CREATIVE TECHNIQUES
Edit moody
low-light portraits
Make it pop
Persistent areas of background can be
removed in Photoshop, but the more you
remove now the easier this will be. Drag the
Highlights slider into the negative (-78) and
the Whites into the positive (+35) to darken
areas of shadow further. This will also
accentuate detail in the highlights, like the
fur, without losing too much intensity.The ideal image
The ideal Raw image will have a dark background and a
strong light source hitting your subject’s key features,
predominantly from the same angle, to create harsh
shadows. Open your image in Camera Raw and click on
the Lens Corrections tab. Make sure that you have
Remove Chromatic Aberration and Enable Profile
Corrections are checked.Cue the clarity
The Clarity slider’s contrast boosting
properties will help define the fur further.
We’ll sharpen the image in Photoshop later
using the High Pass Filter, so it’s important
not to overdo it at this stage. A small
amount of Clarity (+10) will add a touch of
definition. The image should now ready to
be open in the main Photoshop editor.Black and white
With the necessary lens corrections
enabled, return to the Basic tab and click
the Black & White checkbox. This will
desaturate your image. We’ll now attempt
to darken the shadows and raise the
highlights (retaining as much detail as
possible). Start by increasing the Contrast
slider. A value of +22 suited our image.Brush strokes
There’s still plenty of work to be done, so
duplicate your ‘Background’ layer (Cmd/
Ctrl+J) and then create a new layer.
Rename the new layer ‘Black Background’,
then select the Brush tool (B) and set the
Hardness slider to 0%. You can quickly
adjust the brush size by pressing ‘[’ to
decrease it and ‘]’ to increase it.Paint it black
Use the Color Picker to select the darkest
area of the image, it should be black
(#000000). Using your soft black brush,
begin to remove anything surrounding the
subject that’s visible. Part of what makes
this image so suitable for this type of edit is
that the subject is almost entirely
surrounded in black shadow.Quick Tip
We’ve included the precise values
of our Camera Raw edit to help you
process the Raw file that we’ve
provided. However, experimentation
is key when editing your own images
and not all images you attempt to
edit will be suitable. Don’t be afraid
to quickly play with the sliders and
move on to the next image if it’s
simply not working.1
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