Today I'm going to share with you a 3 step formula to add color to your landscapes in
Photoshop.
The first step is adding color to the highlights and the shadows.
And this is how you do it.
First of all, create a Solid Color Adjustment layer for the highlights.
Click on the Adjustment layer icon, and then choose Solid Color.
The next thing you do is choose a color for the highlights.
So in this case, I'm going to choose a yellow color, bright yellow color and hit OK.
Now, we only want to do the highlights and to be able to limit that we're going to use
the Blend If.
So, double click on the right hand side of the layer.
Now take the slider of the underlying layer from left to right.
That way you limit it to the bright areas of the underlying layer or the layer which
is lying under it, right.
So we're going to take the slider of the left to the right.
We only want to limit it to the sky and maybe a little bit of the water.
It's fine, a little bit of highlights here and there is fine too.
Now, hold the Alt key or the Option key, click on the slider to be break it apart and take
it further so that it is smoother.
Now this looks okay.
All you have to do now is to hit OK once you're satisfied with the area that it's affecting,
not the effect.
The effect looks garbage.
But once you're satisfied with the area that it's targeting, just hit OK.
Now all you gotta do is change the Blend Mode from Normal to Soft Light.
Have a look at this.
Here's the before, here's the after.
Just a little mild color to the highlights.
If you want to control that later, if you want to control the range of colors or the
range of areas that it's affecting, you can always double click on the right hand side
of the layer again and get back to the Layer Style dialog box and take it further or closer.
That's absolutely upon your personal preference.
Hit OK again.
Now, we can create one more for the highlights as well.
I want to add a little bit of magenta to the sky.
So I'm going to click on the Adjustment layer icon again and choose Solid Color again.
And this time let's choose a magenta, bright magenta shade.
This looks okay.
Maybe make it a little darker and hit OK.
Change the Blend Mode again to Soft Light.
We have a magenta shade on the sky, but it doesn't look quite nice over here.
So, let's paint it away.
So, select the mask, take the brush and then, with a big brush, make sure it's a soft brush,
paint black.
Press X to toggle between the foreground and the background.
With the foreground color black, just paint away the areas where you don't want it to
be, just like this.
And it looks okay.
Again, do not forget to apply Blend If to this one as well.
So I'm just going to erase this side just a little bit.
Now, double click on the right hand side of the layer and take this away from the dark
areas.
So, take the slider to the right just like this.
Hold the Alt or Option, click on the slider, take it all the way to the right.
Just a touch of magenta.
Hit OK.
Have a look.
So here's the before, here is the after.
Now we need to add some color to the shadows as well.
So, click on the Adjustment layer icon and choose Solid Color and we're going to add
blue or maybe a little purplish color.
Let's try purplish.
So we're going to take this color and make it a little darker, hit OK.
Now change the Blend Mode to Soft Light and then double click on the right hand side of
layer, right there.
And this time we want to do just the opposite.
We want to take this away from the highlights.
So take the slider of the underlying layer from right to left, just like this.
Hold the Alt or Option, click on the slider to break it apart and adjust it accordingly.
This looks okay.
Now, you can always change the color after the effect.
So, I'm going to go here.
I'm going to try different shades of blue, see which one looks good for the image.
In my opinion, this blue looks okay.
Now, let's have a look at the before and after.
So here's the before, here's the after.
You can also try increasing or decreasing the Saturation of the same.
So we're going to go with this and let's try making it brighter or darker.
I think this was a good shade.
Hit OK.
Interesting.
So we added color to the highlights by using these two Solid Color Adjustment layers and
also the shadows by using blue.
Now, you can group all of them, select all of them, select the first one, hold the Shift
key, select the last one in the row and then press Ctrl or Command + G and you can name
this Color.
The next step, which is step number two, is applying the Camera Raw Filter.
It makes a massive amount of difference to our image.
So, before we apply Camera Raw, we have to merge them all.
And the way to do that is by pressing Ctrl + Alt + Shift + E on a Windows or Command
+ Option + Shift + E on a Mac.
It creates a Stamp Visible layer at the top.
We want the ability to change the values of Camera Raw after the effect.
So, let's convert this into a Smart Object by going to Filter and then Convert for Smart
Filters.
Hit OK.
Now, when you apply Camera Raw, it will be applied as a Smart Filter.
So let's go to Filter - Camera Raw Filter.
Now inside of Camera Raw, Exposure is the one which creates the real drama.
So I'm going to just decrease the Exposure and have a look at this, Isn't that amazing?
Now also, White Balance creates some really moody colors.
So let's try increasing the warmth.
Wow.
Let's try increasing the magenta as well to the entire image.
There you go.
Have a look at the image right now.
It looks amazing, doesn't it?
So now, I'm going to go with a little lower temperature because I don't want to blow out
the color in the grass.
And this magenta looks good for the image.
Now, let's try increasing or decreasing the Contrast.
Of course, increased Contrast looks wonderful.
What about the highlights?
If we take it down, have a look at how dramatic it makes the image.
If you take it too low, there might be some halos around the edge, just a little bit.
But, we want to avoid that.
Just a minute decrease in highlights.
What about the shadows?
It creates drama when we decrease it.
So, let's decrease it just a bit.
What about the Whites?
All you have to do here is just play with it and see what looks good in your image.
Now, when it comes to Whites, we don't want to lose the details except for the sun.
So hold the Alt key or the Option key, decrease it and slowly and gradually increase it to
the point where you begin to see the artifacts.
So if I take it beyond this number, you begin to see artifacts on the sun.
That's fine, bright sun is not a problem, but we don't want other areas of the sky to
lose details.
All right, this is okay.
What about blacks?
Similarly, hold the Alt key or the Option key.
If we take it too much to the left, have a look, some areas are losing details.
So I'm going to keep it just at about -2 or something like that.
That works.
Now, Texture and Clarity also play a major role in adding some drama to the image.
So first of all, let's try with Texture.
Now, Texture something which you will find only in the latest versions of Camera Raw.
So, let's add a little bit of texture.
If you add too much, it doesn't look right.
But, have a look at the grass.
If you want it to stand out, just a touch of texture, right.
And then comes the Clarity.
Not too much.
We don't want to make it like a vomiting HDR, but, just a touch of it as well.
So I'm going to go for about 16.
All right.
Now, here comes the magic.
If you want to add some additional color, Vibrance is the thing.
Now, I never go beyond 50 in Vibrance, or mostly it's 40.
So I'm going to try doing 40 and let's see how that looks.
It looks too saturated at this moment.
But, I'm going to go for about 20.
All right, there you have it.
Now let's decrease the magenta.
I think it's too much.
Once you're satisfied with all of this, just hit OK.
Coming to the third step, this is if you want to make your image more dramatic and appealing,
the third step is adding Curves.
So, let's create a Curves Adjustment layer.
Click on the Adjustment layer icon and then choose Curves.
You know, none of our tutorials are finished without using a Curve, right.
So all you got to do is to click in the middle and just drag it down to take down the midtones.
Now, you can try brightening up the shadows just a bit.
But, this makes the whole image look very, very dramatic.
Have a look, here's the before, here's the after.
Look at the drama.
You can also try making the highlights little brighter, just like that.
And there you have it.
Here's the before, here's the after.
Look at the drama right there.
If you don't like it that much, you can always decrease the Opacity and slowly and gradually
increase it to your liking.
I'm going to go with 75.
I think the Exposure is very low.
And that was the advantage of converting the Camera Raw layer into a Smart Object.
So you can always go back to that, double click on Camera Raw Filter, and you can change
any setting, right here.
So, I'm going to go ahead and increase the Exposure or maybe try increasing the Shadows
because the shadows are too dark, or the blacks.
All right, once you happy with the values just hit OK.
See how this looks.
That looks better.
Now, using Curves, you can also add a little bit of Dodging & Burning.
So, select the top most layer, create one more Curves Adjustment layer by clicking on
the Adjustment layer icon and then choose Curves again.
And this time, let's make the highlights brighter.
Create a point on the right hand side and take it up like this.
Make the shadows a little darker.
Now we only want to apply to the highlights.
Double click on the right hand side of the layer.
This opens up the Layer Style dialogue box.
Take the slider of the underlying layer from left to right, just like this.
Now hold the Alt or Option, click on the slider to break it apart, and then make the transition
smoother.
That looks fine.
Once you're happy, hit OK.
Have a look.
Here's the before, here's the after.
Just a little bit of highlights here and there.
Now you can increase the highlights, if you want to.
I want to add a little bit of yellow to the highlights as well.
So, let's go to the blue channel.
If we decrease the blue, it will be yellow because blue is the opposite of yellow.
Alright, that looks nice as well.
Now, we only wanted to apply it in some areas not all throughout the image.
So select the mask and press Ctrl or Command + I.
Now you can take the brush, white as the foreground color and then just simply paint on the areas
where you wanted the highlights.
I would suggest just dabbing here and there.
There, a little bit right there and maybe a little right there.
No, that doesn't look right.
A little right here.
Let's have a look, before - after, before - after.
Interesting.
I would want to erase it from this area, press X. Black is now the foreground color.
And let's erase it from the skyline right there.
And zoom out and have a look.
Here's the before, here's the after.
I'm just going to zoom in and erase it from the water because it looks like too much.
Okay, before - after.
Interesting.
With white here, just a touch.
Now, while we have done all of this, to make the sun even more realistic, because the sun
is just not looking right, we can create a Gradient.
Now these steps are optional.
The original three step formula is already right there.
The first one was adding color to the highlights and the shadows.
The second one was Camera Raw and the third one was using Curves.
So you can actually make a group of all of these Curves, press Ctrl or Command + G with
all of them selected and we can name this Curves.
Okay.
Now, to make the sun look realistic, all we have to do is to create a Gradient.
Click on the Adjustment layer icon and then choose Gradient right there.
Single click on the Gradient bar and let's reset the Gradient.
If your Gradient doesn't look right, click on the Gear and reset the Gradient.
Make sure you save the ones if you had created some.
Hit OK.
Now, all you want to do here is to select the Gradient from Color to Transparent.
This one, the second one, is Foreground to Transparent.
So, I want to make the left hand side color, double click on it to open up the color picker,
you can also click here, and let's set it to bright yellow, bright yellow color of the
sun, like that.
Hit OK.
Now, as it fades away, you can turn this red.
So, click on this slider right there, single click here and I'm going to set it to Red.
You can also set it to a little bit of Magenta, that's upon you.
Hit OK.
Hit OK again.
Now, change the style from Linear to Radial.
Now you can place the sun wherever you want.
So I'm just going to drag it and drop it right there.
Hit OK.
You can always change these settings later.
Now, change the Blend Mode from Normal to Screen because Screen is the Blend Mode which
brightens stuff.
So, let's choose Screen, and it looks fine, but, it looks too big.
Let's double click on it to open up the Properties of the Gradient Fill and decrease the scale.
67 or 65 would look great.
Let's go for 65.
Yeah, it looks fine.
Let's move it a little bit to the middle.
There you have it.
Now, you can also add some Lens Flare to it to make it even more realistic.
Now, to add the lens flare, first of all, let's create a Stamp Visible layer at the
top by pressing Ctrl + Alt + Shift + E / Command + Option + Shift + E on a Mac.
So let's go to Filter - Render and then Lens Flare.
Now, we want to move this point over the sun and we can try different looks right here.
We can try 50-300mm, we can try 35mm, 105.
So I'm going to go with 35.
Move it just over the sun and then you can also set the brightness as well, how bright
you want them to be.
So in my opinion, I'm going to keep it at about 100%.
Okay, and then hit OK.
Now it burns this to the image.
What if you want to keep it separate?
Let's go back by pressing Ctrl or Command + Z.
You can turn off or actually delete this layer.
With this layer selected, press the Delete key.
Now, create a new layer and fill it with black.
So once you have black as the foreground color, press Option + Delete or Alt + Backspace.
There you have it.
Now again, let's go to Filter - Lens Flare.
It will have the last effect done, see, at the same position.
Now all we got to do is change the Blend Mode from Normal to Screen because Screen is the
Blend Mode which hides everything that is 100% black and brightens stuff.
Let's choose Screen and there you have it separately.
Now you can blur these lens flare, if you want to.
But, I'm going to leave it at that.
If you want to blur, you can.
And there you go.
So that's how to use beautiful color to your landscapes in Photoshop using the three step
formula.
All you gotta do first is add color to the highlights and the shadows by using Blend
If and Soft Light Blend Mode, and then using Camera Raw, play the sliders, play with Exposure,
play with Temperature.
Go crazy to create some dramatic results.
After that, we need to use some Curves.
We added the Curves to create the drama.
The first one, we just had to take it down.
So, I missed it actually.
I'm just going to take it down to create some drama.
The second one was simply brightening and darkening different areas of the image.
So we bright in the shadow just a little bit, darken the mid tones.
We did a similar thing right here but, it's a plane thing.
All right, and this one was just for adding some highlights using Blend If.
And after that, to make this sun even more realistic, we added a gradient with Screen
Blend Mode and a Lens Flare to go with it.
I hope this video helped you.
Thank you so much for watching.
I'll see you guys in my next one.
Till then stay tuned and make sure that you keep creating.