Photoshop: Make Everyday Photos Look More Professional

Just about every household has some sort of digital camera laying around. This makes it super simple to take snapshots of everyday events. Using this tutorial, you can make almost any photo look professional — or at least better than amateur. With this simple photo retouching process, you’ll be able to put a professional polish on any photo you take.

We started with a regular point-and-shoot snapshot. This one was taken with a little higher-end camera. It’s a decent pic, but it could still use a lot of work.

First off, we’re going to sharpen our image just a bit using the Unsharp Mask [Filter > Sharpen > Unsharp Mask]. We’re not looking for anything too drastic, so I used some lower settings. Amount: 40%; Radius: 0.9 pixels; Threshold: 1 level. These settings will vary based on the pixel size of your image. You want enough to make a difference, but avoid any glowing or hard edges.

Now we’re going even out our colors and increase contrast by adding a Levels Adjustment layer [Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Levels]. When the Levels dialog opens, just click on Auto. Some people frown on the Auto Levels, but for beginners — and for the light task of sprucing up snapshots — auto levels are a time saver.

The next step involves adding a Brightness/Contrast Adjustment layer [Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Brightness/Contrast]. Increase the Contrast a little bit, 10 is usually a good standard amount. If you increase it too much it will look fake.

If your photo is washed out, as ours was above, then you’ll want to add one more adjustment layer. The Hue/Saturation Adjustment layer [Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Hue/Saturation] will increase the Saturation very slightly. Usually positive 5-6 is enough.


Now you can probably already see how much of a difference these few steps have made. One of the many neat features of Photoshop CS is the Photo Filter Adjustment layer. I went ahead and added a Photo Filter Adjustment layer [Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Photo Filter], with the default Warming(85) setting. This will warm colors in the photo. It works especially well to create more natural-looking skin tones for photos taken under unnatural lights.


It’s a subtle change, but it usually makes the photo look nicer and cleaner.


You can stop now and still end up with a very nice and clean photo, or you can take it a step farther by creating Depth of Field using background blur. Professional photogs use depth of field to direct attention to the subject.

To create depth of field using Photoshop, I’m going to start by duplicating my Background Layer [Ctrl + J]. Then go to [Filter > Blur > Lens Blur]. I left the settings default, and just lowered the Radius down until I got a decent, but not too drastic blur.

Next add a Layer Mask to your blurred layer [Layer > Add Layer Mask > Reveal All] and paint the focal areas black to hide the blur. Once you’re done, you can even alter the opacity of the blurred layer to reduce the amount of the blur.

Here’s a side-by-side comparison to the original:

Just the Original:


Finished & Retouched:

“Un-gearing” Creativity

Based on my experience, photography is not only about gears. Berpijak pada pengalaman, saya berkesimpulan bahwa fotografi bukan melulu menyangkut alat, Photography is closely related to how you wisely and correctly use your gears, resulting in good photographs. tetapi fotografi menyangkut bagaimana kita dapat mempergunakan alat dengan bijak dan tepat untuk memberikan hasil foto yang baik. The secret does not lie behind the technology utilized. Rahasianya bukan terletak pada teknologinya. Technology changes, but good photography is eternal. Teknologi berubah, tapi fotografi yang baik tidak berubah.

On my journey in photography, I always hold one value dearly: shoot it right from the start. Untuk menuju ke arah yang benar, satu hal yang selalu saya pegang, yaitu melakukan segala sesuatunya dengan benar semenjak awal (shoot it right from the start). This is true since the analog era to the digital era, in which we are presently in. Hal ini berlaku semenjak zaman analog hingga digital saat ini.

Digital photography does not magically transform a bad picture into a good photograph. Fotografi digital tidak membuat foto yang jelek menjadi bagus, Digital photography is used to get the best out of an already good photograph. tetapi untuk memperoleh tampilan terbaik dari sebuah foto yang baik. If we are able to do just that, . Jika hal tersebut sudah dilakukan,we already have all the correct basis. maka kita sudah punya modal yang benar. Whether the picture will be further post processed digitally is a different story altogether. Apakah foto tersebut akan diolah digital lagi di komputer atau tidak, itu bukan masalah.

Easy & Simple Mudah & Sederhana

Photography as a hobby, certainly not my main job, forces me to invent strategies in order to pursue photography further. Menjalani fotografi sebagai hobi, di luar pekerjaan utama, mengharuskan saya untuk mengatur strategi agar dapat terus menekuninya.One such strategy is to make this hobby easy and simple. Salah satunya adalah menjadikan hobi ini lebih mudah dan sederhana.

Currently I have one camera and one lens. ini saya menggunakan satu kam­era dan satu lensa. The reason is very simple: I can only afford to buy one camera and one lens. Saat Alasannya seder­hana, saya baru mampu membeli satu kamera dan satu lensa itu saja. This condition has its own benefits: I can simply concentrate more on the subject at hand than on my gears, Keuntungan dari kondisi tersebut, saya lebih mudah berkonsentrasi pada pemotretan and obviously the weight of my gears is substantially less than the others’. dan beban peralatan saya menjadi lebih ringan. Other accessories include a tripod, a hot-shoe flash, memory cards, spare batteries, and a few filters. Alat dan aksesori lain yang saya gunakan adalah tripod, lampu flash, memory card, baterai

cadangan dan beberapa filter lensa. Before taking a photo, I always make sure that the batteries, including the spares, are charged and full, the memory cards are empty or already transferred onto the computer, and always carry spare memory cards. Sebelum pemotretan, saya biasa melakukan beberapa hal, antara lain memastikan

baterai kamera dan flash telah terisi penuh, membawa baterai cadangan, memastikan memory card telah kosong atau sudah ditransfer sebelumnya ke komputer, dan membawa memory card tambahan.

Developing Ideassible Mengembangkan Ide.

I always try to gather as much information as possible about a photo object. Mendapatkan informasi sebanyak-banyaknya tentang obyek foto The goal is to get answers for: who, what, where, when, why and how. merupakan hal penting untuk bisa menjawab lima hal: who, what, where, when, why dan how. I imagine all angles, compositions, shutter speeds and others. It does not matter whether the imagination will apply in the field. Saya membayangkan segala hal seperti komposisi, angle, shutter speed dan sebagainya. It is the preparation and the planning that is important. Apakah nanti sesuai atau tidak dengan kondisi di lapangan, itu tak jadi soal. In the field I just improvise depending on the condition. Paling tidak saya sudah mempersiapkan perencanaan dan tinggal berimprovisasi saat memotret.

I also try to think about concepts and creative ideas, by learning what others have done, and probably have not done. Saya juga berusaha memikirkan konsep dan ide-ide kreatif, dengan mempelajari apa yang sudah pernah dibuat orang lain, dan apa yang mungkin belum. I say “probably” because I have no ability of knowing whether an idea has been implemented into a photograph or not. Saya katakan “mungkin” karena kita tidak sepenuhnya memiliki kemampuan untuk mengetahui apakah ide tersebut sudah pernah dibuat atau belum. Almost all ideas and techniques has been applied onto photographs. Ide dan teknik dalam fotografi hampir semuanya sudah pernah dibuat. What is pos sible now is to develop those same ideas creatively. Yang mungkin kita lakukan sekarang adalah mengembangkan ide-ide tersebut secara kreatif.

Digital photography enables people to learn photography in easier manner. Sejak era fotografi digital, orang semakin dipermudah untuk mempelajari fotografi.Only creative process now distinguish one photographer from another. Yang membedakan seorang fotografer dengan fotografer lainnya adalah proses kreatif masing-masing. On this, do not confuse creativity and digital post-processing. Dalam hal ini, jangan kacaukan kreativitas dengan sesuatu yang berbau olah digital.

Tips dari fotografer

Do not be afraid with experimentation. Jangan takut ber­eksperimen

Digital photography gives us more room to experiment. kar­ena fotografi digital memberi ruang yang seluas-luasnya pada kita untuk melakukan eksperi­men, Do not get easily satisfied with the result. dan jangan lekas puas dengan hasil foto yang didapat.

I concentrated my early digital darkroom processes, Untuk pengolahan di komputer atau digital darkroom,

using software such as Adobe Photoshop, on its main features such as level, curve, brightness/contrast, color balance, hue/saturation, dodge/burning, clone stamp, layering, and simple selection techniques. misalnya menggunakan software Adobe Photoshop, usahakan untuk tetap berkonsentrasi pada beberapa fitur utama seperti level, curve, brightness/contrast, color balance, hue/saturation, dodge/burning, clone stamp, layering dan beberapa teknik seleksi sederhana. After mastering these features, I moved onto other tools and features. Setelah menguasai fitur-fitur tersebut, saya melakukan eksperimen dengan tools dan fitur lainnya.

In finishing up I save the file as a copy of the original.

Setelah semua proses selesai, saya menyimpan file tersebut dengan membuat copy dari aslinya.

I often use post-processing Berkaitan dengan olah digital

to clean-up dust spots on my images due to dirty lens or sensor, using clone stamp. beberapa hal yang sering saya lakukan adalah membersihkan kotoran yang berasal dari lensa atau sensor (clone stamp), I adjust exposures using level, curve, brightness/contrast). I also use color balance, hue/saturation to adjust the overall color. mengatur eksposur secara keseluruhan (level, curve, brightness/contrast), mengatur warna secara keseluruhan (color balance, hue/saturation), Besides I use localized color adjustment and adjust the sharpness of the image. koreksi eksposur dan warna lokal pada beberapa bagian, dan mengatur ketajaman (sharpness).

In this digital era, Di era digital

people are often satisfie by the image on the monitor. banyak orang sudah cukup puas dengan tampilan di komputer saja. I would suggest that you should print some of your photos. Saran saya, sesekali kita harus men-cetaknya. Printing photos is an art on its own merrit. Mencetak foto juga membutuhkan keterampilan tersendiri.By expreimenting you will find what your looking for. Dengan banyak bereksperimen, Anda akan mempe-roleh hasil cetakan sesuai keinginan.