Part 8 :- Putting 'pop' in your colour - Technique #1.

This section covers a technique for getting a little more 'pop' from your colours. The important thing when doing this is not to introduce noise. This technique provides a simple method without creating, or amplifying, noise.

The original image.

Step 1 - Make a duplicate layer.

Step 2 - Select the High Pass filter.

Step 3 - Select a value for the High Pass filter.

Here, I am using 250 but experiment a little and see what works best for you.

Step 4 - Select Blending Options.

Step 5 - Select Soft Light.

Step 6 - Select a value for Soft Light.

I am using 90 but, again, experiment a little with your settings.

Step 7 - Flatten the image.

Step 8 - Create a new layer.

Step 9 - Select Hue/Saturation.

Step 10 - Select a value for Hue/Saturation.

Here, I am using 25. This has made the colours way over-saturated. Don't worry, we will tone it down in a moment.

Step 11 - Select Gaussian Blur.

Step 12 - Select a value for Gaussian Blur.

Here, I have selected 4.0. You can use more blur but there is a danger of introducing 'haloing' around your edges.

Step 13 - Select Blending Options.

Step 14 - Select Soft Light.

Step 15 - Select a value for Soft Light.

Here, I am using 55%. Somewhere around the middle of the range is usually sufficient. Notice how our 'blur' has disappeared. This is because we are only blending the colour effect.

Step 16 - Flatten the image.

That's it.

Comparison image of the original and the finished images.

The finished image which has been resized, ready for uploading

Pretty much that is it. I hope you find it beneficial.

Remember, do NOT save over your original file. Use 'Save As'.

There are hundreds of ways to post process. This is just one technique and I find it works well for many images.

Try it out and have fun. Be sure to try different values in the steps as this will provide you with a wealth of 'self-learned' views of how the values affect the outcome.

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