First of all, I shoot in raw format, so when I select a picture from the
Organizer, it automatically opens in
Camera Raw. If you don't shoot in raw, you'll need to import the picture from the
Editor into Camera Raw. To do that, from the
Editor, click on
File, then
Open As. In that window, navigate to the picture you want to edit, click on it once and you will see it show up as the
File Name. Just below the
File Name field, click on the drop down menu for
Open As. Choose Camera Raw and then click Open. Your picture will then be in Camera Raw.
Once in
Camera Raw, I usually only change the
White Balance and
Exposure, then
Open Image. As you can see, that already makes a huge difference.
Obviously I can't tell you what to change your setting to. You'll just have to play with it until you like what you see.
Always make edits on layers. And, if you really mess things up, you can just use your
Undo History to easily go back to before whatever horrible thing you've done. If you don't see
Undo History, click on
Window and then check
Undo History.
Now make your first layer by pressing
Ctrl J.
Click on
Normal and select
Multiply. Reduce the
Opacity of that layer to 50%. Now some people might say, "Why didn't you just keep the
Exposure lower?" I just think there is a subtle difference. Usually I reduce the opacity of this layer much lower, around 10% to 20%, but this picture I kept at 50%. Then
Merge Down by pressing
Ctrl E.
Make another new layer by pressing
Ctrl J. Click on
Normal and select
Soft Light. Reduce the
Opacity of that layer to 50%. Really, take it all the way down to 0%, then slowly move the slider up. You'll see a gray film seem to lift from the picture. It's wonderful! Just pick the percentage that you like. Then
Merge Down by pressing
Ctrl E.
At this point Kathryn says "I have a uni-brow!" Well, no, she doesn't have a uni-brow. But the things we've done to this point have darkened the shadows on her face. To fix this, create a new layer by pressing
Ctrl J. Select the
Dodge Tool and make the brush adjustments. Why is the
Exposure at 50%? I just like the lighter touch. I lightened between her eyebrows and around her eyes. You can see with the layer opacity at 100% it's a little too much. But that is easily fixed by reducing the opacity. I chose 40%. Then
Merge Down by pressing
Ctrl E.
Now for some sharpening. Click on
Enhance then
Unsharp Mask. I keep my settings at Amount:75, Radious: 2.0, Threshold: 3. Click
Okay.
Make a new layer by pressing
Ctrl J. Click on
Filter, Blur, Gaussian Blur. Check that the
Radius is at 3, then press
Okay. Reduce the
Opacity of the layer to 20%. If you really want to keep the eyes sharp, use the eraser tool on the eyes. This is just a nice softening technique I like to use with portraits. On a fresh faced girl like Kathryn, it's not that noticeable. But on those of us that are as old as the crypt keeper, it's a good thing. But not too much of a good thing. If you know what I mean. :)
The final steps are making a vignette and cropping. I copy these steps for a 4x5, a 5x7, and an 8x10. First, the vignette. Make a new layer by pressing Ctrl J. Click on
Normal and select
Multiply. Make sure
Feather is at 200 and the
Mode is
Normal. Now drag a selection about an inch from the edges (okay, I guess that depends on how big your window is, but by looking at the picture up there, you can tell what I'm talking about). Press delete twice. If you only press delete once, it doesn't seem to completely get rid of everything. Press
Ctrl D to deselect. Press
Ctrl E to
Merge Down. You may want to play with the
Opacity of this layer--see if you really like it that dark. If you don't think it's dark enough, press
Ctrl J and you will copy that layer again and double the vignette effect.
Now that the vignette is done, it's time to save the picture. Click on
File, then
Save As.... Make sure the
Format is a
JPEG then name your file something meaningful. In this case I used
Kathryn's 2010 Portrait. Then I follow that up with
_4x6, and the
.jpg extension. Because I always have checked
Save in Version Set with Original, I get that next screen, asking me to say
OK. And I do. :) On the final screen you just want to make sure the
Quality is at 12. That will give you the best quality print. If you want to save a picture at a lower quality that would be good for something like showing on the web, name your file something like
Kathryn's 2010 Portrait_4x6_web8.jpg, then save the picture with a
Quality of 8. Once you've done all that, click
OK and you're done with your 4x6 Portrait.
Now if you want a different sized portrait, you need to go back to the point where you were going to make the vignette. You do that by clicking on
Blending Change in the
Undo History window. Next, click on the
Crop Tool, and in the
Aspect Ratio's drop-down window, select
5x7 in. Drag a selection from the top left corner to the bottom right corner. This will show what your 5x7 portrait will look like. Just click the green check mark to accept the crop. Once you've done that, just follow the vignette and saving steps like you did to make the 4x6 portrait. If you'd like to create an 8x10 or any other size portrait, click on the Blending Change in the Undo History window and start the process over again.
And that's how you turn an average, everyday picture into a beautiful portrait! But beware, you'll want to start doing it on EVERY picture! Once you've got it down, it's all pretty fast and easy. And you'll LOVE the results!
