Adjustment Layers

I'm a big believer in non-destructive editing: using adjustment layers, layer effects, and layer blend modes to punch things up while preserving the original photos, intact. As you’ll see, this in no way limits the fun you can have with a photograph.

Open the file, running-boy.jpg, seen in Figure 1. Save the file as matted-boy.psd (a Photoshop file). Press Ctrl/Cmd+0 to size the photo to fit on your screen.

Figure 1: running-boy.jpg

The boy isn’t prominent enough to suit me. Let’s matte him.

Choose Layer | New Adjustment Layer | Photo Filter from the menu. Click OK to create the layer. When the Photo Filter dialog appears, choose Sepia from the Filter drop-down list. Drag the density slider up to 100%, as shown in Figure 2. Leave Preserve Luminosity selected, and click OK.

Figure 2: Add a Sepia filter

“Ack!”, you say, “My photo turned brown!” Not to worry. All will be well. But first, let’s make things worse.

From the menu, choose Layer | New Adjustment Layer | Levels. Click OK to create the layer. In the Layers dialog, locate the black, triangular slider at the very bottom, as shown in Figure 3. Drag this slider about 2/3 of the way to the right until the first Output Levels box reads about 170. This limits the photo’s blackest black to a light gray, and lightens all the other colors accordingly.

Figure 3: Adjust the levels

Next, locate the gray triangular slider beneath the graph in the center of the dialog, and drag it left until the second Input Level box reads about 1.75, as shown in the figure. This lightens the photo even further, stretching the brighter tones and squashing the shadows. Click OK.

Your photo now looks completely horrible: pale, brown, and washed out, as shown in Figure 4. Just what we want.

Figure 4: All washed out.

Masking with Mattes

If the Layers palette is not visible, open it now by choosing Window | Layers. In the Layers palette, select the Levels adjustment layer you just created. Notice that this layer has two thumbnails. The one on the right, filled with white, is the layer’s mask. Layer masks hide layers – or parts of them.

Choose Edit | Fill Layer, set the Contents to Black, and click OK. Black in a mask hides; filling the mask with black hides the Levels adjustment layer. Let’s bring some of it back.

Press Ctrl/Cmd+T to enter Free Transform mode. Handles – small boxes – appear on the corners and edges of the document. Hold down the Alt/Option key, and the Shift key, then click-and-drag on one of the corner handles. Drag toward the center of the photo, until your matte is somewhere around half of its original size, as shown in Figure 5.

Figure 5: Resize the selection from the center.

The Alt/Option key tells Photoshop to resize from the center; no matter how you drag the handle around, the mask remains centered within the document. Shift tells Photoshop to preserve the mask’s shape (or ‘aspect ratio’).

As you drag, the black filled rectangle shrinks and the results of the Levels adjustment appear again around the edges, where the mask is white. When you’re happy with the framing, let go of all those keys, then press Enter/Return to accept the transformation.

Duplicating the Matte

We’ll need to duplicate this mask in the Photo Filter layer. In the Layers palette, Ctrl/Cmd+click on the Levels adjustment mask thumbnail, not the adjustment thumbnail, as shown in Figure 6. This selects all the visible (unmasked) pixels in this layer. From the menu, choose Select | Inverse. Now, only masked (black) pixels are selected.

Figure 6: Click the mask thumbnail.

Select the Photo Filter layer. Choose Edit | Fill Layer, set the Contents to Black, and click OK to fill the selection with black. The two masks are now exactly the same, and the key part of the original photo is revealed through the masked holes, as shown in Figure 7. The matted still provides visible context, but attention is focused squarely on the subject.

Figure 7: The masks reveal the photo beneath.

Press Ctrl/Cmd+D to remove the selection, and save your work.

Stroke your Matte - Stroke it!

Let’s add a visual break between the unaltered photo and the matte. Choose Layer | New | Layer from the menu. Name the new layer Stroke and click OK.

Ctrl/Cmd+click on the Levels adjustment layer’s mask to select the visible pixels in that layer. With the Stroke layer still selected, choose Edit | Stroke from the menu. Set the Width to 2 pixels, make sure the color is black, and select Outside as shown in Figure 8, then click OK. This places a 2-pixel-wide border around the outside of the selection. That thin, black line makes a big difference.

Press Ctrl+D/Cmd+D to remove the selection, and save your work.

Figure 8: Add a small stroke.

Layer Effects, Layer Modes, and Faded Edges

Let’s add some depth to the matte. Make sure the topmost, Stroke, layer is selected in the Layers palette, then choose Layer | New | Layer from the menu. Name the new layer Glow and select Screen from the Mode drop-down list (this is important.) Click OK.

Choose Edit | Fill Layer, set the Contents to Black, and click OK. Nothing seems to happen, even though the Glow layer’s thumbnail in the Layers palette is now black. That’s because the layer is in Screen mode. Screen mode adds brightness and, since the new layer is entirely black, it has no brightness to add.

The next step is different, depending on whether you're using Photoshop, or Photoshop Elements.

Photoshop: If you're using Photoshop, select Layer | Layer Style | Inner Glow. Set the Blend Mode to Screen, leave Opacity at 75%, and drag the Noise slider to 20%, as shown in Figure 9a.. Leave the default yellow color. Set the Choke to 50% and the Size to 20 px.

Figure 9a: In Photoshop, apply an Inner Glow.

Elements: If you're using Elements, this step is a bit different. If the Styles and Effects palette is not open, open it by selecting Window | Styles and Effects. In the Styles and Effects palette, choose Layer Styles from the first drop-down list, and Inner Glows from the second drop-down list, as shown in Figure 9b. Click the Heavy Noisy thumbnail to apply that effect.

Figure 9b: In Elements, use Styles and Effects.

This adds a faded edge to the outside of the document. Thanks to Screen mode, the brightness of the glow effect is added to overall image, but the black of the layer itself remains invisible.

Save your work. You’re done.

Tweaking – now and forever

By using adjustment layers and effects, we leave the original photo untouched. And that’s not all: you can tweak the look of the photo, now or in the future, by playing with those adjustment layers. Double-click on their thumbnails in the Layers palette to edit them. Try different photo filters, if you like, or try making things brighter or darker via Levels. Or select the Glow layer and choose a different effect – Small Border, or Big Border, for example.

You can also lessen a layer’s effect by reducing it’s Opacity in the Layers palette. Experiment as much as you like. Instead of a photo filter, use a second copy of the photo with a Gaussian blur applied to it. Try isolating a striking black and white image in the middle of a brightly colored background with a Hue/Saturation layer.

Use this technique any time you want to focus the viewer’s eye on an element in a larger scene – the birthday girl at the party, the bride and groom at the wedding, the hotel you stayed at in Waikiki … whatever. Figure 10 shows a cute portrait, ruined by assorted junk in the background. A soft matte de-emphasizes everything but Mom and Son.

Figure 10: Mother & Son, before and after.

You can carry the photo in a photo concept all the way to the print. Try this: print out a copy of the image, or save a copy as a JPG at maximum resolution if you’re going to have it printed else where.

Now, shift-click on the mattes in both the Levels adjustment layer and the Photo Filter adjustment layer, to temporarily disable them. Now print out, or save, a second copy of the photo.

Mount both prints on foam board. Use a razor knife and straight edge to cut all the soft matte away from first print, then glue it in place above the matted print, as shown in Figure 11.

Figure 11: The final image, mounted.