Light Effects using the gradient tool

Ever wondered how some photographers get that beautiful flare in their pictures? Make it a little nicer to know a lot of times it is added post production? I'm going to show you a quick and easy edit that you can apply to your photos!

Here is the picture we will start with

Now we'll go through a couple quick steps

Make a new layer and select the gradient tool. In the upper left corner of the window, change the gradient to radial and change your foreground color to white, cream, or yellow.

Change the blend mode of your new gradient layer to either lighten, screen, or overlay, depending on the look you want.

Add a layer mask to your gradient layer, select your paintbrush, making sure the foreground color is set to black, and begin to brush the gradient off of your subject.

(I took care of the giant flyaway with the clone tool). Once the subject is brushed off to your liking, adjust the opacity of the gradient layer to make it appear more natural.

To add a darkness around the gradient, create two new layers. Select the gradient tool again, and on the first layer, using the linear gradient with the color set to black, stroke towards the center of the image. Repeat with the other layer on the opposite side. Then reduce the opacity of each linear gradient by half.

And then you can finish your edit however you'd like. I went a little extreme with the autumn color just so you could see  the dramatic differences available :) Good luck, and stay tuned for my next tutorial on adding rays of light to your images!

Using a snow overlay

Sometimes adding snow can be a little tricky. It's all a matter of knowing which blend mode to use!

I am going to use an image that is clearly not a snow image. So the end result isn't going to look as wintery as it could, but there are other edits that can be done to achieve a complete winter look. This tutorial is simply about adding the snow.

First, open the image you want to edit, and the overlay you are going to be using.

Then, drag your overlay into your image and position it how you want it.

 Next, in the layers panel, select the blending mode you would like to use. I recommend using the screen blend mode for an black background overlay. Then, once it is blending, you can play around with the opacity. It looks fine to me at 100%, so I will leave it.

Then, you can play around with your normal edits until it looks right. All I did with this edit was change the color curves, saturation and hue to give it a more fall appearance. Good luck!

Rosco Santa!

I love seeing little babies growing up and learning new things! Last time I saw baby Rosco he was a tiny little thing just learning to hold his head up! This time around he was smiling and giggling and sitting up all on his own. And in that little Santa outfit, he was so dang adorable! Thanks Leann for letting me capture these precious moments between your and your baby!

Three months and already a Little Lady

This morning I was able to take some pictures for the Hudson family! They have a beautiful little daughter who is just barely 3 months old! A very serious little thing too, she was very interested in what was going on around her and gave us sneak peaks of her beautiful smile :) And she loved to tease, every time I put my camera down she would giggle at us! Congrats momma and papa, she is definitely a keeper :)

Add your bokeh Overaly

For a quick bokeh texture to your photo, try this out! It's a minimal edit, but it can add a lot of drama.

First  things first, duplicate your layer. You can do this by hitting command J, and then hide it in your layer menu. This way if you mess up you always have a backup layer.

Next, bring in your overlay and drop it or paste it over your image roughly over the area you want it to cover.

Drop the opacity down enough to see your subject so you can see what you need to brush off. For a darker overlay, select screen blend mode at the top of the layer panel. For a lighter color, select multiply or darken.

At the bottom of your layer panel, click the layer mask tool and select your paint brush, making sure the foreground color is black. Then you can begin to brush the overlay off your subject.

Continue until your subject is completely revealed and then you can reduce the opacity even more until the background looks natural.

Once you are finished, you can then flatten your image and begin editing as you would normally.
Nothing fancy here, just a vignette and pastel color. It's a lot lighter outside of blogger....not sure what happened lol. Stay tuned for more tutorials, and don't forget to check out my etsy shop for overlays!

Other Studio Background replacements

Leave a comment if you need more help!

Airbrush your Face Edit

Here's a nice edit to help you give your clients a smooth look.

Duplicate your layer to start.

Then on the duplicated layer, go to your filter menu, under other select High Pass and set it to aroun9-10.

Under your filter menu, go to Blur and select gaussian blur. Set that to about 1-2

Then under Image, go to adjustments and select invert. Then to your blend menu on your layers panel, and select linear light.

Create a layer mask at the bottom of your layer menu, select your brush tool and make sure your foreground color is set to black. Begin to brush the duplicate layer away around the eyes, nose, mouth, brows, ears and hair.

Set your brush to half opacity and brush away the background. Then once you've finished, reduce the overall opacity of the duplicate layer until it looks natural.

Then once you've finished, flatten your image and adjust the curves to give the image a pop of contrast.

And then you can get creative with your actions, other edits, what have you!

Finished Result