All language subtitles for 02 Direct Sunlight-1.mp4

So I believe that the easiest way to
teach natural light

is to put yourself in the hardest
scenario, which is hard sunlight at

twelve o'clock midday.

So let's get shooting.

I'm going to first show you

some of the common mistakes that a lot
of photographers make when they get in

this sort of lighting scenario.

And then I'm going to show you some
tricks that I use

in order to really get a compelling
photograph in this hard sun.

So we've spun around now, and I put
Maria in the direct sunlight.

The sun is behind me, and you're going
to see that.

It doesn't look too bad right now, but
we're in the middle of November, and

the sun stands lower,

let's say, in your summer months, when
it's directly overhead.

So generally, people don't really
photograph that well with long shadows

on their face.

So to illustrate how important these
shadows on the face are, I'm going to

get Maria to first lower her chin all
the way down, and then eventually we're

going to move her chin all the way up
to where it's pointed towards the sky

relax.

That hand right there, perfect.

So right now, the light is extremely
unflattering, because you had these

long shadows on her eyelashes.

And you're going to see that the
shadows are going to really be long on

her face.

But if she was to raise her chin up,
and the shadow under her nose touches

about the top of her lip, that's the
golden zone, that is where we need to

be.

So for this next shot, I'm going to
have Maria raise her chin up.

And as you can see, we've already
gotten these shadows a little bit more manageable.

So if I zoom into the face here, you
can really see that these shadows are

now manageable.

The shadow under the nose is a lot
better.

The shadow under the chin is not nearly
as long, and the lashes have completely disappeared.

So we're going to exaggerate this a
little bit more, and then we're going

to completely reduce the shadows by
having her raise her chin all the way

up towards the sun.

So in this shot, you can see the
shadows in the nose and the shadows

under the eyes, near the eyelashes have
completely disappeared.

So some photographers might say that

the middle shot, those shadows are
still there, they're still long, but I

think that it works in this sort of
scenario.

And we're going to talk about how to
reduce those shadows later in the tutorial.

But I would say I'm going to choose
that shot over this last shot, which

the pose is simply not flattering.

So obviously we can't shift the sun,
but by shifting the model's chin, we

can change the direction of the light
totally.

A lot of photographers are completely
terrified to get in sort of a light

scenario such as this direct sunlight.

But you have to understand that the
power of the pose and the power of the

model, and just moving around

can really make the difference.

So the other change we can make

is it's changing the angle of the
frame.

And so now I'm going to swap positions
with our model here.

Marie and I have now swept places.

You can see that the light is directly
on my face and is hitting her back.

So let's take a shot and see what that
looks like.

And so that shadow that we were so
worried about, under the nose and on

the chin and under the eyes, has now
completely disappeared,

because she's not being lit by a small
point in the sky, she's being lit by

this entire giant soft box that we have
as the blue sky.

So the sun is still the only and the
brightest light source in our frame here.

So it's obviously hitting her hair,
it's hitting her shoulders, and it's

really cutting her out of this
background.

So in the last frame, we are really
worried about those long shadows on the face.

But now if she moves her chin down and
up and wherever we want, it doesn't

matter, because we have the sky to
light the frame and the face.

So as you can tell, we've had to break
a rule here.

We've had to start blowing out the
detail on her shoulders and her head in

order to get the correct exposure on
her face.

This is something I really don't like
to do.

But if you're stuck in this scenario,
it's something that you can do.

So a lot of photographers like to
choose this lighting scenario because

it's easy and gives the model the
option to move around.

And with the last scenario, we really
didn't have that option because we had

to really pinpoint the exact chin level
where the light was flattering.

The light will always be flattering in
this lighting scenario.

So as you can see, this image isn't
actually as bad as it could be because

the background is dark, we have trees
and we have Fields here.

And the reason why I actually have that
as a background is because I'm shooting

downhill towards those trees and
towards that field.

So imagine how much at worse it would
be if I was to shoot towards the sky,

it's going to be completely white, it's
going to be completely blown.

So let me just crouch down here.

I'm going to shoot towards the sky.

Photographers do this all the time, and
let's see what it looks like.

So in this shot, you can now see that
the blown highlights on her shoulder

and on her hair have now blended in, so
she sort of just blends into the frame.

So a lot of photographers choose this
style of lighting because it is the

easy choice.

But you have to make sure that you have
the right proper background, the dark

background, to really contrast the
model from the background.

So I actually don't really like any of
my shot to be blown out.

So let me show you another option.

So now let's talk about my personal
favorite style of lighting in direct,

hard sunlight.

A lot of photographers might think this
is pretty unconventional, but for me

it's the most dynamic and it's the most
interesting.

So now what I've done is positioned
Maria to be about 45 degrees from the

sun.

The sun is behind me it's highlight on
my shoulder.

And so now her face is actually
partially in the sun and partially in shadow.

So a lot of photographers don't light
working in this light, because it can

go very, very wrong, as you can see in
this shot here.

So you can see how the sun is grazing
across the side of her face and really

just highlighting her nose.

We have weird, strange shadows covering
her eyes, weird shadows coming in from everywhere.

And because of that,

this looks like a mistake.

With those next shot, we shifted and we
turned a little bit more, and we put a

little bit more light on her face, but
it's not quite there yet.

The shadows aren't exactly

flattering her face.

We have some strong bags in her eyes,
and we don't want that.

Take a look at her, right?

Cheek.

There's a small speck of highlight
there.

If it were to be larger,

it would probably work.

And if it were to be gone, it would
work as well.

But having a small little highlight and
a dot on someone's face just never

looks good.

So to make this light a little bit more
flattering, we're going to have her

move her cheek and open up that small
little highlight.

And we're going to really try to
achieve some Rembrandt style of

lighting here.

So as Maria moves her chin around,
you're going to see that highlight open

up on the cheek,

and it really gets that triangle.

And that's the style Rembrandt used to
paint in his paintings,

with a small little highlight on the
cheek.

But if she goes too far, then suddenly
you're going to be in direct sunlight

where we sort of started out.

So it's a pretty precise

direction of light that you have to
have on the model's face.

So one method that I use to really find
that right light is my hand.

So I start my hand here in the direct
hard sun.

There are no shadows on my hand.

But as I rotate it, those shadows start
to appear on my hand.

And if I was to completely rotate fully
around, then my hand is covered in shade.

Right this point.

The shadows are a little too long, and
that's not what I'm wanting to go for,

but there's a sweep spot here at 45
degrees where these shadows are exactly

what I want.

So let's take a few test shots here.

Chin up.

I like it.

Chin down slightly.

So in this shot, you can see that I've
gone a little too far.

The highlight of the cheek

is now opened up, way too big.

So at this point I don't think that
we've really achieved that Rembrandt

style of lighting.

So all we need to do is shift maria's
chin around so that we bring that

shadow edge back in.

Chin down a little bit.

Beautiful.

Chint up.

Love it.

So this style of lighting, your
Rembrandt style of lighting, and hard

direct sunlight, is something that you
see in fashion photography, everywhere,

so flat even lighting

is safe.

What this image is dramatic.

And the shadows are creating that drama
it's engaging, it's dynamic,

and it doesn't look like a mistake.

It looks intentional.

It looks like we really are trying to
create a stunning photograph.

Now, when you're taking shots like
these, if you look at the back of the

camera, you're going to notice that
those shadows are pretty dark.

But it's ok, because there's ways that
we can control that later in post.

Or we can add some sort of bounce, some
sort of reflector.

But we're going to get to that later.

So now that you know my technique for
working in hard, harsh sunlight,

we're going to cruise around and get
some poor folio images before we move

on to the next lesson.

So we've walked in this high grass
here, and

now I'm going to use this trick with my
hand to really find that right light,

that really dynamic, dramatic Rembrandt
lighting.

And so it's about right around here.

And I positioned Maria here to

be right where around where I want her.

And we're going to play around in this
zone.

So now that I found this perfect
Rembrandt style of lighting, and you

can see that we have this nice little
triangle on the cheeks in this way, a

little bit perfect.

We had this nice little triangle on the
cheek.

And I'm going to take a quick test shot.

So we got the shot, and it looks cool,
but it's kind of predictable.

It's kind of just generic.

So one thing I like to do to make my
photos stand out is I like to get low,

and I shoot loda high.

But when that happens, and when I get
that composition, naturally, I'm going

to get the sky.

And if you remember in our previous
example, we were shooting into the sun.

We are shooting into the sky, and it
was completely white.

It was completely blown out.

But that's just not going to be the
case here.

So because we're using our sun as our
main light, as our key light here,

the model and the sky are going to be
perfectly exposed.

So I'm going to crouch down, and I'm
going to take this same shot once again.

So to me, this shot is a whole lot more
interesting.

We're getting the beautiful sky as well
as this awesome high grass.

So to make this image that much better,

we're going to get Maria moving a
little bit, walking back and forth,

and add some motion to the shot.

All right, come forward.

Beautiful.

Back up.

Let's take back up a little bit more.

Awesome, or it let's take a small step
forward.

Awesome.

Chin up.

too much back off.

There you go.

Come forward.

Perfect.

Right there.

Keep that chin slightly even towards
the horizon a little bit there.

Ago.

And boom, even though both of these
images have the exact same lighting,

the one with movement and the one with
motion, is just more engaging.

It has a lot more energy to it.

So remember that even though lighting
and technicalities plays a huge role,

mood and movement, and the expression
and the subject matter, outweighs all

those technicalities always.

So we've got a few awesome shots out of
this set.

And we're going to definitely take this
into post processing and get to work on.

So we just finished the first lesson,
and I'm going to take you in to capture

one pro ten, which is the software that
I use to pre process my images before

Photoshop.

Feel free to follow along in light
room, but I use capture one.

So that's what we're going to be using
today.

I'm using the latest version of capture
one.

Don't worry if you don't have it, you
can follow along on your own version.

Let's go ahead and open capture one,
and I'm going to show you my layout and

how I use it.

If you don't have capture one, then you
can go to their website and download

the free thirty day trial.

The first thing that you're going to do
when you open capture one is you're

going to hit on this new catalog button.

You can name it whatever you want, but
I'm going to name it f stoppers.

And I'm going to choose where to save
it.

I'm just going to save it on the
desktop.

You can save it wherever you want.

That's just where I'm choosing to save
it.

And then we're going to make sure that
open a new window is checked and hit, ok.

The first thing that you're going to do
when you get into this window is you're

going to go to this panel.

Here it's the library panel.

We're going to use your collections,
and we're going to make a new album.

Just going to give that a new name.

I'm going to use it.

I'm going to call it f stoppers.

And we're going to hit, ok,

you're going to select that album.

The next thing that you're going to do
is you're going to go to the folder

where this video was contained, and
you're going to import the raw file.

There will also be a jpeg version of
The Rock for you to use, but I'm going

to use The Rock, so let's go ahead and
import that.

So now we're just going to open that
raw.

I'm going to locate it on my drive,

and I'm going to drag it into capture
one.

The import images window will pop up.

Once we have the Ryan, I'm going to
select it.

And the only thing that I want to
change is under import two.

And next to collections,

I want to make sure that selected album
is selected.

The reason that I make sure to check
this is just to make sure that it goes

into this user collections over here,
just for organization purposes.

So we're going to go ahead and import
one image.

The first thing that I do with every
image is we'd select it over here,

right click it, and I would go to new
variant.

The reason I want to make a second copy
is so that we can go back to the

original one and compare the
adjustments that we make, just to make

sure that we don't go too far or make
any bad changes.

So we're going to select the new one.

And I'm going to give you a quick run
through of the tabs that I use.

The first tab that I want to show you
guys is this one, right here,

this color tabrate here

there's a great variety of color
adjustments that I can do in this tab.

But for now, we're just going to stick
to white balance.

To change the white balance,

we're going to move this Kelvin slider
left

or right to make it colder or warmer.

We're going to reset that by going

to mode and selecting shot.

And for this image, in particular,

I think it's a little bit too cold.

So we're just going to pull it slightly
to the right and warm it up a bit.

This tab has all the tools that I would
use to balance the exposure.

This image is really contrasting to me.

So what we need to do is darken the
highlights and bring up the shadows.

We're going to do that by reducing the
exposure slider

just a bit.

And we're going to go to high dynamic
range and increase the shadows.

That's actually all the changes I want
to do on this image.

And capture one.

If you go to the before image, there's
some subtle adjustments that we made,

but I think that this is ready for
Photoshop.

To get this image into Photoshop, we're
going to right click on the version

that we made our adjustments on and go
to export and variance.

This is going to bring up an export
dialogue.

And the first thing we want to do is
make sure that we're saving it to the

right place.

The first thing we're going to do is go
to destination

and choose folders, so that we can
select where we want to save this file.

I'm going to save it on my desktop,

so I'm going to choose desktop

set as export folder.

And now I need to make sure that all of
my export settings are correct.

The first setting that I want to check
is format.

And I want to make sure that it's set
to psd.

The next thing that you want to check
is that this is set to sixteen bit.

The difference between sixteen bit and
a pit is that sixteen bit has much more

color information that we can work
with.

But for the sake of this tutorial, I'm
going to set it to eight bit so that it

doesn't slow down our computer and
cause any delays while filming.

Next, we want to make sure that icc
profile is set to Adobe rgb 1998,

that the resolution is set to 300
pixels per inch.

The scale is fixed

at 100 percent.

We're going to open it in Photoshop.

And one last thing that we need to make
sure that we have unchecked

is sharpening.

We don't want any sharpening on export,
because we would do that after the

image is retouched.

So we just make sure that there's no
sharpening.

And we're going to export one variant.

So we've got the image open and
Photoshop, and your layout might look a

little bit different, but we just need
to make sure that you have layers,

adjustments and properties.

If you don't see those, you can go up
here to window

and there's a list of all of the
different tabs that you can have.

So you just want to make sure that
adjustments is checked, layers is

checked and properties is checked.

The next step that I would do for every
image is set up my healing layer.

So I'm going to go ahead and hit
command shift n

to make a new layer.

And I'm going to call this heel

and hit

enter or ok.

Another way that you can make a new
layer is that you can go down to the

bottom right corner of Photoshop and
there's this button right here.

You can click on that and it'll make a
new blank layer for you.

We only want one of these layers.

So I'm going to delete it by either
hitting back space,

or I can drag it down to the trashpin
at the bottom right corner.

The simplest way to start cleaning up
this image is with a healing brush.

So we're going to go over to the left
side panel, and we're going to select

healing brush.

If it's set the spot healing brush
tool, you're going to click and hold

down, and it'll give you this drop down
where all the healing tools are located.

We're going to make sure that healing
brush tool is selected and another

thing that you need to check, check is
that the sample is set to current end below.

The goal when cleaning up an image is
to remove anything that distracts from

the subject.

So we're going to zoom in using control
and plus sign

into a few spots that I noticed.

The first thing that I noticed is this
piece of grass stuck on the jacket.

So we're going to resize our brush
using the left side square bracket to

make it bigger.

You can use the right side square
bracket.

Another way that you can change the
brush size.

You can move up to the top

and click on this brush panel setting,

and you can change the size right here.

This is about the right brush size for
us.

So we're going to click on the brush
panel again.

You're going to hit alt or option,
depending on if you're on a pc or Mac,

to sample a clean part of the jacket
that looks similar to the area you want

to replace.

You're going to click right here,

and you're going to

do a pen stroke right over that piece
of grass.

The reason why you want to sample on a
similar looking area is because if you

sampled an incorrect area,

it would look really bad.

But here's an example.

I'll sample right here on the jacket
where there's a harsh transition to the shadows.

If I drag this over here,

and to try to sample from that area,

you can see that it looks really bad.

We're going to undo that by hitting
command or control z.

So we're going to zoom out, and we're
going to find another distraction.

There's a few more on the jacket, over
on the left side.

So we're going to zoom in

on that area,

and we're going to do the same process
over again.

We're going to repeat the process by
sampling a good area

and painting over the distraction.

We're going to keep sampling

on good areas

and painting over any distractions that
we see.

Let's keep moving through the image,
and we're going to keep looking for

distractions to remove.

So we're going to sample here in a good
area

and remove that one

are here.

So we're going to sample

and remove,

and move over to the other side of the
jacket.

There's a few over here.

So we're going to sample,

and we're going to remove this spot here

with a few more spots in this area.

So we're just going to keep sampling,

so you get the idea.

I'm going to quickly move through this
image and remove all the distractions.

Now that I've really gone through this
image and all the details, I'm going to

zoom out, just to make sure that any of
the changes that I made don't look too weird.

Blemishes are kind of up to you on it,
if you want to remove them or not.

Some models have freckles or moles, and
you might want to keep them.

It's up to you to use your best
judgment to keep it natural.

For this image, I think that we've done
a good job in removing all the

distractions on her face and on her
coat.

There's one other distraction that
isn't on your body, but I'm going to

show you a new tool that I would use to
remove that.

So these pieces of grass that are just
coming in off frame.

And if we were to use the healing brush
tool for this,

you can see

that

the color doesn't blend properly.

So we're going to have to find another
tool to do this with.

First, we're going to undo that change
by heading commander control z.

Instead of the healing brush tool,
we're going to have to use the clone

stamp tool, and it can be found on the
left side panel,

right below the brush tool.

We're going to select that

and use a square bracket keys, to make
sure that our brush isn't too big.

We're going to go up to this brush
settings up here again

and make sure that our hardness

isn't too hard,

so our edges aren't too sharp.

In general, I want to make sure that my
clone stamp tool has a very soft edge

to it, so that it blends properly.

So we're going to go up to this brush
settings up here again,

and I'm going to turn the hardness down.

Now we can sample a good area.

This blank sky.

Ever going to clone that piece of grass
out,

just like the healing brush tool.

I'm looking for areas that are similar
to what the problem area should look

like.

There's still a bit more grass over
here.

So we're going to continue working, and
we're going to sample a good area right

about here.

And I'm going to paint

away

this piece of grass.

Notice how I accidentally sampled this
cloud piece.

I'm going to sample again.

And I'm going to paint that out,

and are going to continue doing this
until that piece of grass

is no longer coming in from the side of
the frame.

I think we've taken care of all the
destructions that I want to remove.

So let's zoom out and see what our
changes look like

we're going to toggle this layer on and
off.

By clicking the I button.

You can see that all of our changes are
super subtle, but added together, it

makes for a much better final shot.

So I think this image is ready for clay
to do is color grading and sharpening.

So let me show you how I would save it
out from here.

I'm going to go up to file at the top
left corner, select save, as

I'm

pretty much going to keep the name the
same.

I'm just going to put a dash edit at
the end,

and I'm going to make sure it's saving
to the desktop.

We need to make sure that format is
set, the Photoshop, the layers, is

checked, and that embed colored profile
is also checked.

This way, clay can easily access the
file and Photoshop for its color

grading and sharpening.

So we're just going to go ahead and
click save.

Ok,

and now it's ready to go to play.

I've gotten this image back from
Jordan.

Now I'm ready to move on to the next
step, which is color grading and sharpening.

This is the final step in all of my
imagery, and I do this in Adobe

Photoshop.

I'm going to open up jordan's psd file,
if you can follow along and capture one

in Photoshop.

You should be able to open up your own
psd file.

You can also work with the jpeg that's
provided in your lesson folder and work

with that in Photoshop as well.

Often receive files from Jordan as a
tiff file,

which is only one single layer, and
it's going to be very similar to what

you see as a jpag as you open that into
Photoshop.

Many of the adjustments I'm about ready
to make are all built upon one single

flatten layer.

So what we need to do now is take all
these layers and stamp them out into

one layer.

But I don't want to be destructive and
take away any of jordan's work here.

So we need to stamp a new layer

on top top of all these original
layers.

I'm still going to have all these
layers in the layer palette, but I'm

going to have a new layer to work off
of.

So first I need to highlight all of the
layers by holding down shift and

selecting each one.

Then I'm going to hit control, alt
shift e or command option shift e.

And what it's going to do is take all
these layers and stamp them down to one

single layer.

And now I'm ready to start my color
grading process.

And it all starts with camera raw.

So I'm going to go to filter,

camera raw filter,

and I'm going to build upon what Jordan
has already provided for me.

And it all starts with clarity.

The first thing I want to work with
here is clarity.

And you can go very wrong with clarity.

Too much clarity just looks bad,

super contrasted, and she just looks
overproce

on the flip side to little clarity.

Looks like she's

living in glow here.

So we don't want that, but we do want a
little bit of edge.

So we're going to bring this clarity up
to about 20,

and that's a nice balance.

That's going to give a little punch to
the image, which is exactly what we

need in this nice, direct sunlight.

The next adjustment I'm going to make
is to mute the color.

And I'm going to do that with a vibrant
scale.

And I use the vibrant scale over the
saturation scale is because it's a

little bit more subtle, as you can see,
with the saturation scale,

it completely removes the color when I
drag this at negative 100.

But with the vibrant scale, when I

scaled this all the way down to
negative 100.

There's still a hint of color.

I'm going to bring this vibrant scale
to about negative thirty.

That's about all the first adjustments
I make in camera race raw.

I'm going to hit ok.

And now we're going to move into color
contrast.

But before we look at color contrast,
we need to analyze the image.

We need to study this image and really
think about the direction of where

we're going to go.

Do I want to go warm?

Do I want to go cool?

This image has nice direct sunlight, so
I think it really calls for warm tones.

And so that's what we're going to do
now.

And in order to do that, we first have
to add color contrast.

And we add color contrast with curves.

So I need to go up to the curves
adjustment layer.

Click that.

You're going to notice this graph pops
up in your properties palette.

We're going to select the rgb drop down
menu and select the red channel.

One thing to remember is that there's a
lot of red in warm tones.

We need to add a little bit of red.

And in order to do that, we need to
select the center point of this red

chapel and then push this towards the
top left corner.

And this is going to add a little bit
of red to the entire image.

You want to be careful not to do too
much, because your image is going to go

completely red, and that, if you were
to take out, your image would go

completely blue.

So when you add a little bit of red and
do it very subtly.

Next up, we're going to go to the green
channel.

The goal with the green channel is that
we want to add magenta to the shadows

and add green to the highlights.

So all we need to do is select the
bottom side of this channel and drag

the greens towards the

bottom right corner,

and then select the

line at the top right corner and bring
that to the top left corner, which is

going to add a significant amount of
green to the highlights.

And as you can see, it forms a small s
curve.

Next up, we're going to go to the blue
channel, and we're going to repeat the process.

We're just going to form that small
subtle s curve.

This is going to add a little bit of
red to the shadows

and a little bit of blue to the
highlights.

Now that we've added our contrast, this
image, we need to balance this out a

little bit and really add in some mid
tones.

So we select the color balance
adjustment layer.

This is where we can get really
creative with color grading.

We can go extremely yellow, extremely
magenta, extremely cyan or vice versa.

But in this case, we want to balance
all these colors out and still maintain

some natural realism.

So what I want to do is start with the
yellow and blue slider.

So I want to drag this to the left to
add a significant amount of warmth to

the image.

Next I want to play with this magenta
and green slider.

I need to add a little bit of green to
the midtones just to balance out this magenta.

So I'm going to bring this up to 10 and
add a little bit more green.

Next I'm going to alter this Sion and
red slider.

I need to take away the red, just a
hair, add a little bit more science.

Someone drag this to negative 10,

and it's going to cool off those hot
reds.

I've really liked what this has done to
her skin and her coat.

Add a nice warmth to the entire shot.

But I still want a little bit of green
added to this sky.

I'm going to select a hue saturation
adjustment layer.

Then click on this selector tool, which
is an eye dropper which is going to

allow me to control a specific color in
the sky.

So I'm just going to click a general
area of blue.

As you can see in my hue saturation
palette.

Only the blues are selected.

Now

from here, what we need to do is change
this hue slider

to a little bit more green.

And you just want to play in this tone.

Remember, this is a completely creative
process, so you can go as far as you

want or as little as you want.

For me, I like a really nice balance
between the two.

So I don't want too green and I don't
want too blue.

So bout right there looks pretty good.

So keep in mind that if there's any
other blue colors in the entire image,

this would also affect that as well.

So if our Jeans are blue, or if she was
wearing a blue dress or a coat, that

would also be affected.

Since she's not wearing anything that
matches the color of the sky, we don't

worry about that.

Next up, we're going to go to this
saturation slider.

And just to saturate that sky just a
bit,

I'm going to bring this to negative ten.

Now we're going to go to the lightness
and really bring out some of this

highlight and take out some of the
lightness of the sky.

We're going to also drag that to
negative ten.

I think we have the color where we want
it.

We've got a nice color on our skin and
on the coat.

And in the sky it's really warm, it
gives a really organic feeling to the

entire shot.

So now we're going to move on to the
final step, which is sharpening.

And I have a really unique style for
sharpening.

I actually sharpen with surface blur.

And it's a few steps.

So I want you to fall along very
closely, because it can get very complicated.

The first step, what we need to do is
stamp all these layers back down to a

single layer.

So we need to highlight all the layers,
holding down shift and selecting all

the layers at once.

Then I need to stamp all these layers
down to one layer using control alt

shift e or command option shift e.

Then I need to duplicate this layer
using control j or command j.

Once we had that layer duplicated,
we're going to put both of these layers

into one single group.

In order to do that, you need to select
both layers by holding down shift, then

hitting controlled g or command g.

Another way you could have done this is
to create a group from this icon, right

down here, and drag both of the layers
into that.

Once you have your group formed, the
next step is to drop down the blending

modes tab here, and select overlay.

Don't worry, your image is going to
look crazy for a little bit, but just

trust me.

Drop down your group layer.

And then what you want to do is hit
control ii or command I to invert that

first layer in the group.

The next step is now you want to change
your first layer in the group

to

vivid light.

And now it should return back to
normal.

But we're not done yet.

The next step is to apply surface blur.

So you need to go to filter

blur,

surface blur, and make sure you have
this top layer selected.

You want to keep the radius about ten

in a threshold around eight.

If you're to go further than this, your
image is going to come out overly

sharpened.

So you need to keep a nice balance
between ten radius and threshold at eight.

From there, you select, ok,

and you're going to wait for a second.

Our image is completely sharpened,

and you can see there's a lot of detail
that's been added in our face.

And if we're to click this group on and
off, you're going to see a major

difference with this technique, your
image might look a little too

sharpened.

So one simple way to reduce the
sharpening is to lower the opacity.

And in this case, I'm going to lower it
to fifty percent.

I like the sharpness of this image.

This is exactly where I want to be.

But there's one final step.

And then it's to add noise to the
image.

And the reason why I add noise

is that it gives a really raw, organic
film look to your final image.

This is a creative choice.

This is something I like doing.

You don't necessarily have to do it on
your images.

To add a little bit more noise, we need
to repeat that stamp layer process by

hitting control alt shift e or command
option shift e.

Now that we have our base layer built
here, we're going to go up to filter

noise,

add noise.

We're going to select gauzian.

Make sure that the noise is
monochromatic.

We do not want color in our noise.

I keep the amount to around two
percent, because once you go past that

and get overly noisy,

once you have your noise applied, hit,
ok.

And I think we have a final image here.

In order to maintain an organized layer
palette.

If I were to ever open this image
again, I need to make sure I name these layers.

So the first layer I want to rename is
this curves layer.

And I'm going to call that

color contrast.

The second layer, I'm going to name that

color

images color.

The third layer, we're mostly working
with the sky, so I can change that

to the sky.

Then the group layer

that's always going to be a sharpening.

And the final layer is noise.

As I'm finishing this image up, I'm
noticing this small vignette around the

top right and left corners of the image.

So a quick way to reduce that, or to
eliminate that, is to crop it out.

And so our last step here is, I'm going
to hold down

the crop button, hold down shifts so we
maintain the aspect ratio,

and then just bring this down a little
bit,

hit enter, and our image is cropped to
where it needs to be.

If we hold down alt and then click this
eye on the background layer, we can see

all the adjustments in a before and
after perspective.

Now that I have this image exactly
where I want it, the color looks nice,

the noise and sharpening are applied.

And we've added a final crop to it.

We can export this and

move onto the next shop.