How to make my photos pop on my pages?

[suzanne]

OK I uploaded a couple of pages that I had completed in the past and while looking at some of other peoples pages in the gallery I realized how dull my photos look on my page.

My page

Popping Photos

How do I get my photos to pop and really stand out on my pages too? Julie's photos are so bright and mine are so dull.

Thanks!!

[Mary Rogers]

Suzanne,

I use Lightroom by adobe to give my photos that extra pop or just a bit of recoloring...you can download a free trial and then purchase a full version with a student discount (if you have a student in the house)..

I can't imagine my photos without Lightroom :: )

[Chris]

I've always tried to boost my tired photos with photoshop. I never use purchased presets, but you could by some here from Katie. There was a thread a while back on sharpening the photos up ( a lot more than I'd been used to doing) and I really noticed the difference. I'll try to find the thread and links.

Edit: Actually, I just noticed another thread addressing this: "Do you adjust your photos?" You should check it out.

[suzanne]

Thanks for the replies.

I do ok I think with adjusting for lighting but for some reason can never get the photos to really pop and be nice and crisp. Maybe I need to look into taking a photo-editing class. I know Jessica Sprague has one and Debbie Hodges has one. Wonder which one would be the best for me personally?!

[Denise Gormish]

I often use a Photoshop action to just boast up the color in my photos. I love the results!

[elseepe]

I have a P&S camera and have found that all my photos really benefit from a little tweaking: adjusting levels, increasing saturation, maybe contrast, and a little sharpening. I've also got a couple of free actions -- one of my favorites is called Little Perk and it just boosts the saturation a bit and adds a sharpening layer. I usually adjust the levels prior to running this one. The layers are adjustable.

[Heidi2008]

Ditto what Mary said....I have lightroom & there are tons of options to brighten photos up!

[DebbieHodge]

Lynn's classes at my site rock. And another option is the free photoshop actions at the Pioneer Woman's blog.

[anke]

I love the classes at Debbie's! I think you'll find them to be less overwhelming and more personal.

[katrinak]

One thing you will notice OVER AND OVER with Julie's photos is REALLY GREAT light! The better light you can get while taking your photos the more they will pop on your pages and the less you will have to do. More difficult with indoor events but when outside look for open shade and nice reflected light from sides of buildings and other structures to get that pop!

[elseepe]

I don't know if Pioneer Woman's actions work in PSE. I think on her site she says they do not, but I've never tried.

[ptknox]

One thing I do to EVERY photo I edit before anything else is "defog" them using the Unsharp Mask in Photoshop set to 20%, 60 pixels, 0 Threshold. I usually do this after running Noiseware and before opening the photo in Lightroom.

Honestly, you'll be amazed at what the simple Unsharp command can do to make a photo pop.

And I highly recommend Lynn Weber's Photo Editing classes at Debbie's site. She packs a LOT of information into each session and it's all easy to understand.

[suzanne]

Thanks Pattie I'll have to try the defog on them. I need to figure out exactly how to use noiseware too.

[suzanne]

Unfortunately Pioneer Woman's actions don't work in PSE. I cannot afford to get LR or CS.

[katrinak]

Go for good light then Suzanne! It's free

[geekgirl415]

I 2nd the recommendation for Little Perk action- and for free PSE actions, try this spot: CoffeeShop.

[Serenoa]

I just downloaded and tried the Little Perk action on a few of my photos and it really added to the photo - not overdone but a subtle umphh and spark which wasn't there before. I think I will be using it from now on.

Thanks to those who mentioned it. Actually I had never used Actions before, so I learned something new. Also grabbed a few others while I was at Coffeeshop.

They all work with Elements 7 just fine.

Thanks you all.

[suzanne]

I can never figure out how to get the actions to work right. I know you are suppose to adjust them but can never figure that part out.

[Serenoa]

Suzanne - I am certainly no expert on this, but here is what I found using the Little Perk action. After it runs you have 2 new layers - sharpen and little perk. You can adjust the intensity of each applied layer change by reducing the opacity using the slider at top of the layer palette. You can also turn off either effect by clicking on the eye for that layer.

If you only want the effect applied to a part of the image, the action has ended with the paintbrush selected and you can use it to "paint" sections of your photo with black to mask that part out of the change.

I found that the action was okay without any adjustments most of the time. Sometimes I didn't like the sharpen effect and turned it off, or slightly decreased the little perk effect with the opacity slider.

Hope this helps some. Maybe someone else will have a more comprehensive comment on Actions.

[suzanne]

Thanks Barbara!

[quilter422]

another thing that jessica sprague has published in various magazines:

pull your photo onto your page. auto-fix, fix red-eye, sharpen as desired. (will be bottom layer in layers pallette)
duplicate the photo layer. (will be middle layer in layers pallette)
duplicate it again. (will be top layer in layers pallette)

change the blend mode on the middle layer to screen.
change the blend mode on the top layer to soft light.

play with the sliders on both blended layers - usually something between 60 and 80% on each of the layers gives you a fabulous, lightened look. make sure you link the 3 layers together, or merge them, before you work on the rest of the page.

[geekgirl415]

Originally Posted by quilter422

another thing that jessica sprague has published in various magazines:

pull your photo onto your page. auto-fix, fix red-eye, sharpen as desired. (will be bottom layer in layers pallette)
duplicate the photo layer. (will be middle layer in layers pallette)
duplicate it again. (will be top layer in layers pallette)

change the blend mode on the middle layer to screen.
change the blend mode on the top layer to soft light.

play with the sliders on both blended layers - usually something between 60 and 80% on each of the layers gives you a fabulous, lightened look. make sure you link the 3 layers together, or merge them, before you work on the rest of the page.

Hmm... interesting! I'll try that!!

[Julie DeGuia]

Originally Posted by katrinak

One thing you will notice OVER AND OVER with Julie's photos is REALLY GREAT light! The better light you can get while taking your photos the more they will pop on your pages and the less you will have to do. More difficult with indoor events but when outside look for open shade and nice reflected light from sides of buildings and other structures to get that pop!

Suzanne - Thanks for liking my pictures! Yes, on the page you linked to there was really great light for those pictures! Most likely a nice overcast day. Also, you are comparing inside photos to outside photos (with really great light!) No comparison.... my inside photos are horrible! Especially with something like the karate pictures you have. I remember taking some of my son on stage doing his karate test and there just wasn't enough light and of course you are too far away for the on-camera flash to be useful. I was able to up the levels and such to make them decent but they are grainy and odd-colored from the processing.

Anyway, having great light isn't always the case outside either. You may have to go look for it, or if that is not possible do the best you can and then work the "photoshop magic." I probably lighten the majority of my photos which, in PSE (I think), you could do with the levels sliders and then add a bit of contrast. I use unsharp mask on every photo, usually as my last step.

I would take the advice of the ladies here and take a photo-editing class. Or get a book - there are a lot of goods ones out there!

Good luck!

[zannella1108]

I agree with Katrina - lots of light! late morning and late afternoon sun seems to produce the best photos in my opinion.. the sun isn't too bright and the shadows come out awesome!

I am in the photo editing process too; I just bought CS4 and may have to get LR - but will definately need to take classes! I have had CS4 for about a mont and I am still using PSE - I am afraid to take the plunge!!

Good luck!
Kristen

[zannella1108]

Hi Suzanne,

I couldn't afford CS either but it was more than half off (orig. $700) but i paid $299 and it came with a tutorial. I don't know if it still on sale.. but might be worth checking out.

Kristen

[anxela]

I use the Jessica Sprague method mentioned here a lot. It looks great when you convert to black and white too! You could also try overlay instead of soft light layer. I think she recommends sharpening as the last step. And that you merge all layers before you sharpen. :-)