By Lesa Snider King, author of the forthcoming Photoshop CS4: The Missing Manual (O'Reilly) and chief evangelist of iStockphoto.com.One of the simplest ways to draw a viewers eye into a photo is to add a soft dark coloring to the edges. It’s a real “portrait popper” which is why studios like Olan Mills have been using it for years.
That being said, it’s literally a two-step effect in Photoshop CS2 and latter using a filter hidden deep within the menu system. Here’s how
to get it done:
Step 1: Pop open an image, and immediately duplicate the background by pressing Command + J (PC: Ctrl + J). Because this technique is destructive (it affects the actual pixels of the photo), duplicating the layer builds in a bit of flexibility in that you can toggle the visibility eye off on that layer to see a before and after. You can always toss the duplicate layer in the trash if you don’t like the effect.
Step 2: Trot up to the top of your screen and choose Filter > Distort > Lens Correction. At the bottom of this dainty dialog box (ha!), uncheck Show Grid, so you can actually see what you’re doing, then turn on the Preview button. Grab the Vignette slider and drag it all the way to the left. Now grab the Midpoint slider and drag it *slightly* leftward, to about +40. Click OK and you’re finished.
Told you it was quick! For more practical Photoshop techniques like this, be sure to attend the Beginning Photoshop course in July.
- Lesa Snider King
That being said, it’s literally a two-step effect in Photoshop CS2 and latter using a filter hidden deep within the menu system. Here’s how
to get it done:
Step 1: Pop open an image, and immediately duplicate the background by pressing Command + J (PC: Ctrl + J). Because this technique is destructive (it affects the actual pixels of the photo), duplicating the layer builds in a bit of flexibility in that you can toggle the visibility eye off on that layer to see a before and after. You can always toss the duplicate layer in the trash if you don’t like the effect.
Step 2: Trot up to the top of your screen and choose Filter > Distort > Lens Correction. At the bottom of this dainty dialog box (ha!), uncheck Show Grid, so you can actually see what you’re doing, then turn on the Preview button. Grab the Vignette slider and drag it all the way to the left. Now grab the Midpoint slider and drag it *slightly* leftward, to about +40. Click OK and you’re finished.
Told you it was quick! For more practical Photoshop techniques like this, be sure to attend the Beginning Photoshop course in July.
- Lesa Snider King
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