Advanced Day-to-Night Photoshop Tutorial

First thing, I created two Virtual Copies in Lightroom:

Original, with default contrast. Slightly overexposed too.

The “lit” version, Contrast was set to 100, also Clarity was was to max, increased vibrance. White Balance was set to Cloudy

The “unlit” version. The image was underexposed by 2 stops. White Balance was set to Tungsten.

Same image with different WB settings

As you can see above, the altered versions are already better — especially the “night” one, dark and moody. However, the street lamp gave me the opportunity to go the extra mile in creating something realistic.

Mixing light and dark

Having exported the two versions as 16bit TIFF (for maximum quality), I opened both of them in Photoshop. I then copied the “dark” one and pasted as a layer over the “lit” version.

Creating a new layer mask

It was pretty clear already that quite a lot of trial-and-error was to be expected, so instead of simply using the Eraser to remove parts of the “dark” layer, I decided to use a mask instead.
I selected the Dark layer and from the Masks panel, I clicked on the Pixel Mask button to create a new mask.
A Pixel Mask works just like an alpha channel for the layer – it’s a grayscale bitmap where white is opaque and black is completely transparent. What’s cool about it is that you can alter the opacity of the layer by painting on the mask.

The effect of the layer mask in mixing the lit/unlit areas

You can see on the left how the mask affects the mix between lit and unlit areas.
I clicked on the mask in the Layers panel to select it and then I simply used a semi-transparent, highly feathered black brush to create transparent areas.
There are three main lit areas: the light on the wall, faing out, the light on the pavement the light spill on the roof. You can notice that I preferred to paint everything instead of using gradients, to avoid the artificial “perfect” look.

Adjusting the exposure

The light was still too even in the lit area; close the the light source I needed something much more powerful (remember that light falls off exponentially). To improve the realism, I added an Adjustment Layer just above the Lit layer.

The Exposure Adjustment Layer

The Adjustment Layer was set to Exposure (Layer –> New Adjustment Layer –> Exposure). I added a simple radial gradient as a mask for this layer the same way as previously and then I tweaked it to get a slightly overexposed look.

Adding the glow

By now I had the light on the wall and pavement pretty much in place; it was time to turn to the light bulb. For this, I simply used the Lasso tool to select the visible area of the bulb and then copied and pasted it as new layer. I then used the Curves to make the bulb much brighter. Finally, from Layer –> Layer Style –> Outer Glow I created a nice amber glow around the bulb.

Setting the glow on the light bulb

Below you can see the exact settings for the glow:

Light bulb glow settings

I still wanted to add some nice touches: the glow should not be that strong in the upper area. Can you guess what I used? Yep, another Layer Mask.
Please note: By default, layer masks do not affect the layer effects. To make a layer mask hide the effect, open the Layer Style window and go to Blending Options section. From there, check the “Layer mask hides effects” option.
In the layer mask, I painted in black the areas I wanted the glow to be weak. Below you can see the result:

Glowing behind the edges

As you can see, I did not eliminate the glow completely, but created a glow-behind-the-edges effect that is seen in high-contrast situations.

Lens flare

A simple lens flare

Most designers, upon hearing the words “lens flare” run away screaming. They are very often overused and cheesy. Even the new JJ Abrams’ Star Trek features some lens flares annoying as hell. Still, they an unavoidable part of photography and can add some realism if used wisely.

Subtle lens flare applied

Unfortunately, Photoshop’s Lens Flare effect is laughable. I think it’s the same effect as 15 years ago. I only know of two decent lens effects – one in the old plugin Kai Power Tools 6, the other is Corel Photo-Paint. Both of them allow you to control the size, glow, ring, stars, streaks and reflection trail. This is not a tutorial on lens flares, but modern, good lenses don’t create reflection trails, but only a nice star pattern with minimal interference or random streaks.
For this photo I created a very simple star pattern on black background and I put it as a layer with blending mode set to Linear Dodge (Add) at 33% opacity. You can see that the effect is barely there; its purpose is to enhance the scene in a minimal way, not to overpower it.

Shadows

Selecting the body shape

If you recall from the beginning of this tutorial, the original image had no shadows because of the overcast sky. Now, as I created a light source, I needed to create a shadow too.

Refining selection edges

With the background layer active, I started to make a simple selection on the girl using the Magnetic Lasso. I didn’t even needed to be very careful, but just to follow the contours.
Once this was done, I clicked on Refine Edge and increased Smoothness and Feathering. After that, I created a new layer and filled the inside of the selection with black.

Distorting the shadow

The next step was to convert the new layer into a Smart Object via Layer –> Smart Objects –> Convert to Smart Object. Why? It’s because a smart object’s original appearance is preserved so I could distort it any way I wanted without degrading its appearance on each step.
Finally, I set the layer’s blending to Multiply and its opacity down to 50%.

Final result

Here’s the final view with all the layers:

All layers

Making Your Subject Pop Out Of A Photo

Step 1: Duplicate The Background Layer

To begin, I'm going to duplicate my Background layer using the simple keyboard shortcut Ctrl+J (Win) / Command+J (Mac). I now have my original Background layer and a copy of it, which Photoshop has named "Layer 1", in the Layers palette:

Press "Ctrl+J" (Win) / "Command+J" (Mac) to duplicate the Background layer.

Step 2: Add A New Blank Layer Between The Two Existing Layers

Next, I'm going to add a new blank layer in between the Background layer and "Layer 1". Since I already have "Layer 1" selected, I'm going to hold down my Ctrl (Win) / Command (Mac) key and then click on the New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers palette:

Hold down "Ctrl" (Win) / "Command" (Mac) and click the "New Layer" icon.

By holding down the Ctrl/Command key, this tells Photoshop to add the new layer below the currently selected layer in the Layers palette rather than above it, which it does by default. I now have my new blank layer between the two initial layers:

The new blank layer is added between the Background layer and "Layer 1".

Step 3: Fill The New Layer With White

Press the letter D on your keyboard to quickly reset your Foreground and Background colors, so white is now your Background color. Then use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Backspace (Win) / Command+Delete (Mac) to fill the new layer with the Background color, which in this case is white. You won't see anything happen in the Document Window since "Layer 1" is blocking the new layer from view, but if you look in the Layers palette, you'll see the thumbnail preview area for the new layer now filled with white:

Press "Ctrl+Backspace" (Win) / "Command+Delete" (Mac) to fill the new layer with white.

Step 4: Select The Object(s) In The Photo You Want To Have Pop Out

Click back on "Layer 1" in the Layers palette to select it. Then, using the selection tool of your choice, make a selection around the object(s) you want to have popping out of your photo.
In my case, I want the football player in the center of the image, as well as the player in red directly behind him, to pop out, so I'll use the Pen Tool to select them. You can use the Pen tool, the Lasso tool, or whichever selection tool you prefer:

Use the selection tool of your choice to make a selection around the object(s) that will "pop out" of the image.

Step 5: Copy The Selection To A New Layer

Once you've made your selection, with "Layer 1" selected in the Layers palette, press Ctrl+J (Win) / Command+J (Mac) to copy the selection onto a new layer. Again, you won't see anything happening in the Document Window, but you'll see your selection copied to a new layer at the top of the Layers palette:

Press "Ctrl+J" (Win) / "Command+J" (Mac) to copy the selection onto a new layer.

Step 6: Drag A Selection Around The Rest Of The Photo You Want To Keep

Click back on "Layer 1" in the Layers palette to select it. Then press M on your keyboard to quickly select the Rectangular Marquee Tool and drag a selection around the rest of the photo that you want to keep, essentially creating a smaller, cropped version of the image. Make sure you select an area small enough so that some of the object(s) you selected a moment ago will stick out, which is what's going to create our "popping out" effect:

Use the Rectangular Marquee Tool to drag a selection inside the photo which will become a smaller, cropped version of the image.

Step 7: Add A Layer Mask

Once you've dragged out your selection, click on the Add A Layer Mask icon at the bottom of the Layers palette:

With "Layer 1" selected, click the "Add A Layer Mask" icon at the bottom of the Layers palette.

This will add a layer mask to "Layer 1", and because we had part of the layer selected, only the area inside the selection will remain visible. The rest of the photo that fell outside of the selection will now be hidden from view:

After adding the layer mask, only the part of the photo that was inside of the selection remains visible.

We can now see the "popping out" effect taking shape.

Step 8: Add A Stroke To "Layer 1"

We're going to make our smaller photo look more like an actual small photo by adding a border to it. To do that, with "Layer 1" still selected, click on the Layer Styles icon at the bottom of the Layers palette:

Click the "Layer Styles" icon at the bottom of the Layers palette.

Then select Stroke from the list of Layer Styles:

Select "Stroke" from the list.

This brings up Photoshop's Layer Style dialog box set to the Stroke options:

The "Stroke" options.

First, change the Position of the stroke to Inside. Then use the slider bar at the top to increase the Size of the stroke to give the photo a "polaroid" style border around the edge. I've increased my stroke size to 13 pixels. Finally, click on the Color swatch, which will bring up Photoshop's Color Picker:

Photoshop's Color Picker.

Choose a light gray for your stroke color. Click OK when you're done to exit out of the Color Picker, and then click OK to exit out of the Layer Style dialog box.
Your image should now look something like this:

The image after adding a stroke around the smaller photo in the background.

Step 9: Merge The Top Two Layers In The Layers Palette

Since "Layer 1" is already selected, hold down your Shift key and click on the top layer in the Layers palette to select it as well. You should now have both layers selected at once:

Select the top two layers at once in the Layers palette.

Use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+E (Win) / Command+E (Mac) to merge both layers together so the smaller photo and the object(s) above it end up on the same layer. You'll now have just one layer instead of two:

The top two layers are now merged into one.

Notice that your Stroke is no longer a separate layer style. It's now simply part of the image.

Step 10: Add A Drop Shadow To Complete The Effect

We're almost done. We're just going to add a drop shadow to finish things off. With the newly merged layer selected, click on the Layer Styles icon once again at the bottom of the Layers palette and this time, select Drop Shadow from the list:

Click on the "Layer Styles" icon and choose "Drop Shadow".

This brings the Layer Style dialog box back up, this time set to the "Drop Shadow" options:

The "Drop Shadow" options in the "Layer Style" dialog box.

I find the default Opacity value of 75% is a bit too strong, so I've lowered mine to 60%. Set your Angle to 120°, Distance to 5 pixels, and finally, increase the Size of the drop shadow effect to 10 pixels. Click OK to exit out of the Layer Style dialog box, and you're done!
Here's the original photo once again for comparison:

The original photo once again.

And here, after applying the drop shadow, is the final "popping out of a photo" result:

The final result.

 

 

Extreme Contrast Photo Effect in Photoshop

Step 1: Duplicate The Background Layer

The first thing we're going to do is duplicate our Background layer. We can see in the Layers palette that we only have one layer at the moment, which is the Background layer, and it contains our original image:

Photoshop's Layers palette showing the original image on the Background layer.

We're going to duplicate it, and for that, we can use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+J (Win) / Command+J (Mac). We now have a copy of the layer above the Background layer which Photoshop has named "Layer 1":

The Layers palette now shows the duplicate of the Background layer, named "Layer 1", above the original.

Step 2: Desaturate The New Layer

We're going to quickly remove the colors from our new layer to create a black and white version of the image. To do that, use the keyboard shortcut Shift+Ctrl+U (Win) / Shift+Command+U (Mac). The image will now appear in black and white in the Document Window:

After desaturating "Layer 1", the image appears black and white.

Step 3: Duplicate The Desaturated Layer

With "Layer 1" selected in the Layers palette, press Ctrl+J (Win) / Command+J (Mac) to duplicate it, so we'll now have two black and white layers in the Layers palette:

We now have three layers in the Layers palette.

Step 4: Change The Blend Mode Of The New Layer To 'Screen' And Lower The Opacity To 50%

With "Layer 1 copy" selected, go up to the layer blend mode options in the top left of the Layers palette. We're going to change the blend mode of this layer from "Normal" to "Screen" so that the image appears lighter. To do that, click on the down-pointing arrow to the right of the word "Normal" and select Screen from the list:

Change the blend mode of the top layer from "Normal" to "Screen" to lighten it.

Once you've changed the blend mode, move over to the Opacity option in the top right of the Layers palette and lower the opacity of the layer to 50% to reduce the brightness:

Lower the opacity of the layer to 50% after changing its blend mode to reduce the brightness.

Here's my image after changing the blend mode to "Screen" and lowering the opacity:

The image after changing the blend mode and lowering the opacity.

Step 5: Duplicate The Original Background Layer And Move It To The Top Of The Layers Palette

Click back on the original Background layer (the bottom layer) in the Layers palette to select it. Then press Ctrl+J (Win) / Command+J (Mac) to create another copy of it, which will appear directly above it. This time, Photoshop has named the new layer "Background copy":

Click on the Background layer to select it, then press "Ctrl+J" (Win) / "Command+J" (Mac) to make another copy of it.

Currently, the new "Background copy" layer is below the two black and white layers, but we need it to be above them. Moving the layer is easy. Just use the keyboard shortcut Shift+Ctrl+] / Shift+Command+] to quickly jump the layer to the top of the layer stack:

With the "Background copy" layer selected, press "Shift+Ctrl+]" (Win) / "Shift+Command+]" (Mac) to jump the layer to the top of the Layers palette.

Step 6: Change The Layer's Blend Mode To Either "Overlay" Or "Color Burn"

With the "Background copy" layer still selected at the top of the Layers palette, go back to the layer blend mode options and change it's blend mode to either Overlay or Color Burn. Depending on the image you're using, one of these two blend modes will make the image look either too bright or too dark, so use the one that looks best. I'm using "Overlay" for my image, since "Color Burn" makes it too dark:

Change the blend mode of the 'Background copy' layer to either "Overlay" or "Color Burn" depending on your image.

You may find, after changing the blend mode, that the color in your image is now too strong, so lower the opacity of the layer a little to reduce some of the color saturation if needed. I'm going to lower mine to about 75%:

Change the blend mode of the 'Background copy' layer to either "Overlay" or "Color Burn" depending on your image.

Again, it will depend on your image and what you think looks best.
Here's my image at this point:

The image after changing the blend mode to "Overlay" and lowering the opacity to 75%.

Step 7: Merge All Layers Onto A New Layer At The Top Of The Layers Palette

With the "Background copy" layer still selected, press Shift+Ctrl+Alt+E (Win) / Shift+Command+Option+E (Mac) to merge all the layers onto a brand new layer at the top of the Layers palette, which Photoshop has named "Layer 2":

Merge all the layers onto a new layer at the top of the Layers palette.

Step 8: Add Noise To The Merged Layer

With the merged layer selected, go up to the Filter menu at the top of the screen, select Noise, and then select Add Noise. This brings up Photoshop's "Add Noise" filter dialog box:

Go to Filter > Noise > Add Noise to bring up the "Add Noise" dialog box.

When the dialog box appears, enter an Amount value of somewhere between 2-5% depending on the resolution of your image. I'm using a low resolution image for this tutorial, so I've set mine to 2%. If you're using a higher resolution image, which you probably are, set it closer to 5%. Set the Distribution option to Gaussian, and make sure the Monochromatic option at the bottom is checked so we don't end up with color noise. Click OK to apply the noise and exit out of the dialog box.
Here's my image after applying noise:

The image after applying noise.

Step 9: Sharpen The Image To Enhance The Noise

Normally when working on images in Photoshop, we do everything we can to reduce or remove noise, but for this effect, we want to enhance it, and we can do that by sharpening the image. Go up to the Filter menu once again, this time choose Sharpen and then choose Smart Sharpen. This brings up the "Smart Sharpen" dialog box:

Go to Filter > Sharpen > Smart Sharpen to sharpen the image and enhance the noise.

When the dialog box appears, enter an Amount value of somewhere around 55-60%, a Radius value of 1 pixel, set the Remove option to Lens Blur, and finally, make sure More Accurate is checked at the bottom. Then click OK to exit out of the dialog box and apply the sharpening.
If you're using a version of Photoshop prior to CS2, you can use the "Unsharp Mask" filter instead by going up to the Filter menu, choosing Sharpen, and then choosing Unsharp Mask. Enter an Amount value of around 150%, a Radius value of 1 pixel and a Threshold value of 0.
Here's my image after applying the sharpening using Smart Sharpen:

The image after sharpening and enhancing the noise.

Step 10: Add A "Curves" Adjustment Layer And Set Its Blend Mode To "Multiply"

The main effect is finished at this point, but we're just going to darken the edges a bit to enhance it even further. Click on the New Adjustment Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers palette:

With "Layer 2" selected at the top of the Layers palette, click the "New Adjustment Layer" icon at the bottom.

Then select Curves from the list:

Select "Curves" from the list of Photoshop's Adjustment Layers.

When the Curves dialog box appears, simply click OK to exit out of it. We don't need to make any changes. All we need is the Curves adjustment layer itself in the Layers palette, which we're going to use to darken the image. To do that, go up to the blend mode options at the top of the Layers palette once again and change the blend mode for the Curves layer from "Normal" to Multiply:

Change the blend mode of the Curves adjustment layer to "Multiply".

As soon as you change the blend mode, your image will appear darker:

Changing the blend mode of the Curves layer to "Multiply" causes the image to darken.

Step 11: Drag Out A Large Oval Selection Inside The Image

Grab the Elliptical Marquee tool from the Tools palette (it's hiding behind the Rectangular Marquee tool by default) and drag out a large oval selection inside the document, making it so large that the edges extend out past the left and right of the image:

Use the Elliptical Marquee tool to drag out a large oval selection, extending it out beyond the left and right sides of the image.

Step 12: Fill The Selection With Black On The Curve Adjustment's Layer Mask

With the Curves adjustment layer still selected, press D on your keyboard to reset your Foreground and Background colors. Normally this would result in your Foreground color being black and your Background color being white, but because the layer mask on the Curves adjustment layer is currently selected (you can see that it has a highlight border around it to indicate that it's selected), we get the exact opposite. White becomes your Foreground color and black becomes your Background color whenever you reset your colors with a layer mask selected.
So with black as your Background color and the Curves adjustment layer selected in the Layers palette, use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Backspace (Win) / Command+Delete (Mac) to fill the selection with black. You're not covering the image itself with black. Instead, you're filling the area on the Curve adjustment's layer mask with black, which will cause the Curves adjustment to be hidden inside the area you selected, allowing the original lighter version of the image below it to show through. Only the corners of the image remain darker:

After filling the selection with black on the Curve adjustment's layer mask, only the corner edges remain darker.

Step 13: Soften The Edges With The "Gaussian Blur" Filter

All that's left to do now is to soften the transition between the lighter image in the center and the darker edges in the corners, and we can do that with the "Gaussian Blur" filter. Go up to the Filter menu, choose Blur, and then choose Gaussian Blur to bring up the Gaussian Blur dialog box:

Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur to bring up Photoshop's "Gaussian Blur" filter.

As I mentioned, I'm using a low resolution image for this tutorial, so for me, a Radius value of about 50 pixels blurs the edges out nicely. If you're using a high resolution image, you'll probably want to use a setting of 150 pixels or higher. The idea is simply to blur out the edges so they transition nicely from darker in the corners to lighter as you move towards the center of the image. Keep an eye on the image itself to see a preview of the blurring effect as you're dragging the slider bar at the bottom.
When you're happy with the blur amount, click OK to exit out of the Gaussian Blur dialog box, and you're done!
Here once again is my original image:

The original image.

And here is the finished "extreme contrast" effect:

The final result.