-processing proper we proceed to the final
preparation to allow us to post this image in the web for sharing purposes.
31
Final preparation
This will depend on what you intend to do with the final image. Most of us, yours
truly included, save and/or share our images in the net and as such I will proceed with
that in mind.
The following is what I normally do:
1. Resize for web posting
2. Sharpening
3. Convert to Profile
1. Resize for web posting
I normally save and share my images with the longest side at 800 pixels. This to me
is the minimum size for proper appreciation of our images and I suggest you do the
same. To do that go to Image>Image size as shown below.
32
Click it and you will get this dialog:
Notice that I have already changed the longest side (in this case is the Width) to 800
pixels. Then click OK.
33
2. Sharpening
We will use the special sharpening technique I have explained earlier and saved into
an Action with the F6 keystroke as a shortcut.
Before we press F6 Duplicate a Layer. This is to allow us better control of the final
sharpened image by adjusting the opacity thereafter.
34
Now press F6 and your image will be sharpened as such.
I find it too sharp hence I have reduced the opacity to 80%. The marvel of Layers!
35
This is my finished product.
Compare this with the initial image to see the difference.
36
3. Convert to Profile
Remember we have set the color space to Adobe RGB and for web posting we must
convert it back to sRGB. Otherwise your photo will appeared washed out and dull.
Go to Edit>Convert to Profile... and click it. You will get this dialog:
Select Profile and from the drop-down menu select sRGB IE61966-2.1 and click OK.
You have now converted the profile from Adobe RGB to sRGB.
You can now save your file and to be used to upload into the web for sharing
purposes.
The following are some examples of images processed the same way as described
above.
37
38
39
Chapter 3 How to correct areas of under-exposure
Sometimes we encounter some great images that unfortunately have grossly uneven
exposure with critical areas that are too dark due to the limitations of the digital
sensor. The following is a good example.
If you zoom in you will note that this is a decent image that is worth processing.
40
This is how I will do it.
Open image in Adobe Bridge. Note the blown highlights in red. We can see this
because I have enabled this feature by clicking on the yellow arrow (circled in red)
on the top tight hand corner of the histogram. I always leave this as default so that I
can see the blown highlights easily.
I normally start with the white balance (Temperature slider) but since I am satisfied
with it I have left it as it is.
41
Now crop it to taste. I have done it with a 4:5 ratio.
You can now ignore the blown
highlights outside the crop and
concentrate on those within.
Go to the Recovery slider
which is at default zero. Drag
it to the right till the blown
highlights disappear. In my
case the value is 28.
Open this image in Photoshop
and leave it there.
42
Open another RAW file of the same image.
This time concentrated on the dark areas. Adjust the Exposure slider till you are
satisfied with the exposure of the dark areas. In this case I needed +2.00.
You can ignore the areas of blown highlights for the time being.
Now open this image in Photoshop too. You now have 2 images with different
exposures in your workspace. If you cannot see both of them, press F repeatedly till
you see both the images in their respective windows.
You may also go to the top menu and click on Window>Arrange>Tile Horizontally.
43
This is what you will get.
Get the Move tool by either clicking on it at the top of the Tool box or simply by
pressing V on your keyboard. Drag the darker image and with the Shift key
depressed, release it on the brighter one. The depressed Shift key is to allow you to fit
the darker image exactly into the other one.
You will now see that the brighter image will look exactly the same as the darker one.
Dont let that fool you as the brighter image is lying underneath waiting to be
revealed in the appropriate places. To prove its existence you can see that there are 2
layers on the Layers palette on the bottom right.
I would now like to see the fullscreen of these layered images by pressing F so that I
can better process it.

44
By pressing F this is what I will see.
Our next objective is to work on the under-exposed areas meticulously to salvage
them to taste. Now apply a Layers mask the method of which has been described
previously. The mask is as shown circled in red below.
45
Then select a Brush at opacity 30% and choose a size appropriate for the size of the
dark areas. In my case I used a Brush size of 125. Go over the dark areas you want
properly exposed. You may do this repeatedly at appropriate areas if necessary. Be
careful on the face where the dark area meets the well exposed area.
I have done this and this is the result.
This is a good base.
I would then apply my post-processing proper. This would mean working on the
catchlights, Multiply blending, adjusting Levels, Color Balance, Hue/Saturation etc
as described previously in the duck farmer.
Want to see the finished product of this post-processing?
46
Here it is.
Compare this with the base image and appreciate the huge difference. Therefore do
not delete some good but partially under-exposed images. You may be surprised what
you can do with them with the method described above.
Having said that, there are many other ways to salvage these types of images. The
above is the usual way I do it. There is another way that I use occasionally but it does
not give me as much control as the method described above.
This method involves another blend mode called Screen. To illustrate it, lets open the
image again as described for the dark image mentioned above. This would mean a
cropped image with adjustment of the Recovery slider at value 28%.
Duplicate a Layer.
Apply Screen blend mode.
47
This will be the result.
Then apply Layers mask and with a Brush tool of appropriate size and opacity, work
on the over-exposed areas as opposed to the working on the under-exposed areas in
the previous method. For my case I used an opacity of 60%.
As in the previous method, you may go over areas repeatedly to taste and be
meticulous while working on the face where the dark area meets the exposed one. We
do not want to leave any evidence of poor post-processing.
48
This is the result of this method.
The result is not as good but quite decent for post-processing proper. As mentioned
earlier, this method does not give me as much control as the first method. In the first
method I can ensure that the whole image is properly exposed as determined in
Adobe Bridge except for the underexposed face. In the Screen blend method I have to
depend on my visual capabilities (which often play tricks on me) to determine that.
Moreover whatever method you do in Photoshop it may add artifacts unlike the
RAW processing in Adobe Bridge.
49
Chapter 4 How I do Black and White conversion
Not many people can see the world in black and white. Without color to hide behind,
a black and white image has to depend on light, tone, texture, contrast and
composition. With these features in mind, how then can we tackle the problem and
convert a color image that also pops out in black and white? The following tutorial
will demonstrate how I do it.
I always start off with processing the image as per usual in color. This way I can
ensure that before I do the conversion my image has a good base as far as light,
texture, tone and contrast are concerned. I will still have to work on it after
conversion but there is nothing like a good base to start with.
By now you should be quite proficient with the post-processing in colors. Hence I
will just mention the steps so as not to bore you.
Step 1 - Processing in Color
Open RAW image in Adobe Bridge. I will use this to illustrate this workflow.
50
Crop and adjust parameters to taste. In this case I just increase the Exposure to +0.45.
51
Open image in CS3. I like to emphasize on his features hence I choose to pre-sharpen
this image with Unsharp Mask at 85,2,0. To do that, duplicate a layer. Then apply
Unsharp Mask at Amount 85%, Radius 2.0 pixels and Threshold at 0 levels. There
may be some noise especially at the blurred areas as in this case. To remove that
apply a Layers mask and with a Brush at 100% opacity, go over these areas and those
areas you do not need to be sharpened. In this case I went over the periphery of the
image and the hairs.
Now work on the catchlights.
52
Duplicate Layer (Command-J, Windows: Control-J).
Isolate cornea with Lasso tool.
Apply Shadow/Highlights and clean up the edges as described before.
This is the result.
53
Then do Multiply blend and work on it as instructed in our first workflow.
This is what I want it to look like in color. Notice the better texture, contrast and tone.
This will form a good base for our black and white conversion.
54
Step 2 - Black and white conversion
Now that I am satisfied with the image processed in color I will then proceed to my
conversion to black and white.
Ensure the foreground is Black on a White background as shown circled in red
on the left. If it is not just press D.
Now apply Gradient Map. You may do this by going to
Image>Adjustment>Gradient Map or go to the bottom right hand side of your
Layers palette as circled in red below and click the Adjustments icon.
You will get this menu. Select Gradient Map and you will get a dialog as in the right
below.
55
Click OK and you will get an image in mono as below.
56
Your work is far from being finished. I prefer it to be more contrasty.
Click the Adjustments icon in your Layers palette, go to Selective Color and click it.
You will see this dialog.
Go to the top and click on the Red. You will see a submenu with the various colors.
Select Black and change the value of the Black at the bottom to +5% (as seen below).
57
Do not click OK yet. Now change the Colors at the top to White and change the value
of the Black slider at the bottom to -3%.
One last step before you click OK. Now change the Colors at the top to Neutral and
change the value of Black slider at the bottom to +5%. Now click OK.
58
You will get a darker image. Now with a brush at 60% opacity, work on the areas you
want to return the brightness effectively increase the contrast and bringing back some
details in the darker areas. Having done that I want you to look at the histogram and
if necessary increase the Levels to taste.
In this case I would like to increase the Levels. By doing so there may be areas where
highlights may be blown. Use a Brush at 60% opacity and work on these blown
highlight areas and any area you see fit to reduce the levels, again effectively
increasing the contrast of this image.
59
This is the result. Notice the better contrast.
60
Sepia
The next step will show how I get a sepia look which I like most of my black and
white images to look.
Duplicate Layer (Command-J, Windows: Control-J).
Go to Image>Adjustments>Variations. You will get this.
61
Click on More Yellow, More Red and More Yellow again in that order. You will get a
very yellow image as below.
62
Now go to the Layers palette and reduce the opacity to taste. In my case I have
reduced it to 18%.
I will then reduce the image to 800 pixels at the longest side and sharpened with F6
(see tutorial on sharpening). The final result is as shown in the next page.
63
Here you go. This is how I do my black and white conversion. Give it a try and you
will be surprised what difference it can do to your conversion.
64
Here are some examples of black and white images processed similarly.
65
Chapter 5 Blend the blend
For black and white images
One thing I would like you to know is that there is no reason why we cannot do
another blend over the same image. To illustrate this, lets go back to the B&W
workflow proceeding from after we have applied the Gradient Map.
Now Duplicate a Layer (Command-J, Windows: Control-J).
Notice that the result of a previous Multiply blend is a darkened image. To brighten it
lets apply a Screen blend to it.
Go to the Layers palette and click on Normal and you will get a drop down menu.
Select Screen.
66
This is what you will get. Notice the brightened image.
Apply Layer mask and with a Brush of appropriate size at 30-60% opacity, go over
the areas to darken some of the areas which is too bright. I need you to use your
artistic inclinations here to do it to your taste. This is very much like brightening
areas after you have applied a Multiply blend as described earlier except that you are
now doing the reverse i.e darkening a brightened image. For me, I would work on his
attire, his hair, nose, forehead and especially his skin creases with a Brush of varying
sizes and opacities to suit the occasion.
67
This is what I managed to get.
Compare it with the previous image after you have applied the Screen blend. Notice
the return of details that have been lost after the Screen blend mode application. Also
notice the increase in character in his face with those accentuated lines. You may
want to do more or less on this accentuation. It is all up to you and I will leave it to
your imagination. This is the power of this post-processing where the limit is your
artistic inclination.
I would now like to add a sepia effect on this image.
To do that, Flatten the image.
68
Now Duplicate a Layer (Command-J, Windows: Control-J).
Go to Image>Adjustments>Variations and click.
Click More Yellow, More Red and then More Yellow again. Then click OK.
You will get a very warm image.
Now reduce the opacity to taste. I have reduced it to 18%. I would then resize it to
800 pixels on the longest side and sharpened it accordingly with F6. This is the final
result.
I personally feel that this is better than simply just applying Gradient Map. Play with
blending over another blend mode and you will have added another technique to your
arsenal of post-processing.
69
For color images
Here is an example from start to finish. Open the RAW file in Adobe Bridge. The
image was a bit warm and to overcome that I have reduced the Temperature from
5700 to 5250K as highlighted in red below.
Satisfied with the overall image, I ignored the other parameters and opened the image
in Photoshop.
Lets prepare the image for the processing proper by improving the catchlights in the
following manner.
70
Initial preparation
1. Improving cathclights
Duplicate a Layer.
Select Lasso and isolate both eyes as explained earlier. Apply Shadow/Highlight. In
my case I applied Midtone of 70%. This is the result.
Deselect the Lasso by clicking anywhere in the image.
Then apply Layers Mask and with a Brush of appropriate size at 100% opacity, clean
up the brightened areas around the cornea.
Now zoom in or out, as the case may be, to 25% and adjust the applied Shadow/
Highlight opacity to taste. The reason why I use a 25% figure is that what you see is
representative of the finished product later.
In my case I reduced the opacity to 69%. This step is important as I do not want an
overdone catchlights which may make the image cartoonish.
71
Here is my result and personal preference.
Flatten Layers. Now work on some skin blemishes. Zoom in to see the freckles etc as
highlighted in red.
72
Removing skin bmemishes
Duplicate a Layer (Command-J, Windows: Control-J).
With a Healing Brush Tool of appropriate size remove these blemishes.
This is the result.
Now Flatten Layers to continue the processing proper.
Notice that I always start by preparing my image for the processing proper. I cannot
over-emphasize that we must be very meticulous during this preparation. Otherwise
any mistakes will be very obvious and possibly enhanced during the processing
proper that I am now going to describe.
73
1. Multiply blend
Now zoom out to see the whole image.
Duplicate Layer.
Apply Multiply Blend (circled in red). This is the result.
Apply Layers Mask and with a Brush of appropriate size at 30% opacity, work on the
darkened image returning areas that you deem fit to get a properly exposed result.
This is a very important stage as I find that the more artistic one is, the better the
result.
74
This is my preference.
Multiply Blend will change the tone etc and to correct that I would adjust the Color
Balance, Levels and Hue/Saturation.
2. Adjusting Color Balance
Reduce Color Balance by dragging the Cyan-Red slider to -3 as shown. Then click
OK.
75
3. Adjusting Levels
Select Levels and adjust the rightmost slider to brighten up image to taste as shown.
Again click OK. If there are areas of blown highlights secondary to this adjustment,
apply Layers Mask and correct it with an appropriate Brush.
4. Adjusting Hue/Saturation
I would like to reduce the Saturation here in preparation for a second Multiply Blend
which will saturate the image further.
Select Hue/Saturation and reduce to taste. I have reduced the Master saturation to -4.
Click OK if satisfied.
76
Here is the result.
Now Flatten Layers in preparation for a second Blend.
Practice points: It is very important you get the first blending right. Otherwise you may not get a
good result when you apply a second blend.
77
5. Second Blend
Duplicate Layer and apply another Multiply Blend.
You will get an even darker image with a more dramatic lighting.
Again apply Layers Mask and work on it as before.
Then adjust the Color Balance, Levels and Hue/Saturation as before to fine tune the
image as mentioned.
78
After going through the motion this is my result.
Now for the final preparation for web posting if you like.
Reduce the image size to 800 pixels at the longest side.
Duplicate Layer.
Apply sharpening as described in the earlier chapters. For me I just press F6.
Then reduce opacity to taste.
79
This is my final result.
There you have it. Go play with the various blend modes and blend one over another
should you feel there is a need for it. Again the limit is your imagination. The
following pages will show some images done using this workflow.
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81
82
Chapter 6 Here are some examples
Now that we have some techniques in our workflow I will illustrate my
thought processes with 4 examples.
1. Homesick
This image that I have titled Homesick was taken at our local railway station. I was
having a model shoot with some friends when this station worker walked through the
door (shown on the right of image) just next to me. I looked at him and instantly liked
his features in the gorgeous lighting. I was so glad that he agreed to a few shots. I
directed him to stand where he was and got him to look towards my right where the
main available light was coming from. Some light was reflected to the right side of
his face from the beige-colored walls to his right which made the lighting interesting.
I know I can achieve some fascinating results with my type of post-processing.
This image was taken with my Nikon D3 and Nikon 28-70mm/2.8 Aperture Priority
@ f/3.2 1/500s ISO800.
Lets start with opening the RAW file in Adobe Bridge.
83
This is the result. Notice the blown highlights circled in green. Because of the late
morning lighting and his deep eye sockets, this had resulted some unpleasant
shadows in his eyes (circled in red).
To correct the blown highlights, pull the Recovery slider to the right. The blown
highlights disappeared with a value of 19.
Open the image in Photoshop.
84
This is the result.
To correct the eye shadows use the method described in Chapter 4.
Open another RAW file of the same image. This time increase the Exposure until the
eyes are properly exposed. Ignore the blown highlights for the moment. This will be
corrected in due course.
85
In this case I have increased the Exposure to +1.45.
Open this image too. Now you will have 2 images in your workspace; one with
minimal adjustments done and the other over-exposed to get properly exposed eyes.
86
Here are the 2 images arranged vertically.
Select the Move tool by pressing V or click the first tool of the tool box on the left.
With the Shift key depressed (which will ensure a perfect fit), drag the left properly
exposed image over to the right over-exposed image and release.
Press F (repeatedly if necessary) so that the two overlapped images are shown filling
the whole workspace as shown in the next page.
87
Notice the two images shown circled in red in the Layers palette. Apply layers mask
and with a Brush tool at 30% opacity work on the shadow areas at the eyes to have it
better exposed to taste. You may have to click repeatedly to get a good result. I also
worked on other shadow areas e.g. mouth, mustache, hairs. Below is the result.
88
Then Flatten the images.
Now do some initial preparation before we do the post-processing proper.
Start with the catchlights.
Duplicate a Layer.
Select Lasso tool and isolate both corneas.
Apply Shadow/Highlight as explained in earlier chapters.
After this application clean up the areas around the cornea.
Then adjust opacity to taste so that the catchlights are not overdone. In my case I
reduced it to 70%.
89
This is what I achieved.
There isnt any skin blemish that I want to clone off and I do not want to do any skin
smoothening.
Lets flatten the layers and progress to the post-processing proper.
Duplicate Layer.
Apply Multiply blend.
90
A saturated image is the result.
Apply Layers mask.
Select an appropriate sized Brush at 30% opacity and work on the areas you want to
correct. As mentioned before you may have to click repeatedly on certain areas to get
a good result. I leave that to your imagination.
I would start with the hair and mustache. With a Brush size that is within the borders
of the hairs I clicked on it a few times to get the shine back.
91
Here is the result.
I would now do the eyes. With a Brush size just big enough to cover the eye sockets
click on each a few times till you are satisfied with the exposure. For me I click 5
times on each eye. This is my preference.
92
Now work similarly on the rest of the image to taste i.e the face, neck, ears, shirt,
background. I have done so to get the image below.
As explained Multiply blending will affect the color balance, levels and saturation.
Adjust the Color Balance, Levels and Hue/Saturation accordingly to taste.
93
Then Flatten Layers.
I would like to apply Multiply blend a second time for this image to enhance the
dramatic lighting. After the application, repeat the above steps accordingly. Below is
my result.
I would like to upload and share this image in the net. Now reduce the image size to
800 pixels at the longest side.
Duplicate a Layer.
Then apply sharpening (F6 in my case).
94
This is what I got.

Finally remember to convert the profile from Adobe RGB to sRGB for web viewing.
See the difference when compared with the original image?
95
2. Pout
This next image was taken in Bali at Klungkung market. When she noticed that I was
aiming my camera at her she wasnt too thrilled. However when I showed her the
captured image she giggled! The wonders of sharing and what a good way to break
the ice.
This workflow is a good example to illustrate how I enhanced her features.
Open image in Adobe Bridge.
Crop image to taste.
It was too warm (hence I reduced Temperature from 5400K to 4950K), underexposed
as shown by the histogram (I have increased Exposure to +0.35 to correct it) and
slightly soft (increased Clarity to +16).
Open image in Photoshop.
96
Image was still too soft for my taste (I could have corrected this in Adobe Bridge by
increasing the Clarity further but I have done this on purpose to illustrate what can be
done in Photoshop).
Duplicate Layer.
Go to Filter>Sharpen>Unsharp Mask and from the dialog apply values of 85, 2, 0
respectively and click OK.
Reduce opacity if necessary. I did not do it here.
Noise was generated in this image as a result of the sharpening especially in the
background and blurred areas. I would remove this by performing the following
leaving the sharpened areas around the mouth and the eyes.
Add Layers mask.
Select an appropriate sized Brush at 100% and go over the areas you want the noise
removed.
97
This is the result. Notice the areas I have gone over with the Brush as shown by the
layers mask of Layer 1 (circled in red) at the Layers palette.
The effect of this pre-sharpening is two-fold; it sharpens the overall image where it
matters as well as enhances the features especially the skin creases.
Now do the following to improve on the catchlights.
Flatten image.
Duplicate Layer.
Select Lasso tool and isolate both corneas.
Go to Image>Adjustments>Shadow/Highlight and click.
98
The areas isolated by the Lasso will be enhanced by my default Midtone level of +70.
Click OK.
Click anywhere in the image to remove Lasso.
Add Layers mask.
Select appropriate sized Brush at 100% and correct areas around the corneas.
Now zoom out to 25% and adjust opacity till you are satisfied that the catchlights are
appropriately enhanced and look natural. The latter cannot be overemphasized.
Practice points: The reason why I have zoomed out to 25% is to see the effect of my post-
processing as I would expect the result to be in the finished product.
99
This is what I achieved with opacity reduced to 54% (circled in red).
Our initial preparation is now complete. Note that again I did not make any attempts
to remove skin blemishes and I never do skin smoothening for these type of images.
Flatten image. Now time to go to the next step of post-processing proper. Duplicate
Layer and apply Multiply blend.
100
The next few steps are very important.
Select Brush at 30% opacity.
For illustrative purposes lets start with the area around the right eye. Zoom in for a
better view.
Adjust Brush size to fit the areas that you want lightened e.g over the skin creases at
the forehead you will have the Brush size repeatedly since the creases are of different
dimensions.
I have worked on the area isolated in red.
Compare this area with the rest of the untouched areas. See the difference?
Now do the same to the rest of the face to your personal taste.
101
This is mine.
Compare this with the one before the Multiply blend.
102
Correct the Color Balance, Levels and Hue/Saturation to taste.
Once satisfied, Flatten image.
Reduce image size to 800 pixels at the longest side and sharpen with F6 (my saved
Actions).
The following image is what I obtained.
103
Lets see what happens if we blend the blend i.e apply Multiply blend a second time
and go over similar steps as above. This is my result. Which do you prefer?
104
3. How to get a high key image
Here is an example using different blend modes to obtained a high key image.
I have used this image of June wearing a white shawl to illustrate this technique.
Image was too warm hence I have reduced the Temperature to 4050K. To increase the
exposure further I have moved the Exposure slider by +0.50.
Now Open image in Photoshop.
105
I would now like to remove the skin blemishes and any distracting elements.
Duplicate a Layer.
Select Healing Brush tool from the tool box and remove the skin blemishes and
distracting elements.
I then did skin smoothening the method of which I have described in detail in my first
ebook. This is what I obtained.
Once satisfied Flatten the layers.
106
The next step will be enhancing the catchlights.
Duplicate a Layer.
Select Lasso tool and like in earlier examples, isolate corneas, apply Shadow/
Highlight etc to enhance the catchlights. This is the result.
Notice I have zoomed out to 25% and at this size I reduced the opacity of the
Shadow/Highlight to 43%.
Then Flatten Layers.
107
With the initial preparation of the image completed I will now proceed to post-
processing proper. I do a blend the blend to obtain a high key image.
Start by Duplicating a Layer.
Apple Multiply blend.
Apply Layer mask.
Select Brush with a 30% opacity and by using an appropriate sized brush, work on
the image especially concentrating on the skin and the darkened areas at the top.
108
This is my result.
Flatten Layers.
Duplicate a Layer again and now apply a Screen blend. This is what you will see.
109
Apply a Layer mask and again with a Brush of appropriate size and at 30% opacity,
work on the skin to get a natural looking texture as well as work on areas that are too
bright to return some details.
Here is what I have achieved.
Notice the areas that I have worked on are shown in the Layer mask circled in red in
the Layers palette.
Now Flatten the Layers.
Resize to 800 pixels on the longest side.
Duplicate a Layer and apply sharpening (F6 for me again).
Adjust opacity to taste.
Then Convert to profile.
110
This is the final result.
111
4. Smok-i-n-g
I have selected this image to illustrate what else we can enhance even though the
techniques are the same as the previous examples. I am referring to cigarette smoke
in this image.
Image is overexposed as shown by the blown highlights in red.
To correct this reduce the Exposure and adjust the Recovery slider to taste (-0.50 and
65 respectively in my case).
112
Open image in Photoshop and work on the catchlights as in previous examples.
Reduce opacity to taste.
113
Again there is no work needed on skin blemishes or skin smoothening.
Duplicate layer and apply Multiply blend.
As expected the image becomes saturated and darkened which has affected the
prominence of the smoke.
Select Brush and with an opacity of 30% work on the skin as in previous examples.
Click a few times on the area where the smoke was and it will become more obvious;
more so than the original image. This is because of the white of the smoke in a
darkened background which makes it more apparent as shown in the next image.
114
Now correct the Color Balance, Levels and Hue/Saturation as in previous examples.
This is my preference.
115
Then reduce image size to 800 pixels at the longest side. Duplicate layer and apply
sharpening (F6 in my case). This is the result.
116
Satisfied with the result? Why not try applying another Multiply blend with the
necessary corrections? Again the choice is yours. This is my result.
117
Chapter 7 And finally...
Now that I have gone through some techniques that I use frequently in my post-
processing I hope that you can apply or adapt these into your own. Always remember
to commence your workflow even before you click the shutter. Visualize the image in
your minds eye and imagine how the image will turn out after it has gone through
your workflow. This way you will be more a thinking photographer and hopefully
this will improve your keepers rate.
As for me, post-processing is an on-going adventure where I continue to explore
wherever my fancies lead me. Each time I find new techniques or change my
workflow my thinking process changes and how I visualize an image goes with that.
This is part of the fun and is the very component of photography that is keeping me
interested in this hobby. My sincere hope is that adding the techniques I have
described here into your workflow will further enhance your interest too. Go play
with them, explore and change them to suit your taste and who knows, you may add
new ones to further improve on them. You will note that I have so far used portraiture
to illustrate my workflow. This is simply because I love portraiture. By all means use
it to apply to other forms of photography. The following are some images that I have
processed similarly. I hope they will give you some ideas what can be done with
these techniques.
Finally if you have any queries please feel free to write me at banhup@gmail.com.
Cheers!
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banhupteh.com
banhup@gmail.com
All images and contents Copyright 2009 Banhup Teh. All rights reserved.
123
Index
A
actions, 8, 105
Adobe Bridge, 9, 43, 51, 52, 72, 85, 98-99, 107, 114
Adobe RGB color space, 2, 39, 97
Auto Level, 12
B
background layer, 17
black and white, 52, 56, 57, 63, 66-68
blend, 23, 49, 51, 56, 68-71, 76-80, 82-92, 96, 102, 104, 106-107, 110-111, 116, 119
blending, 29-30, 32, 48, 71, 79, 95
blown, highlights, 11, 30-31, 43-45, 61, 78, 86-88, 114
Bridge, See Adobe Bridge
brighten, 30, 68-69, 73, 78
brush, 16, 22, 25-27, 31, 33, 48, 50, 54, 61, 69, 73, 75-76, 78, 90, 93-94, 99-101, 103, 108, 110,
112, 116
C
camera, 2-3, 98
clone, 92
color, 2, 10, 29, 32, 39, 48, 52, 56-57, 59-60, 72, 77, 80, 85, 95, 105, 117
color space, 2, 39
computer, 1
contrast, 8, 20, 52, 56, 59, 61-62
crop, 11, 44, 49, 53, 98
D
delete, 49
digital, 42
E
edges, 55
exposure, 11, 42, 45, 53, 87-88, 94, 98, 107, 114
F
favorite, 2
Fill Light, 11
filter, 3, 5-7, 13, 99
flatten, 17, 70, 74-75, 79, 91-92, 96, 100, 102, 105, 108-109, 111-112
H
hair, 54, 69, 90, 93
halos, 3
Healing Brush, 75, 108
high key, 97, 110
highlights, 21, 44, 55, 61, 86-87, Also see blown, highlights
histogram, 10, 30, 43, 61, 98
I
image size, 34, 81, 96, 105, 119
J
JPEG, 12
K
keystrokes, 36
L
Lasso tool, 18-19, 55, 73, 91, 100-101, 109
layers, 13-15, 17, 23, 29, 37, 46-47, 50, 54, 57, 59, 65, 68, 73-76, 78-80, 90, 92-93, 96, 99-101,
108-109, 111-112
levels, 3, 5, 12, 30, 32, 48-54, 61, 77-78, 80, 95, 105, 117
M
Midtone Contrast, 20
Multiply blend, 23, 30, 32, 47, 56, 68-69, 76-78, 80, 92, 95-96, 102, 104, 106, 110, 116, 119
N
noise, 14-16, 54, 99
P
profile, 34, 39, 97, 112
R
Radius, 3, 5-6, 14, 54
RAW, 2, 9, 45, 51-52, 72, 85, 87
RGB, 2, 39, 97
S
saturation, 25, 32-33, 48, 77-78, 80, 95, 105, 117
Shadow/Highlight command, 20, 55, 73, 91, 100, 109
shadows, 23, 25, 86-87
sharpening, 3-4, 8, 13, 21-22, 34, 36, 65, 81, 96, 99-100, 112, 118
sRGB, 2, 39, 97
T
temperature, 10, 43, 72, 98, 107
Threshold, 3, 5-6, 14, 54
U
underexpose, 51, 98
Unsharp Mask, 3, 5-8, 13, 54, 99
W
web posting, 2, 34, 39, 81
White Balance, 10, 43
workflow, 1-3, 5, 8-9, 21-22, 52, 56, 68, 82, 85, 88, 120
Z
Zoom tool, 3-5, 14-15, 18-19, 42, 73-74, 76, 101, 103, 109

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