After skin retouch we have a richer and more directional feel to the light.
A Black and white conversion using L*A*B* color mode for luminosity. A very classy B+W conversion. Once we’ve shown the client the expected results we can easily proof them something more artistic, and unexpected using Beautiful Blurs, or Lighting Overlays.
There are two answers to why to be creative – one is from your own motivation, the other is to sell more to your clients. With the ONE ACTION workflow you could complete this whole series in less than 3min simply saving out a JPEG at each stage.
I know these are written to a more abstract level and so today I’d like to provide a more hands-on experience and so I have posted this L*A*B* colorspace photoshop file for you to download. There are eleven layers in this file, from the starting image, on up through the finished look.
Two of the cards have 1 cent stamps attached – these cards are vintage 1910-1919
Here’s how I used it, and on the front I used a texture overlay to complete the vintage look. I would recommend the Dark Descent texture set to add a touch of vintage feel.
But let’s try and put our finger on it for a moment with the end in mind – what does a texture do for an image?
In the first image I composed the shot with a piece of the ceremony decor in focus with the bride’s head in the background but out of focus. The sharp objects are perceived by our eyes as the subject – the blurry or soft things are the ground – upon which the subject ‘rests’ or ‘resides’. Without separation there is nothing.
So what happens when a texture file with small sharp details is introduced?
In the texture file that I used from the Lighting Overlays Disk 1 set, a focal plane runs through the image with the texture of paper in sharp focus. In this image where only one small object is in the focal plane the texture adds to the perceived depth of the image by adding more ‘figure’ to the figure/ground relationship. It appears as though the crystalline beads rest on something as they sway in the breeze.
The second image of the diptych shows the opposite point of focus, but has the same exact texture applied to the image. Even with my best blue sky photo processing tricks, I couldn’t help the bride’s face rise in perceptual value without some additional lightening or darkening of the sky. I chose the blue texture file and applied it in overlay blend mode which darkened the sky while increasing saturation. Here’s the image as it looks straight out of camera raw.
Interesting perspective, but not the same dramatic picture energy as the finished version. The lighting overlay helps channel the image’s tones into a dramatic and emotionally engaging corner burn (compare the top and bottom right. The cooling blue effect helps the skin-tones rise in prominence and the overlay blend mode deepens the shadows and brightens the highlights for a stronger dimensional feel to the hazy sunlight.
I hope this discussion brings you deeper understanding on your path to visual wisdom!
. 
fan this site
