Micro Sharpen
Need a quick primer how to adjust your images on first run? Get a big batch of images ready because these steps will prepare a large set of low cost legal imagery submissions for your online portfolio or micro stock accounts. Getting these steps down can fill rainy days with productive elbow grease toward micro stock profits.
1. Appraise & Review
Look at the image dispassionately. Is it blurry in areas, the main subject partially cut off, or a color balance missing? Is the contrast overly heightened and does the picture present as flat or lackluster despite the dynamic subject matter? Discard the most time consuming projects unless you have an assignment or open call for this content.
2. Clean It Up
Stray hairs, erzatz eyelashes, rogue makeup, facial or body hair, insects, dust, anything that ruins a perfect texture or color area has to go. Sample from the bit map layer following the outline of the image. Use copy and paste from a similar area or separation of colors to get the line just right. Darken in areas where graying has taken place and illustrate overly white overexposed areas with faint detail pointillism.
3. Darken Background
This can be done manually or using a Curves tool. At the bitmap layer, spot darken the lightest tones per area in the identified background sections. Subtle darkening plays best, especially when foreground subjects have rich coloration. An overly simplified photograph can look very ‘meh”. Enriching background color can work when it informs a contrast against foreground tone.
4. Gem It Up
This strategy is a custom coloration of some element in the background or foreground that adds rich contrast and accent to the image without ruining it.
Bringing black eye tones to blue using light violet, or sanding down shine on makeup or hair can intensify the effect of better light and resolution/clarity. Find something to make bluer, greener, or more red or yellow. it gives the eyes some flash to capture on. then the eye draws in the surrounding detail.
5. Sharpen Filter
Many photographers make the mistake in the editing room to sharpen first. This robs the image of a lot of color detail and simplifies it when a detailed bitmap is desired. The purchaser may demand the raw file. Eliminating the intermediate steps may short change the final result. Look at sharpening results and compare them to the Raw file. if too much intermediate shading and darkening has taken place, start again.
