Creative Effects Challenge No. 210 - Brighten and Add Color to a Dull Photo

[Tom]

All too often I have found myself with a picture that is washed out and dull, too meaningful to discard, but also not worth a ton of work to make it a "masterpiece".  This tutorial offers six simple steps to turn these images into ones worthy of sharing.

The executive summary of this tutorial is that the subject will be separated from the background so that each can be punched up independently. Since the goal is to only enhance the background (not replace it), the selection of the subject is greatly simplified.

My source is this video tutorial from HTG George: Photoshop Elements Brighten and Add Color to a Dull Photo with Photo Editing

It is rather short (9:08 minutes), but the actual tutorial doesn't really start until 3:20, so if you want to view it skip ahead 3 minutes (George got distracted with correcting an artifact in his starter image that is unrelated to this tutorial).  I have written out the steps below.  Here are the video time-stamps for the six steps:

1. 03:20 Separate Subject from Background
2. 04:03 Use Refine Edge
3. 05:14 Clean up Layer Mask
4. 06:08 Change Color of Background
5. 06:59 Blend Color into Background
6. 07:40 Adjust Values of Subject

   1. Separate Subject from Background

        Select the Lasso Tool, set the feather to 1 px

        Draw around the subject (no need to precise with this)

   2. Click the Refine Edge button

        Set the View Mode to Overlay

        Check the Smart Radius box and set the radius to 1 px

        "paint" over the boundary between the subject and background to clean up the selection

        In the Output To: drop-down menu select New Layer with Layer Mask, the click OK

   3. Hide the background layer(s) so you can see the selected subject

        To clean up the layer mask, click the layer mask to select it (the mask will have a blue border around it).
        Click the paintbrush tool and select a soft edge brush
        Paint away any "foggy" bits around the subject
        Click the eyeball icon to unhide the background layer

   4. Select Layer | New Fill Layer | Gradient, OK
        Select the Violet, Orange gradient and set the angle to something near 135 degrees, OK
   5. Set the gradient layer Blend Mode to Soft Light

   6. Select the subject layer
        Select Layer | New Adjustment Layer | Levels
        NB: be sure to click the box titled Use Previous Layer to Create Clipping Mask!
              Raise the left-hand slider and lower the right-hand slider just a bit, and nudge the middle slider to the right so you like the result

DONE!

Here is one result of applying this tutorial.  I am looking forward to seeing what you can do with it!

Original	Processed