Three ways to bring out the color in your photos

As a photographer, I know that a lot of people are looking for ways to bring out the color in their shots to make their digital photos pop. Here are a few tips along with sample shots.

Making color pop

1. Make use of the saturation effect

- Use your photo editing software’s saturation tools to increase the saturation for more vivid colors. Be careful not to go overboard though.

2. Utilize the dodge/burn tool

- Most likely, your chosen editing software will allow you to either burn (darken) or dodge (lighten) specific areas of your photo. This can really help with bringing out the color in skies and nature scenes as well as washed out clothing or body art.

3. Go with a spot color effect

- Here, you take out the color in a photo and essentially make it black and white with the exception of the area in which you want to showcase a specific color. This takes a little work but is well worth it. My e-book “Making Beauty Photography” has a deluxe edition with links to video tutorial on several of these techniques.

Editing disasters – what not to do to your photos

As a general rule…

every photographer edits his or her photos to some extent. Sure once in a while a shot here or there will turn out just fine from the start  but that’s pretty rare. And while most serious photographers use a program like Photoshop to make adjustments to their photos, the tips below will apply to just about every possible editing tool.

Let’s think of it this way:

Hollywood celebrities and those with substantial incomes who spend a lot of time in the spotlight sometimes get a little “work done” aka plastic surgery. However, sometimes it’s done well and other times it can be a horrific disaster. The same can be said for these two approaches to re-working your images.

1. Exposure

Say you take a picture you love but notice that the image you bring up on your computer screen is darker than you had hoped. What’s a shutterbug to do? – why, bump up the exposure of course. Not so fast! While this is an easy and effective technique, you have to be careful. If you turn up the exposure too far, the washed out effect that will result can look unappealing and amateurish. Unless you are going for an intensely blown out scene intentionally for artistic purposes, this is a very bad idea.

Blown out shot from excessively high exposure.

A well exposed photo from my work with Three Rivers Creative Arts.

2. Saturation

Having the pleasure of working with a number of alternative models, I know that photographers like myself love to showcase subjects with colorful hair or body art. When attempting to do this, or to enhance colors in less than vibrant skin, muted sunsets, animal coats or  anything else, you might opt to increase the saturation. Again, good idea, but keep it to a minimum. While a little saturation can add some wonderful coloration, too much can actually bring out the noise in a shot, redden this skin too much in people and simply make things look less realistic.

Unrealistic looking shot resulting from excess saturation. 

One of my well saturated shots from a shoot for Twisted Angels.

The bottom line:

No matter what the subject matter might be, the same rules apply – by all means kick the exposure and saturation up a notch, but be careful about how much.

Photography tips: Shooting fair skin

So, in my photography work, I shoot a lot of models. Combining that with the fact that one of my primary interests is working with goth pics, you may be able to see a pattern developing here. Basically, there tend to be a lot of pale-skinned people in front of my camera lens.

Anyone who has been working with people as subjects knows that dealing with the different skin tones in nature can present an interesting challenge, especially in the cases when you are shooting a portrait with several people of varying shades of skin.

In the case of subjects with fair skin, you have to be especially aware of:

1. Exposure issues

2. Contrast

3. The subject’s other features

The stunning Emma Stone

Exposure:

While generally a slight overexposure may not hurt or may even artistically enhance an image on occasion, this can be devastating when shooting a pale person. You will need to be sure of proper exposure and even still you may need to use some editing techniques to set off the subject’s color – like bumping up the saturation for example.

Contrast:

Clothing, accessories and the background on the shot should be arranged so as to provide a nice contrast between the skin and pretty much everything else. This makes for a nice, creative balance.

The subject’s other features:

Dark or red hair, bright red lips and intense blue eyes (see the image of Emma Stone above) can be emphasized in your shot. In doing so, you will undoubtedly enhance your overall photo.