How to increase the contrast of a photo in Photoshop. How to Adjust Brightness, Contrast, Sharpness with Photoshop

Our step by step instructions to help you quickly and easily edit your photos.

So let's start Photoshop.
Open photo - menu item file->open(or click Ctrl+O)

1. Adjust the light.

Go to the menu item Image -> Adjustments -> Levels...(Or press Ctrl+L)

Put a tick on preview(Preview) to immediately see the result.
Drag the sliders until we achieve the desired result:

2. Increase brightness and contrast

Go to the menu item Image -> Adjustments -> Brightness/Contrast…(Brightness/Contrast)

Move the sliders to the right.
brightness increases the brightness contrast, respectively, contrast.
Don't forget to check the box preview to see the result of moving the sliders.

3. Sharpening

Let's go to filter -> Sharpen -> SmartSharp…

In the window that appears, move the sliders to the right Amount(value, intensity of filter application) and Radius(radius, "coverage" of the effect) until the best result is achieved:

Additionally, you can add sharpness manually, using the tool
sharpen tool. We find it in the toolbar on the left (or click R):

Adjusting the strength of the impact - Strength, move the slider about 15.
Also choose the size of the brush - Brush(hotkeys for adjusting brush size are X and b)

With this tool, I decided to slightly sharpen the stitches:

Outcome:

Photoshop automatically names the new layers non-descriptively, like "Layer 1", this name tells us nothing about what the layer will be used for. Let's fix this and give it a meaningful name - double click directly on the name "Layer 1" (or "Layer 1"), it should be highlighted, and type given name, so I'll call it "BrightnessContrast".

As a result, the layers panel should look like this:

The top layer has been renamed to "Brightness/Contrast".

Step 3: Selecting the Brightness/Contrast Tool

On this moment layer "Brightness / Contrast" we have active (it should be highlighted in blue), go to the menu tab "Image" (Image) at the top of the screen, select the item "Correction" (Adjustments), and then the topmost item in the list "Brightness / Contrast" (Brightness / Contrast):

Switching to the Brightness/Contrast tool

After that, Photoshop will instantly open the dialog box for this tool:

The dialog box of the Brightness/Contrast tool.

Step 4: Click the "Auto" button in the dialog box

Before dragging the brightness and contrast sliders, the first thing the user wants to do is click on the Auto button, which has been added as a new option to the Brightness/Contrast command in Photoshop CS6.

Clicking this button tells Photoshop to set its own, supposedly best settings for enhancing the quality of the image. This is more than a simple selection, Photoshop analyzes your image and compares it to similar images from many professional photographers, then tries to match its result with similar shots:

Pressing the Auto button.

After pressing the Auto button, Photoshop will analyze your photo for a few seconds (the time depends on the size of the photo), after which it produces a result that is almost always an improvement over the original. In my case, Photoshop decided to set the Brightness to 43 and the Contrast to 14. Compare the original and enhanced photo by hovering over the image:

Automatic Brightness and Contrast settings based on Photoshop algorithms.

Step 5: Adjust The Brightness And Contrast Using The Sliders

If you remember from the lesson "Auto Tone, Auto Contrast, Auto Color Correction" that after applying these commands, image correction can no longer be changed, because. because they don't offer a way to change the results, the Brightness/Contrast auto-adjustment doesn't. Once you have already pressed the Auto button, you can make your own manual adjustments to further enhance the image using the appropriate sliders. Moving the sliders to the right will increase brightness and contrast, moving them to the left will decrease them.

In my case, I want to make the photo a bit arty, so I'll drag the Brightness slider to the left a bit to lower the brightness to a value of 38. Then I'll boost the contrast a bit by moving the corresponding slider to the right, to a value of around 35.

Each image will be different, each has its own taste, so there is no recipe to remember here. Just move the sliders, look at the image image, commit the changes and leave what you like best:

Manual adjustment of brightness and contrast using sliders. To compare with the original, hover/hover over the image.

By default, we see an already edited image in the document. If you want to compare your results with how the image looked before the adjustment, just uncheck the Preview option.

Tip : You can quickly enable/disable the preview option by pressing the keyboard key P.

Uncheck the box to view the original image.

"Use legacy" option

This option is disabled by default, and for good reason. Now I'll check the box to select this option:

Selecting the "Use Legacy" option.

As you might have guessed from its name, this option enables the use of the outdated Brightness/Contrast algorithms that were used before the Photoshop CS3 updates. Then the Brightness / Contrast setting was, to put it mildly, not the best, and here's why. Let's drag the brightness slider all the way to the right and see what happens.

My image now looks light with all the dark tones knocked out. This happened because with "Use Legacy" turned on, Photoshop increased the brightness stupidly in linear mode. In other words, he simply took all the tonal values ​​of the image (highlights, shadows, and midtones) and lightened them all by the same meaning. Areas that were light became pure white, dark areas became light.

Let's compare this with the modern algorithm, for which we simply uncheck the "Use Legacy" checkbox, in other words, enable the algorithms introduced from Photoshop CS3, then drag the brightness slider all the way to the right. Result:

View of the image with maximum brightness when disabled"Use Legacy" option.

Now the image is also too bright (generally, real editing never increases the brightness value to the maximum), but note that the dark areas are still dark and details in the bright areas are preserved.

The fact is that, unlike older versions, the new brightness control non-linear. Photoshop first determines which tonal values ​​need to be lightened and lightens them individually based on how much to lighten them. This avoids brightening dark, shadowy details and also prevents highlights from being lightened to pure white (all of which washed out to pure white when using legacy algorithms):

This happens when the brightness value is lowered.

Adjusting the contrast works similarly, but at the maximum value and with the "Use Legacy" option turned on, it gives an interesting effect:

Contrast at maximum, "Use Legacy" enabled.

Reset Brightness/Contrast values ​​back to original

If you clicked the "Auto" button and didn't like the results, or you just want to remove all your settings and start editing again, hold down the Alt key and click the "Reset" button. Pressing Alt changes the button's value from "Cancel" to "Reset". Pressing Reset will reset the brightness and contrast values ​​to zero.

Changing the button from Cancel to Reset.

Step 6: Click OK

When you're happy with the result, click OK to commit your changes and close the command dialog box.

Comparison between original and edited version

As we discussed earlier, when open window tool, you can compare the edited version with the original image by enabling/disabling the preview option. Now that we have closed the tool window and accepted the changes, we no longer have access to the preview option. But there is still a way to compare the original and the edited version, to do this, just click on the visibility icon of the "BrightnessContrast" layer:

Turning off the visibility of a layer by clicking on the corresponding icon.

This action will hide from visibility upper layer("BrightnessContrast") in the document, revealing the original image on the background layer below it.

Click again on the same visibility icon (the empty square where the eye used to be) to turn the visibility of the "BrightnessContrast" layer back on.

Step 7: Lowering The Opacity Of The Layer (Optional)

If you decide that your new Brightness/Contrast settings are having too much of an effect on your photo, there is an easy way to reduce their effect. Make sure the "BrightnessContrast" layer is still selected, and then just lower the "Opacity" value (Opacity) in the right upper corner layer panels. The "Opacity" value is set to 100% by default, which means that the "BrightnessContrast" layer completely blocks the visibility of the original image. Lowering the opacity allows you to partially show the original image on the background layer through the "BrightnessContrast" layer. The more you decrease the value, the less impact your adjusted version will have.

In the last tutorial, we looked at the "Chroma" blend mode, which blends the color (i.e., hue and saturation) of one layer with the underlying layer or layers without changing the brightness of the image. This mode is especially indispensable when coloring black and white photographs. It is also often used to change the color of a person's eyes or hair. The Color Blend Mode allows us to add or change colors in an image without affecting the brightness of the image.

Our fifth and final important photo blend mode is called Luminosity. As well as the blending mode “Chromaticity” (Color), it is included in the group of component modes along with the modes “Hue”, “Saturation” (Saturation) and is the exact opposite of the “Color” mode. While the "Chroma" blend mode mixes the colors of the layer and does not take into account the luminosity value, the "Lumness" blend mode mixes the luminance values ​​and does not take into account the color information.

When processing photos, changing the blend mode to "Luminance" is often the final step. For example, very often in the process of editing images, adjustment layers “Levels” (Levels) or “Curves” (Curves) are used to enhance the degree of contrast of images, and in many cases this is quite enough. The problem you may encounter with this processing technique is that the Levels and Curves layers affect not only the brightness of the image, but also the color. By increasing the contrast of the image, you also increase the saturation of the image, especially in reds and blue flowers, and sometimes you can even see the color shift. Too strong color saturation can lead to loss of individual details in the image. By changing the blend mode of the Levels and Curves layers to Luminosity, we can easily avoid this shortcoming as the color information will no longer be affected.

Applying the Luminosity blend mode in real life

Below is a photo of a festive table set in red, orange and yellow:

Festive table set

I'm going to increase the contrast in the image using a Curves adjustment layer and a traditional S-curve. To do this, I will click on the icon "New Adjustment Layer"(New Adjustment Layer) at the bottom of the layers panel and select from the list of adjustment layers that appear "Curves"(Curves):

Select the "Curves" adjustment layer.

When you open the "Curves" layer dialog box, a large 4x4 grid appears with a diagonal line inside that runs from the bottom left to the top right. To reshape the diagonal line into a traditional S-curve, I'll click on the line near the top right corner and add a marker, then I'll move the marker up a bit by pressing the up arrow key on my keyboard a few times. After that, I'll click on the line near the bottom left corner and add another marker, which I'll move down a bit by pressing the down arrow key a few times. As a result of such actions, the diagonal line will change to a curve resembling the letter S, also known as an S-curve:

Increase the contrast in the image by changing the diagonal line in the Curves layer dialog box toS-curve

Next, I'll click OK to exit the dialog box. The S-curve added brightness to the highlights in the image and increased the depth of the shadows, resulting in increased contrast. This is what we can see now in the picture. Note that the colors in the image also became more saturated, since the Curves adjustment layer affected not only the shadows and highlights, but also the saturation of the colors:

After applying the Curves adjustment layer, both the overall contrast of the image and the color saturation have increased.

In order for the "Curves" adjustment layer to affect only the degree of contrast and not affect the colors, all we need to do is change the blending mode of the adjustment layer from "Normal"(Normal) on "Brightness"(Luminosity):

Change the blending mode of the Curves adjustment layer to Luminosity.

Because the blend mode is now set to Luminosity, the Curves adjustment layer no longer affects the color. The contrast of the image is still enhanced, but the saturation of the colors has become the same:

After the changethe blending mode of the adjustment layer "Curves" to "Brightness" the saturation of the colors has become the same

The images in this tutorial may not show much of a difference when changing the blend mode, so try switching the blend modes from Normal to Luminosity yourself and it will be easier to see the difference, especially if the image contains a lot of reds and blues.

Often, the Luminosity blend mode is also used to sharpen images. To make a photo sharper, many people use the classic Photoshop filter. "Sharpening"(Unsharp Mask), and this is of course a perfectly valid option. The only problem that may arise with this is that the Unsharp Mask filter sharpens both the brightness and color levels, which sometimes results in noticeable ghosting around people and objects in the picture. To reduce the chance of ghosting when using this filter, we can use the "Brightness" blend mode along with Photoshop's "Weaken" (Fade) command so that the effect is only on the brightness of the image, and not on the color.

After applying the "Unsharp Mask" filter, go to the menu section "Editing"(Edit) at the top of the screen and select (Fade Unsharp Mask):

Choose Edit > Loosen: Peaking(Edit>FadeUnsharpmask.)

After opening the command dialog "Let loose" change the parameter "Mode"(short for "Overlay Mode") at the bottom of the window on "Brightness":

Change the blend mode in the Fade command dialog box to Luminosity

This step will change the blending mode of the "Unsharp Mask" filter you just applied to "Luminance", causing the filter to only sharpen the image within the brightness limits and not affect the color. Do this operation every time you apply the Unsharp Mask filter and the result will be much better!

And here we are! While Photoshop comes with up to twenty-five different blend modes, depending on the version you're working with, we've identified five blend modes you need to know. Multiply mode darkens the image, Screen mode brightens the image. The Overlay mode both darkens and lightens the image at the same time, making it more contrast, the Chromaticity mode allows you to add or change colors in the image without affecting the brightness of the image, and finally the Brightness mode allows you to work with the brightness of the image without affecting on color palette. By learning just five blend modes, you will save a huge amount of time and will be able to process, restore and retouch photos with ease.

Translation: Ksenia Rudenko

Curves(Curves) is an incredibly powerful tool. They provide the speed and efficiency of the post-processing process like nothing else. However, for a beginner, they can even be too powerful. Do not be afraid! The curves are not as complex or stunning as they might seem.

In this tutorial, we will go through the main functions Curves adjustment layer(Curves Adjustment Layer), we will find out where its functionality comes from, and consider how to effectively use this tool for local photo correction.

Image BEFORE:

Image AFTER:

Before moving on to the study of technology, we will touch on a little theory. Here's what's in this lesson:

1. How Tone, Contrast and Curves work
2. How to read tone curves and histograms
3. How to use breakpoints
4. Order of operations
5. How to make local contrast adjustments with Curves

Ready? Let's start.

Part 1: Dynamic Range

When you create Curves adjustment layer(Curves Adjustment Layer) in Adobe Photoshop, you get a tone curve, a histogram, and many other settings and buttons. What is all this?

It's all about Dynamic Range

First of all, remember one thing: every digital image is a grid of tiny pixels.

Dynamic Range(dynamic range) of the image shows how many shades of gray, from black to white, there are in the picture. In an 8-bit monochrome photograph, which we will discuss below, each pixel can have one (and only one) of 256 discrete intensity values, or, more simply, shades of gray. James Thomas covered color models recently, and I recommend reading in depth about how digital photography works.

bar chart(histogram) is a handy visualization. Essentially, it is an image of your image. For any given intensity, it shows how many pixels of a certain shade of gray are in the picture. This fast way get an idea of ​​the dynamic range of a photo without looking at it. This separation of photographic meanings from visual information is very useful. Below we will learn how to use it.

Curve(curve) - a way to manipulate the distribution of these tones using a graph, and also the key point of our lesson. Let's move on to find out more!

Part 2. Reading Tone Curves and Histograms

As Harry Guinness explained: "The tool Curves(Curves Tool) is a graph. On the x-axis we have Input(Input) level, Y-axis - Day off(Output) level. Each axis has values ​​from 0 to 255." From left to right and bottom to top:

1. IN zero point, which is located in the lower left corner of the graph, is located black(black) color: pixels that have no intensity.
2. Up and right from black go shadows(shadows), photographers often call them "darks".
3. In the middle of the graph medium gray(middle grey), surrounded on both sides by "halftones".
4. Even higher and to the right are the light zones, they are also "glare".
5. In the very top right corner, with a value of 255, is white(white): Pixels at full intensity.

The top of the curve controls the highlights, the middle controls the midtones, and the bottom controls the shadows.

Curve slope controls contrast

Contrast(contrast) expresses the difference between the tonal values ​​of an image. We can designate two types of it: global for the entire image and local for a specific area.

Each new curve is initially a straight line with a 45 degree slope. This means that the ratio between input(Input) and Conclusion(Output) one to one, the filter does not affect the image.

Changing the slope of the line changes the ratio. If the slope is greater than 45 degrees, the contrast is enhanced, if it is less, it is reduced.

Moving the curve also controls the levels. Shifting the whole curve down lowers the output value: the photo becomes darker. If you move the entire line up, the output value increases and the image brightens.

Looking at the histogram of our example, you can see that most of the pixels are in the middle of the tonal range, almost evenly split between shadows and highlights with a dimple in the midtones. There are also many pixels in the dark and light areas. This shows that we have an image with a relatively even distribution as well as a good all-round exposure. Here is the shot itself so you can appreciate the original view:

An extremely flat shot straight from the camera is a fairly normal and desirable result. To protect highlights and shadows, manufacturers digital cameras are cautious about interpreting raw, linear information from sensors into the photograph itself. It is better to start with a slightly flat result than to lose important information for the sake of excessive contrast!

The power of contrast

Our gaze always clings to contrasting areas. Think of a polar bear in the snow. It's hard to notice, isn't it? This is low contrast. Now imagine a panther in the snow; it is much easier to see it: it is high contrast. The whole trick to getting the right amount of contrast (and this is pretty subjective) is to make the whites not too white and the blacks not too black.

Simply put, contrast is the difference between light and dark part photos. Increasing this difference will make the picture appear more three-dimensional, while reducing it will make the picture appear flatter or duller. Global contrast adjustments are generally useful, but they're not as powerful when it comes to making certain photos look perfect. For this we need local corrections.

We use local contrast adjustments to add emphasis to an image or areas of it, increasing or decreasing the difference. We adjust the distribution of tones in the image to make the most of the dynamic range and, more importantly, direct the viewer's eye. How you do this depends entirely on the content of each photo.

Part 3. How to use breakpoints

You might think it's all like a tool Levels(Levels) and you will be right. However, there is a key difference: Curves(Curves) allow you to use control points to get fine tuning instead of rough adjustments to the black, white, and gray ranges.

Checkpoints(Control points) are the coordinates on the curve. You can drag them up or down to change the relationship between input(Input) and Conclusion(Output). The location of the point affects which part of the tonal spectrum needs to be changed.

To demonstrate this, I made three control points in our demo photo: one near the bottom, another in the middle, and a third near the top. I adjusted them to get an S-curve. You can see how this affected the image:

The shadows are darker, the highlights are brighter, and the midtones are almost intact but have more contrast. The S-curve adds contrast to midtones while reducing it for highlights and shadows. (It also enhances the saturation of a color image.) A curve like this is a common step for global correction.

Moving control points may not seem intuitive, but you just need to click on them and then drag them to the desired location.

When a point is selected, it can also be moved using the arrow keys on the keyboard. This helps with subtle corrections. Click Tab to switch between points.

Drag a point outside the graph if you want to remove it.

Part 4. Order of operations

Now that we've gone over the basics of curves and control points, let's look at the process of adjusting local contrast.

Step 1. Make all global corrections and adjustments

I know you can't wait to start improving your photos right now, but make sure each shot goes through global adjustments before moving on to local work. If you start making local adjustments on one photo before general work finished on other pictures, your group of pictures will not be harmonious, and the process of correcting them will become more difficult. Always place photos from a group in the same post-processing step.

In the case of our example, as well as in most of your photos, a smooth S-curve will be enough for global improvements.

Step 2. Make the necessary local adjustments

Some photos need additional processing. Before you do local adjustments, make local corrections. This includes vignetting, barrel distortion, fringing, chromatic aberration, etc. Correcting these things after making local adjustments will be much more difficult, so fix them now.

Step 3. Evaluate the shot and make a plan

Fine. Global corrections and adjustments are ready, local corrections are made. Now you can clearly see your photo. . What is it about? What is special about her? What feelings does it evoke? Write a note about these things in your work journal.

What does this photo need? What elements do you want to highlight? Are there specific areas of the image that need more contrast? Maybe there are areas whose contrast needs to be reduced! These are the questions you should be asking yourself when deciding how your photo should look. Record the answers to these questions in your work journal.

The adjustment process can become intuitive when one change leads to another, but it should always be guided by your evaluation of the shot, your imagination about it, and how far you want to go.

Step 4: Make Local Adjustments

For each large area that needs to be improved, create a new adjustment layer. More on this process below.

Step 5: Reevaluate and Compare

After a few adjustments, stop and look at your photo again. Did you get the image that you imagined when creating the plan? Perhaps the understanding of the picture has changed. This is fine! If this happens, write a note in your workbook.

Also compare the image with the rest of the photos in the group. Do they still match? If not, try fixing some corrections.

Part 5. How to make local contrast adjustments using Curves

As seen in the previous steps, the S-curve gave good result our snapshot globally. However, there are a few parts that need local adjustments.

The sky is still quite flat, I would like to make it more dramatic. I really like the varied and contrasting textures of the image - the stiffness of the wood, the lushness of the clouds, and how they create an atmospheric sense of depth. I want to visually emphasize all this. How can we achieve what we want? My goals are to make the sky darker, the clouds more voluminous, and also to bring out the darker shadows around the boat and the beach. Each of the sections must be adjusted separately.

Step 1: Add a Curves Adjustment Layer

Create Curves adjustment layer(Curves Adjustment Layer), you will find it in the menu Newadjustment layer(New Adjustment Layer) on the panel Layers(Layers Panel). Add a control point on the curve in the tonal range you want to adjust.

Using the "in-image" selection (hand with index finger), I selected the sky:

This tool shows me where the tonal range of the sky lies on the curve. By clicking and dragging the point down, I darkened it. Be careful - the changes affect other areas with the same tonal range, in my case they affected some parts of the rocky beach. When creating new corrections, you will have to compensate for this change.

The specific thing is that you can do a lot more with curves than with levels.

Step 2 Use a Layer Mask to Limit Adjustments to Certain Areas

As with all adjustment layers, we don't work directly on the pixels. The curves layer has a white Mask(Layer mask). It can be painted over to remove the effect of the layer on certain areas of the photo.

Now remove unwanted corrections on the image with maskslayer(Layer Mask) and brushes(Brush).

Using a soft brush with a low opacity(opacity), as shown below, paint over the areas that do not need adjustments. In the case of our example, you can see that the wheel is on foreground and the shadows on the boat got too dark.

This is the layer mask, shown in red (key-click alt mask thumbnail), so you can see which areas I've painted over. In some areas, I worked harder, with a brush at about 50% opacity, to get a gradual effect without rough transitions.

In the top image, the places where the filter is blocked by the mask are marked in red. Everything else has an effect. Here is the result:

After corrections

Now the sky looks much better. The next step is to make the boat, the clouds, the beach and the highlights on the water stand out. So we will create a new Curves adjustment layer(Curves Adjustment Layer).

Step 3. Repeat!

Following the same method, I used the "in-image" selection to find the highlight point on the boat (circled) and dragged it up, brightening the area.

This correction affected tonally similar areas of the entire image. Clouds, as well as the light areas of the beach and sky, are now brighter. This is not what I wanted, so we will need masks again.

Since we're adjusting smaller areas this time, it's easier to invert the layer mask ( Ctrl+I) and then work by painting over the areas you want rather than hiding the ones you don't.

In the image above, the areas where the changes are not applied are shaded in red, and in lighter pink areas, the image is lightened; I focused mainly on the boat, and also boosted the rocks a bit, the reflections on the water and some of the clouds.

After applying the correction

Potential Issues

As with all editing methods, there must be a compromise here. With curves, you stretch or compress tones. If you go too far, you get strange results; this is often referred to as posterization. It happens if the output tones are stretched:

If you try to lighten and darken areas with a similar tone, you will get posterized.

The one in the screenshot above is a gross exaggeration (you'll never use a curve like this), but shows the effect you can get if you overdo it with certain area one layer of curves.

When in doubt, work from big to small

If you can't solve everything on one layer, don't worry, just add a new one. It's much easier to work with one layer for each "problem", treating large areas first and then smaller ones.

Use different layers and focus each on a specific task. This will help you stay organized (don't forget to name your layers!), and also allow you to make edits as you build the image.

Almost done

As with most of these adjustments, it's often best to go a little far, knowing that you can lower the layer's opacity later on if you need to lessen its effect. Try grouping your edits. Just click on the folder icon at the bottom of the Layers panel, and then drag the layers you want into it:

You can then shorten opacity(opacity) group - this will affect all the layers that are in it. Alternatively, each individual Curve can be adjusted. I reduced the opacity of all my layers to 75% .

Ready

Okay, take a breath. Let's take a look at our picture again.

The original photo looked a little flat, with everything clustered around the midtones in the histogram. There was not much difference between light and dark areas. Adding a little global contrast helped, but that was just the beginning! Sometimes we don't need to change the whole photo. If you have a lot of tonality in a similar range, as in the case of our example, local adjustments will be needed to grab the viewer's eye.

The image I started with had little difference between boat, tire, beach or sky. Each of these elements has its own distinguishing feature, so it was wise to use local corrections to emphasize them. Since the clouds were already quite light, the darkened sky helped them stand out. Also by focusing on the highlights of the boat, the beach and the water using curves and layer masks, we were able to create brighter areas to draw attention without overdoing the areas that were already light. Now I like the contrasting textures of these areas.

Now you can fine-tune curves

Curves(Curves)! What a wonderful tool. They get better with every version of Photoshop. I strongly recommend that you take this function and familiarize yourself with the settings and effects that appear for different types photos.

Starting with black and white shots is easier because you don't have to worry about too much saturation, and it's easier to see the changes. Also, monochrome images are great for high contrast, so it's easy to practice on them. Of course, not all images need extra contrast, and curves can be used just as effectively to reduce it!

Try out the presets first and see what the effect of each one is, then use that knowledge to fine-tune your shots. Remember to keep corrections light and realistic. Otherwise, you will get anomalies in the image. All adjustments can be corrected by using a layer mask and removing all errors.

This tutorial will show you how to implement the Gradated Neutral Density (ND) filter effect in Photoshop. For this, only one gradient layer will be used. This will add brightness and contrast to the image.

Step 1.

Open the image in Photoshop.

Step 2

Add a new empty layer. This is done by clicking on the appropriate button, which is located at the bottom of the layers palette.

Step 3

This lesson will demonstrate the work with only two layers, but for convenience and order, we will give the top layer a name. To do this, double-click on the layer name and type in your own, for example, Graduated ND Filter.

Step 4

Now reset the foreground and background colors to their default values. This is done by pressing the D key. On the toolbar, select Gradient. You can also do this by pressing the G key. On the top settings panel, a linear gradient should be selected, and the transition should be from black to transparent.

Step 5

Now we need to draw a vertical linear gradient. To make it strictly vertical, the Shift key must be held down while drawing. The gradient should be drawn from the top of the image to the bottom.

Step 6

In the layers palette, change the blending mode of the Graduated ND Filter layer to Soft light (Soft light).

Step 7

In some pictures, this effect darkens or brightens areas of the picture too much. In this case, you need to change the opacity of the image to about 80%.

Step 8

Now you can compare the result before and after processing. The colors in the picture became brighter and more saturated. The detail has been increased.

Step 9

Final image result:

Based on materials from the site: