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Load up the Selective Color adjustment from the Layer>New Adjustment Layer menu. Change the Colors option to Whites and then reduce the Black slider down towards -100% until the whites are whiter.

This means that the exposure of the image goes mostly unaffected, and you don’t end up with bleached highlights – like you would if the Levels adjustment was used, for example.

Also, change the Colors option to Neutrals and reduce the Black slider. This will help lighten the white areas as well.

This is not something we necessarily think about, but for printing this is helpful to know.

There are two main types of RGB modes: sRGB and Adobe RGB. Most, if not all, compact cameras shoot images as sRGB. But some, including high-end DSLRs, can also shoot in Adobe RGB mode.

The difference? Well, Adobe RGB is best suited if you plan on converting images to CMYK at a later stage for printing. Changes in colour are less dramatic than they would be if converting from sRGB to CMYK.

sRGB is best for uploading to the web, due to its small (that’s the ‘s’ part) colour space.

Photoshop doesn’t tell you which one you’re working in inside Image>Mode; it just states RGB Mode. Go to Edit>Color Spaces and look inside Working Spaces for Photoshop’s specific RGB setup.

In most images of people taken indoors, skin lacks important brightness that can prevent it from standing out from a dark background.

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Step 1 – Screen mode

Open up an image of a group of people or person. The Background layer needs to be duplicated first of all, which can be done by pressing Cmd/Ctrl+J. Set the blend mode of this duplicate to Screen in the Layers palette.

Step 2 – Add layer mask

Screen blending lightens everything in your image, and does a good job on skin tones. So long as there are no bright highlights on the people, the effect should be just right for brightening up faces.

Add a layer mask to the duplicate layer and press Cmd/Ctrl+I to invert it from white to black.

Step 3 – Brush over skin

Select the Eraser tool and set its Hardness to 0% and Opacity to 100%. The Foreground colour will need to be black and then you can paint over the skin to reveal the brighter layer underneath.

If the effect is too bright then lower the Opacity of the layer and not the tool.

Here’s the final image with the Layers palette…

Press the F key multiple times to cycle through the three screen modes in Photoshop – Shift+F goes the other way!

To quickly tone an image with one hue, create a new layer and change its blend mode to Color.

Open up the Color palette from the Window menu, select a colour, and then press Alt/Opt+Backspace to fill the image.

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Step 1 – Create new layer and fill

Add a new layer above the Background first of all. Then go to the Edit>Fill menu and set Contents to Black.

Step 2 – Change blend mode

Hit OK in the Fill menu and set the layer to Screen blend mode. The Opacity can be left at 100%. There will be no visible differences to your image as of yet.

Step 3 – Render filter

Find the Lens Flare filter under the Render options in the Filter menu. The preview represents the image and it’s a case of moving the lens flare inside this to fit over the sun, or main area of light in your image.

Step 4 – Flare settings

The Brightness of the Lens Flare depends on how bright your image is. This may take a few attempts to get right. If you don’t hit it right first time round after pressing OK, press Ctrl/Cmd+Z to undo the effect and then go back into the filter. Whenever you go back into the filter, previous settings are remembered.

Step 5 – Set Lens Type

The Lens Type decides on the style of flare, depending on what camera lens was used at the time. Here are some tips:

50-300mm Zoom – Describes a lens that zooms anywhere between the focal lengths 50mm and 300mm. A versatile option, great for landscapes and street photograhy where the main subject isn’t too close to the camera.

35mm Prime and 105mm Prime – The word ‘Prime’ describes a lens of a single, fixed focal length such as these.

105mm Prime is great for landscapes, such as the main image we used for this tutorial, because of its very soft and large glow, making a sunset seem dream-like.

The 35mm Prime option is ideal for subjects that are closer in the foreground, such as a portrait image. Notice how the first circle in this flare is the most distinct one of all.

Movie Prime – Movie Prime creates sharp horizontal and diagonal lines across the image. This is not suited for normal photos, but has a cinematic appeal that would work well with 16:9 widescreen, stills, taking from a HD movie recording, for example.

Here’s our chosen setting for the final effect here:

Hope you enjoy trying this out on your images!

On most compact cameras, image contrast and colours can lack vibrancy and brightness. To improve these, here are three essential edits that should be at the top of your ‘list of things to do’ in Photoshop for these types of images.

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Edit 1 – Brightness/Contrast adjustment

To bring life to the shadows and highlights, go to Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Brightness/Contrast.

Push the Brightness slider up until the highlights are just about to vanish. This may need adjusting only slightly. Stick to around the 20 mark for Brightness. If there is sky in your image that has been bleached out as a result, paint over it with a black Brush on the adjustment’s mask.

Next, push the Contrast slider to 25. The combination of Brightness and Contrast will make everything standout more.

Edit 2 – Saturation boost

Saturation alters the intensity of colours in an image, and most images from digital compact cameras will benefit from a tad more.

Choose Hue/Saturation from the Layer>New Adjustment Layer menu and increase the Saturation slider to +15. This only has to be subtle.

Edit 3 – Sharpening

Some images can appear soft straight out of the camera. We can sharpen them up by duplicating your Background layer and going to Filter>Sharpen>Unsharp Mask.

Set Amount to 100% and decrease the Radius slider down to 0 pixels. Gradually increase the Radius slider until you see image details becoming more prominent.

Between 1-2 pixels is usually about right.

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Step 1 – Duplicate layer

Create a duplicate of the Background layer by going to Layer>Duplicate Layer. Hit OK in the pop-up box to place a new layer in the Layers palette.

Step 2 – Setup the Brush tool

Select your Brush tool (press B) and set its Diameter to 20px and Hardness to 50%. Find these settings under Brush in the Options bar.

Step 3 – Set remaining options

The Mode in the Options bar needs to be set to Overlay, and the Opacity can be reduced down to 50%. Make sure your foreground colour is set to white.

Step 4 – Apply catch light

Zoom in up close to the eyes and run the Brush tool over the top of the pupils. Because the tool is set to Overlay, any details will look blown out if you paint too heavily with the tool. It’s worth lowering the Opacity of the tool to 30% or below. Look to create similar a catch light for both eyes.

When using a tool that involves an Opacity, Exposure, or Strength setting, the quick way to alter this is by using the numbers of your keyboard.

The keys 1-9 change the setting in the Options bar to 10% and up to 90%, whereas 0 relates to 100%.

By pressing two numbers after quick succession, such as 8 followed by 2, you can end up with 82% for a slight increase.

To edit a layer’s Opacity setting and not a tool’s, press V to quick select the Move tool and then use the number keys.