Take control of mood and detail

Enhance the mood and detail in macro images using four quick and easy Photoshop effects

Photography is much more than just a record-making medium. Creativity and interpretation of the subject can be applied throughout the shooting and editing stages, to produce images that tell a much more complex story than a carbon copy of what was in front of the camera ever could.

Lighting, depth of field and exposure itself have played a part in creating an image here that’s true to the subject but also visually interesting. And the processing stage is when you can enhance images to maintain natural tones and luminosity, or opt for something more dramatic.

In this tutorial, I’m going to look at four ways you can enhance the mood of images, but also enhance some of the detail too. Each effect is incredibly simple to apply in Photoshop – and since they’re all non-destructive (able to be adjusted or reversed later) thanks to the use of layers, the strength of each effect can be controlled fully to suit your personal taste.

1 Apply a mood enhancement

Increasing saturation is a simple technique that can be refined so the effect is applied only to specific colours, which is exactly what you’ll do here. Create a Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer; when the dialog box opens, click on the dropdown menu that’s set to Master and select Yellows. Now simply drag the Saturation slider right to +30 to boost the green moss.

2 Add a refined vignette

Using the Camera Raw Filter, you’re going to create a vignette. Duplicate the Background Layer by making sure it’s active and then pressing Ctrl/Cmd+J. Next, go to Filter > Camera Raw Filter; when the dialog box opens, select the Radial Filter from the top menu bar. Drag the filter out so the sharp part of the fern is in the centre, and make sure Effect is set to outside and Feather to 35. Finally, reduce Exposure to -1.50 and click OK.

3 Use High Pass sharpening

Duplicate the Background Layer by making sure it’s active and then pressing Ctrl/Cmd+J. Next, go to Filter > Other > High Pass; when the dialog box opens, drag the slider to the right until the edges of the subject become clearly defined. For this particular image, 10 Pixels is the perfect amount. Click OK, then set the Blending Mode of the layer to Overlay.

4 Create a wintery haze

Since this is a winter macro image, you can successfully apply a wintery haze that mimics soft light and mist. To do this, create a Levels Adjustment Layer; when the dialog box opens, drag the black point below the Histogram to 50. This will increase the blacks in the image. Next, drag the black Output Level to 100, which will apply the haze effect. With this image and these settings, Opacity can be left at 100%.