Soft Light tutorial

Want to give your pictures a little POP? Here's a quick and easy trick to give your pictures contrast and bring out deeper color. I'm doing this in Photoshop CS4, but you can use these same steps in GIMP (a free editing program that you can download from the internet... similar to, but not as advanced as, Photoshop).

Welcome to the layers palette. This is your best friend. There is not a single picture I edit that I don't use layers.

Step ONE:

-After opening your image, hold down Ctrl + J.

-A new layer will pop up called Layer 1. Click on it.

-Directly above Layer 1 there is a drop down box. Click on it and select Soft Light.

Step TWO:

Lower the opacity to your liking. I usually choose 30% depending on the picture. If it's a picture of a person (which is what I am editing most of the time) I never go above 40%. If it's a flower or landscape, I may go as high as 50-60%.

Step THREE:

Add a layer mask to Layer 1 by clicking the rectangle icon with the circle in the middle on the bottom of the layers palette. Layer masks let you control where the effect goes on an image. Lot's of contrast = yucky and unnatural looking skin tones, so that's where the layer mask comes in. We're going to 'mask' the effect where her skin is so that the Soft Light is in a way erased or masked from her skin.

Step FOUR:

Follow steps 1-3 and then begin painting over the skin, avoiding areas like the eyes and lips. I also mask out hair sometimes. It just depends on each picture.

When masking skin, at first you may not be able to tell a difference. You really need to train your eyes. There is a difference though and after a while you will see it.

And here's a side by side of the finished product. It's subtle, but adds just enough pop without going overboard.



Please let me know if this was helpful to you!