Tutorial: Blueish Nature Coloring
Program: Photoshop CS4
Translatable: No
Steps: 7
Difficulty: Easy
PSD: Available
From this:
To this:
This coloring works well with nature images, those with lots of green, and with brown/yellow subjects.
1. (Optional) Duplicate your base and slightly sharpen. This makes it a little more focused.
2. Make a Brightness/Contrast layer (Layer » New Adjustment Layer » Brightness/Contrast) and set the contrast at 4. This makes the dark parts darker.
3. Make a Curves layer (Layer » New Adjustment Layer » Curves):
Point 1: In 74 Out 74; Point 2: In 120 Out 143 ; Point 3: In 190 Out 220; Screenshot here.
This adds contrast and makes for a more dramatic effect as well as lightening parts of the image.
4. Make a Hue/Saturation layer (Layer » New Adjustment Layer » Hue/Saturation) and set the saturation at +5.
This makes the image more lively and makes the colors pop out a bit more.
4. (CS4 users) Make a Vibrance layer (Layer » New Adjustment Layer » Vibrance) and set the vibrance at +20.
5. Make a color fill layer, flood it with a light blue-cyan-ish (in this case #d6ecff), set it to color at opacity 18%.
In addition to making it a bit bluer, this also makes it a bit desaturated and tones down the yellow.
6. Make a selective color layer (Layer » New Adjustment Layer » Selective Color):
Reds: -30 +9 -20 +100 Yellows: +20 0 -10 +25 Neutrals: -3 +2 +1 +18 Blacks: 0 0 0 +1
This reduces the washed-out look the last step put on and added more depth. You can stop here if you want.
As with other colorings, you should tweak these settings according to your image.
7. Lastly, make a Photo Filter layer (Thanks yosna!) (Layer » New Adjustment Layer » Photo Filter) and select Cooling Filter (80) from the drop down menu and set it to 28%.
This makes the image bluer without overwhelming it and tones down the yellow the last step added.
Original:
Result:
Note: If your image is too dark, you can always duplicate the base, set it to screen, and lower the opacity to your liking.
Other Examples:
PSD is here.
I'm using this banner on my profile atm. :P
Comments and input are appreciated. ♡
Sorry for the watermark guys, that was pretty stupid. It's cause I was using this deer banner for my next graphics batch. ^^