This was such a fun photo to work on this week! I love everything about it! The fisheye lens, the trees, the boy jumping and having fun…so cool! I really wanted to turn this into a more fun, artsy kind of photo, and to really make the boy pop out.
So here’s what I did:
1. First, as always, I added a Levels Adjustment Layer and brought the two outer sliders in towards the middle just a bit to boost the contrast.
2. Next, I added a Curves Adjustment Layer and created a slight S-curve to to give the image a little more of a boost.
3. Then I ran a couple actions from Love that Shot. First I ran Technicolor to boost the colors. Then I ran A Little Lighter and brushed over the boy to lighten him up quite a bit.
4. Next, I added a Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer and selected Colorize. I chose a sepia tone and set the layer to Soft Light blending mode with the Opacity set to 55%.
5. Now I had some fun with textures! I really wanted to do something with the sky to darken it up so the focus would go to the boy. I chose two textures from the Olde World Collection from Love that Shot. First I applied Chevaliers set to Multiply blending mode with the Opacity adjust down to 82%. Then I applied Marseilles set to Soft Light blending mode with the Opacity adjusted down to 33%.
6. Finally I sharpened the photo using the High Pass Filter.
And that’s it! Here’s a before and after for you:
Michelle Johnson is a fine art photographer and the co-founder of Love That Shot, a website for photographers with tutorials, workshops and fun products! Find her at Love That Shot, Facebook and Twitter.
