Image editor - Richer colors for dull pictures

Most of the time, the camera is not responsible for missing color density, but the surrounding light is. The time of the day, cloud cover and alignment of the camera to the source of light are deciding factors when it comes to color density. If you direct your camera closer to the sun and then take a picture, the colors will be paler. But you can optimize weak colors even after taking a picture.

The method we have described is contrast distribution of the shadows and highlights, i.e., the dark and the bright parts of the picture. You can do this with an S-shaped gradation curve, but the technique There is one easy alternative for portrait photos: layer overlapping in Photoshop.

SEARCHING THE CONTRAST: Open the image and the “Channels” pallet in the “Window” menu. One after another, click the individual color channels and find out which one has the most conspicuous contrasts—this is often the blue channel, but it depends on the subject. Now press the [Ctrl] key and click the channel symbol at the same time—this selects the bright tonal values. Then click “RGB” to redisplay all color information.

BRIGHTENING THE HIGHLIGHTS: Call up the “Layers” pallet with [F7] and press the [Ctrl] + [J] key combination. Photoshop accepts this selection as a new layer. When you now change the filling method to “Screen” using the selection field up in the pallet, the program also brightens the dark areas.

DARKENING THE SHADES: Reload the selection, i.e., click the new layer by keeping the [Ctrl] key pressed. With “Selection | Inverse”, invert the selected mask area. Again create a new layer with [Ctrl] + [J] on the basis of this selection. Now set “Multiply” as the filling method— this accentuates dark areas.

FINAL TOUCHES: In case you think that the contrast is too strong, you can easily moderate it: For this, reduce the opacity of each layer at the top right of the layers pallet. Experiment with other filling methods to see how they affect the image. “Lighten” and "Overlay” are also suitable for natural looking contrast intensification. Others give rise to slightly artistic effects. Finally, bring together all layers with “Flatten Image”.