Photoshop Tutorial - Filter Effect

Hello~ I'm back with photoshop tutorial :3

I'm not an expert in this but I'll give you what I can do (￣0 ￣;)ﾊ(￣、￣;)

So, I'll be showing you how to achieve that 'instagram-ish' filter using photoshop ♪

I'm using Adobe Photoshop CS5 Extended

which you can download from

click here

Other version will do, but for those who are new to this shop-thingy, the layout and menu for each version have slight differences.

To avoid confusion, just use the same version :3

Let's begin!

.

.

.

Tools

These are the tools I usually use for retouching

1. Brush Tool (won't be used this time)

2. Bucket Tool (to do color filling)

3. Color (in this case the pink one is the foreground color, and the black is the background color)

4. Filter Menu

5. Fill / Adjustment (will use this everytime!)

Now that you know the tools, drag the pic you wish to edit to the photoshop~

TADAH!

Featuring Moe-tan lol

Now click on the thumbnail on the LAYERS box (red circle)

and then click the fill/adjustment button (red arrow)

Next up, you'll see a popup menu

click Curves

Now drag the downside-left line upward

This line is used for enhancing the lighting/exposure

drag upward : brighter

drag downward : darker

you can try and find the perfect brightness for your pic :3

Next, click the fill/adjustment -> Levels

See the 3 little arrows? (black, grey, and white)

you can move it to enhances the brightness and contrasts of your pic

if you slide to the rightside : darker

if you slide to the leftside : lighter

also, do experiments with this one :3

find the most suitable settings for you

third enhancer - Selective Color

Here you can edit each color's settings

For example you can change all the yellow into red or white :3

Here I edited the Black, make it blacker to enhance the pic's clarity

Now click on the thumbnail

Press ctrl+shift+N on your keyboard to create new layer above Background

Now click at the Color (the foreground one)

there will be a color picker popup

We'll use 3 colors to create the filter, start with red :3 (the order of the color isn't important)

Use the Bucket tool, click on your picture

Make sure that your Layer 1 is selected

Poof! All red :D

But don't worry, click on the 2nd red arrow, select Exclusion

Control the opacity

Next, create 2 more layers (ctrl+shift+N)

select Layer 2

use Bucket tool again to fill it with Blue color

Repeat the Exclusion and Opacity step

Repeat, but this time fill it with Yellow

Now let's add some Vignette (the blackish border)

Click Filter -> Lens Correction

Boom!

Select the Custom tab

See the Vignette part

The Amount is the 'core' Black

and the Midpoint is the 'soft' Black

Play with it :3

Click OK

And.. we're done! <3

This is the comparison between before and after pic :3

I used too much yellow (´∩｀。) sorry

Thank you for reading and I hope this helps :3

You can ask me via formspring / comment box, I'll do my best lol