Developing An Image In Photoshop - Step By Step Tutorial

I like to leave my images as untouched as possible but there are times when a picture will benefit from some further development using a product such as Photoshop. This post will take you step by step through making some minor changes to an image in Photoshop.

The image I have chosen is shown below. I was pleased with the picture but found the tilted horizon distracting and I also noticed a piece of rubbish and a sign in the image which I wanted to remove. 

Step one: I open the picture in Photoshop.

Step two: I identify which sections of the picture I would like to remove. I have circled the rubbish and the sign in the following picture.

Step three: I select the rectangular marquee tool from the left hand tool bar. You can see this button highlighted in the image below.

Step four: using the rectangular tool, I draw an edge around part of the picture which I would like to remove.

Step five: from the drop down edit menu, I select fill.

Step six: in the pop out 'fill' box, I select content aware from the drop down options. Then press OK.

Step seven: after pressing OK, I can see that the piece of rubbish has been removed from the image and Photoshop has filled the gap with colour and texture to match that section of the photograph.

Step eight: repeat the process for the sign. First, I highlight the area which I would like to adjust.

Step nine: then repeat the selections of edit, fill, content aware.

Step ten: now that the rubbish and the sign have been removed, it is time to consider straightening the picture. For this image, I would like to add a horizontal ruler to help me judge when the picture is straight. I check under the view drop down menu that the rulers option is ticked.

Step eleven: I grab a horizontal line from the top ruler and drag it down the screen.

Step twelve: when the ruler is in place, I release it and a highlighted line appears across the page.

Step thirteen: it is now time to begin the process of rotating the image. I go to the image drop down menu along the top bar, and select image rotation.

Step fourteen: selecting arbitrary from the rotation menu, I consider which way I would like to rotate the image and by how many degrees. I decide that I wish to rotate the image to the left, so counter clock-wise (CCW) and by a small amount. I will try 3 degrees of rotation.

Step fifteen: the rotation of 3 degrees seems to line up well against the ruler guideline. The image now looks like this:

Step sixteen: I would now like to crop the image to remove the white edges. The crop tool is found on the left hand menu.

Step seventeen: using the crop tool, I have highlighted the area of the picture which I would like to retain. You can see in the image below that the areas which will be removed after applying the crop have been darkened.

Step eighteen: I am happy with this crop so select the tick box to commit current crop operation.

Step nineteen: this is how the picture is looking at the moment. I would like to remove the ruler now that the horizon has been straightened.

Step twenty: to remove the ruler, I will go into view and clear guides.

Step twenty-one: the guideline disappears and I have a better idea of how the image is looking.

Step twenty-two: I took the photograph soon after sunrise one morning but some of the depth of colour has been lost in the image at present. I decide to adjust the image some more using tools in the adjustments box.

Step twenty-three: firstly, I will adjust the vibrance.

Step twenty-four: changing the vibrance and saturation will help to draw out some of the different colours in the image. 

Step twenty-five: I have increased both vibrance and saturation to highlight the colour of the sunrise in the clouds, bring out the plumage of the swan, and deepen the blue of the sky and the lake.

Step twenty-six: I use the arrow in the bottom left of the adjustments box to return to the adjustments list.

Step twenty-seven: I'd like to adjust the brightness and contrast of the image now.

Step twenty-eight: this step has brought out some more of the colours and contrasts in the image.

Step twenty-nine: and so I now have my final image which I will save.

You can see how, with minimal further development, a good photo can be enhanced to bring out the best of what you saw in person when taking the picture.

Let's have a look at the before and after pictures:

Before

After

The final picture is straighter, the distractions of the rubbish and the sign have been removed, and the colour is more vibrant. 

I have a lot more to learn on Photoshop but knowing some of the more basic editing techniques has helped me to enhance some of my pictures. I see Photoshop as a tool for developing pictures, in the same way that film may be developed in a darkroom. While I do not want to misrepresent what I saw, I would like to share the best of the image with the audience by drawing out colours and details. I also appreciate being able to remove distractions from pictures such as the rubbish and the sign in the swan photograph.