Painting on some skin

This is one of those tutorials that I'm writing in the hope that you'll never have to use it.

Sometimes, things don't quite go right, do they?  I'm talking about some very bright light hitting the skin of your subject, or some accidental overexposure, causing complete blowout in one or more areas.

Here is one such image that I was able to (at least partially) rescue from the brink of catastrophic blowout.  I know it's not perfect, but at least it's better than nothing.  The method I'm about to show you is not a miracle cure, by any means.  But it's a way of subtly adding some fake skin colour where none exists.

Obviously, you should be shooting Raw, which allows some latitude to rescue difficult lighting.  But even Raw is not infallible, as you can see in this gorgeous example image, kindly provided by Terri:

There was some bright light hitting Mum's fingers which caused a loss of detail which wasn't quite recoverable even in Raw.  So Terri needs to add a little bit of colour there, to prevent the viewer's eye being drawn to that area, instead of the beautiful child.

So, here's how to go about it.  (By the way, this method will work in both Photoshop and Elements.)

Easy, funky, crazy clipping masks

I'm prompted to write this short post by a great question from David on the Ask Damien page.

"How would you go about making a storyboard with some 'effect' to its edge?"

This question follows my posts about storyboards and clipping masks (here and here).  If you don't know how to make storyboards and collages and things, I encourage you to read those tutorials.

Ok, David, let's have some fun.  This is the easiest way I know to do this, and I hope you love it.

Creating, saving and using a watermark (PS & PSE)

Putting a watermark on your photos is important if they're going online.  In this tutorial I'm going to give you some simple guidance for making and using your own.

(I've captured this tutorial in Elements 9, and it's relevant to all versions of Photoshop and Elements.  Please also note that I have zero design skills, so please don't laugh at my feeble watermark!)

PART ONE: PLAN IT

As always, a bit of forethought goes a long way.  Take a little time to conceive your design.  This might involve surfing the web to look at other people's watermarks for inspiration; or it might just mean scribbling some ideas with pencil and paper.

PART TWO: MAKE IT

I've always found it's best to actually make your watermark on a photo.  This might seem plainly logical to some of you, but I'm a bit surprised at the number of people who design their watermark on a plain white background, and don't really know how it looks on a photo until they try it out afterwards.

Also, it's a darn good idea to make the watermark bigger than you'll ever need it. Therefore, I make mine on full-res photos, even though I'm only likely to use it on a low-res one.

Pick any old photo, really.  I've chosen this one of a snoozy koala:

The light around your computer

(This article was updated in May 2015)  

Be careful not to underestimate the influence of the ambient light while you're editing your photos.  I've seen many people comment that when they edit photos at night, then look at them during the daytime (or vice versa) they look markedly different.

Of course, when you edit some photos (especially if you're tired), then look at them again a few hours or days later, you're always going to notice some things you'd like to do differently or better.  That's human nature, I guess, and in a way it's a good thing - while you're perpetually critical of your own work, you'll keep striving for improvement.  And as long as you do all your Photoshop editing with layers, it should be very easy to make whatever adjustments you need.

But I'm not here to pester you about layers again.  I want to discuss light.  The light that's around you while you're doing your post-processing.

A Pinterest idea

I've been thinking ...

I know a lot of my readers sometimes struggle with skintones, because you feel uncertain about what looks good and what doesn't. Sometimes when someone shows you how it should look, it gives you some clarity of mind, and you can continue editing with more direction and confidence.

I also know a lot of you are on Pinterest. So, here's what I'm thinking. I think you should create a board called "Skintones I love". And whenever you're cruising around, checking out other photographers' blogs, or whatever, and see a photo with skintones that take your breath away, pin it!

Then, when you're doing your own editing, and feeling a bit uncertain about "is this too yellow?" or whatever, just browse your board. Immerse yourself in great skintones for a few moments, then re-visit your own photo with fresh perspective.

Web browsers and Facebook

I get SO irritated every time I see somebody say "Facebook changes the colour of images".

NO IT DOESN'T.

Facebook makes a mess of the clarity of images, we know that.  Its compression settings are pretty strong, and it plays havoc with our sharpening, in particular.  Nothing we can do about that.  With all the billions and gazillions of images on their servers, can you blame them for compressing them a bit?  Of course not.

But it doesn't change colour.  If you see that your images' colour looks different on Facebook than it did in your editing program, it's your fault, not Facebook's.  It's because you're not using the right browser.

Let's discuss the four main browsers.  We'll start at the bottom of the pile, with Internet Explorer and Google Chrome.  These two have no colour management at all.