EDIT THE SHOT
1 OPEN AND TWEAK THE RAW FILE Open the RAW file in Adobe Camera Raw and undertake some basic edits – apply Lens Corrections, tweak contrast and clarity, then open the image in Photoshop and save it. Now let the fun begin!
2 SHARPEN THE IMAGE Wet-plate images tend to be very sharp in the centre, so sharpness is boosted in the source image. You can use any sharpening method – High Pass works well. Here we used Sharpener Pro 3, part of the Nik Collection.
3 ADD SOME BLUR Traditional wet-plate images are shot with large-format cameras and long exposures, so some subject movement is common. Mimic this on an adjustment layer by adding some Motion Blur from the PS Filters menu.
4 REVEAL THE SHARP BITS Add a Layer Mask to the Motion Blur layer then, using the Eraser Tool and a soft brush with opacity around 50%, rub out the blur in the central area of the image so only the edges are still blurred.
5 CHANNEL MIXER Go to Layer> Adjustment Layer>Channel Mixer and click on the Monochrome box. Set the Red channel to -100, the Green channel to 0 and the Blue channel to +200, then adjust the channels to get the look you want.
6 CURVES ADJUSTMENT Go to Layer> Adjustment Layer>Curves then boost contrast by creating a small S-Curve. This is all down to personal preference, but the image should have quite a dark and moody look to it.
7 ADD WARMTH Head over to Layer> Adjustment Layer>Photo Filter then add a little warmth to the image using the Warming Filter (85). Real wet plates often have a slight tone due to the chemicals that are used in their creation.
8 TWEAK TEXTURE Find some free texture images online – metal and rust are ideal – then drag and drop a couple, one at a time, over the main image with the Move Tool and adjust the opacity of the layer until you’re happy with the effect.