How To Color Grade and Make Photos Pop In #Photoshop

In this video, I'll show you how you can easily turn your boring photos and make them pop like this when it comes to Photoshop. So we're going to be focusing more on how to color grade and make your photos pop when it comes to Photoshop and transform them from looking boring to looking amazing when it comes to Photoshop. So I'll simply come and delete this and I'll show you the techniques or the method I'm going to be using to make this very image to pop when it comes to Photoshop. So right now after importing the image into Photoshop, the very first step that you have to do is simply coming to the image and creating a backup copy or a backup layer from the image. Just come to the background image and can as well click Ctrl J or press Ctrl J or you can use Command J. You can simply drag and drop this to create a backup copy from the background layer. So after I have done that, simply come, right click on the layer and come to convert to smart object. The reason for converting it to a smart object is simply because we want to be able to change the values later on after applying them onto the image. So you're just going to come first of all filter and you're going to come to the camera arrow filter. So in camera arrow filter, we have different tools or steps that we want to undertake to make the image to pop in this case. So the very first step to making the image pop is simply coming and coming to the contrast and simply take up or increase on the contrast of the photo. And you can see by just doing that, that makes the image slightly have a little bit more of the contrast. Then you're going to come to the adjustments below here and you can see that we have calibration and in calibration, you're simply going to come to saturation of the blue primary and slightly take that forward. And you can see this makes the image even better than where we started. Once we're done doing that, we're just going to come back to our adjustments and we're going to make the image even look better. So we're just going to come to the color grading panel and under color grading panel, you're basically going to come to first of all, the mid-tones and just want to warm up the mid-tones of this photo image. Just click on where you see mid-tones and simply click and move that towards the orange side and that is going to warm up the mid-tones and in that way, the skin is going to look warmer and it is going to look better. So after you have done that, we're just going to come to the shadows and cool down the shadows by coming to this pointer and drag this towards the blue side. So the closer you move this towards the edge of the circle, the more intense the color is going to be. And the closer it is towards the center, the less of that color that you're going to be having affecting the image. Then you're going to come to the highlights and for the highlights, I'm just going to add a little bit more of the greens, just a tiny bit of greens. Once we're done doing that, the next step is going to be coming up to our color mixer and in color mixer, we have two options. One is the mixer option and the second one is going to be the point color option. So in color mixer, you can target any individual color under the mixer option. So you can see that we have hue, saturation and luminance. Hue is basically about changing a color or a hue is a shade of a color. Then saturation is the intensity of a color and luminance is the brightness level of a given color. So for this kind of image, we want to slightly increase on the tones or the skin tones of the subject. So you're just going to come the intensity of a color and simply come to saturation and slightly increase on the saturation of the oranges. Remember, skin tones land between reds, oranges and the yellows. Then also going to come to make the dress pop, just come to the reds and simply increase on the intensity or the saturation of the reds. Don't overdo this because we have to work with these same colors and a point color. So after I have done this, the next step is going to be coming to our blues, you can see the eye shadow and slightly increase on the blues of the eye shadow. Once we're done doing this simple adjustments, you can see this is where we started and this is where we are right now. The image now looks slightly better, but we want to transform it to pop. So just going to come to the point color option. So under point color, you can see that we have this kind of eyedropper tool or the sample point color option. So click on it and you can choose whichever color you want to transform in the image. So for this case, if I want to transform the reds, I'll just use the pointer and click on the reds in the image and you can see it selects the reds in the image and you can come and increase on the saturation and that is going to make the reds even look better in the image. You can see that and you can even play around with the saturation, the hue values of a given color. So I'm just going to leave that at about there and I'm just going to come get the pointer tool or the color picker tool or the sampler tool and click on the subject is skin tone and you can now come and increase on the skin color or the skin tone of the subject by slightly increasing on the saturation of her skin tone. And by just doing this simple adjustments, you can see the image is now getting to look better. I'm just going to come and get the pointer tool and click once again on a new color that is for the eyeshadow and I will simply increase on the saturation of that targeted color that is for the eyeshadow. So you can see the before and after before after so far, but this is not all. So for whichever color that you have in your given photo, you have to play around with those given colors. So now to make the image even better, we shall come to our vibrance tool and simply slightly increase on the vibrance. So what vibrance is basically going to do, it is going to get the less saturated colors in the image and is going to try to make them be on the same level with the more saturated colors regarding the image or the photo. So I've just increased this to around, don't use saturation, just use vibrance. So at about 10, the image tends to look better. Once you're done doing these simple adjustments, you can see before after you can now come and you even manipulate the background. So in order to manipulate the background color, you can simply come to the masking icons, click on the masking and you can select either the subject or the background or even the sky in case you have the sky and you would love to make adjustments to either the subject, the sky or the background. So for this case, we want to manipulate our background. So I'm just going to come to the background option and simply click on that. And you can see Camera Raw has automatically selected the background. So for the background, I'm just going to come to the color option of the mask and simply come to the temperature and simply move that towards the left hand side. That is going to add a little bit of blues to complement the subject in this case. So by just holding down the background is going to look blue in this case. So we're just going to come back to the adjustments and come back to Color Mixer so that we can change or manipulate the blue color in this case. So I'll just come to my Color Mixer and click on the Mixer option and we shall simply come to our hues. Remember, by moving the hue slider, we are changing a given color or a targeted color. So for this case, we want to slightly change the blue color in the background by playing around with the hue slider. So I'll just move the blues towards the left hand side. And by moving the given color towards the left hand side, you are basically making that color look like a color above it, which is the aqua. So you're basically making the blues look a little bit more towards the aqua side. And you can see how better the image has gotten to be. Once you're done doing this, just come and click OK to open the image back into Photoshop. So in case you want to change the colors after applying them and you feel like the colors a little bit too much for your liking, simply double click on the Camera Raw option and it's going to open up the image with the same adjustments that you made to the image during the Camera Raw steps or procedures. Just come back and click OK to commit the changes. Once you're done doing that, you can see that we have another option that you can use to color grade and make the image better, which is our Selective Color Adjustment Layer. So in Selective Color, you can work on a given color selectively. So for this case, I'll simply come to the reds. You can add a given color, for example, to the reds, you can add a little bit of yellows to the reds to make the skin tone better. And you can even come to, for example, the blacks. And in case you want to manipulate the blacks, you can move the slider to your taste or to your liking. So I just prefer to add a little bit of cyan to my blacks and that makes the image look better. So in case you want the image to pop a little bit more, you're basically going to come to the Adjustments and come to the Levels Adjustment Layer. So after coming to the levels, simply make sure you have these pointers, this pointer and this one. This one is for the black point. And this is basically for the white point. So hold down the Option key on the keyboard, alternate for Windows and click on the black pointer and move that forward until when the blacks a little bit starting to appear in the image and do the same for the white point. So just move that. I feel like about that is okay. So you can see before, after, before, after the image is now popping. So let's look at the overall before and after for what we have been able to do regarding this very image. So you can see this is the image before, after, before, after, before and after. So in case you feel like a given effect is too much for your liking, you can as well reduce on the opacity of a given Adjustment Layer to your taste or to your liking. So this is how you can transform and make your images look better and you can make them pop when it comes to Photoshop. I hope you have understood the different techniques that I've used to make this image pop and look better and look more vibrant when it comes to Photoshop. You can as well apply this to your images to make them look better. Ronyx from Ronyx Photography. Thank you for watching and I'll see you in yet more videos on this channel. Don't forget to keep practicing and as well keep creating.