This is my first (and I do hope many to come) photoshop tutorial. Today, I would like to show a coloring tutorial to create and transform a normal/ dull looking photo into one with much attractive colors. (depending on your taste actually)

Different people have different ways of coloring their photos. Below are 10 easy steps I recorded on how I edited a random photo from www.sxc.hu :

(Click to see a bigger sized image)

into this:

(Click to see a bigger sized image)

I apologize if the final product looks very similar to the original but when you are used to it, steps can be omitted or changed depending on the colors of the photo you are using to suit your style and likings as the steps in coloring photos are pretty much the same.

1. Go to “Image” >> “Adjusments” >> “Brightness/ Contrast…” and follow the settings below.

2.Go to “Image” >> “Adjusments” >> “Exposure…” and follow the settings below

3. I usually dont use “curves” but I felt that the image was a little imbalanced and dark after the first 2 steps I used. Go to “Image” >> “Adjusments” >> “Curves…” and follow the settings below.

After the first 3 steps, you should get something like this (which already looks better even if you don’t alter the colors of the photo in later steps):

4. Now the fun part. I usually like to adjust my colors with selective colors because you can slowly experiment to get the look that you want. Go to “Image” >> “Adjusments” >> “Selective Color…” and follow the settings for “Blacks” below:

5. Settings for “Yellows”:

6. Settings for “Cyans”:

After step 6, you should get something like this:

Maybe this isn’t much of a drastic coloring compared to some of the photos I have edited but you can always play with the colors on different types of photos to get the look that you like. You could always stop here but I went further in enhancing the photo.

7. I thought the top and middle part of the sky looked uneven. With the healing brush tool (J), hold on the “alt” key to find a source you want to heal from and slide over your brush over the imperfect tone of the sky.

8. I wanted to go for a less saturated look. First, I duplicated the layer. Then, click the bottom layer and go to “Image” >> “Adjusments” >> “Black & White…”, click okay and follow the settings below followed by setting the layer on top to the mode : “soft light”.

9. Now for a gradient fill. If your toolbar is showing the “Paint Bucket Tool”, just right click and choose the “Gradient tool” instead.

Follow the setting of colors below and create a new layer with the mode “lighten”. Set the opacity to 30% or lower if you like and pull your mouse from right to left.

10. Finally, go to “Layer” >> “Merge Visible” to merge the layer. Then, go to “Layer” >> “Layer Style”>>”Inner shadow” and follow the settings below:

Your final product should look similar to the photo below:

Have fun trying out this tutorial and you could improvise as you go along with different photos to get the look you want. I would like to see what other styles people can come up with or if they have better ways to play with the colors with photoshop.

Also, if you have any problems following what I wrote, you could always ask me for assistance. I’d be glad to help.