HOW TO CONTROL YOUR COLOURS IN PHOTOSHOP

Bleach your pic

Open your image in Photoshop CC. When it’s on-screen, press Ctrl/Cmd+J to duplicate the layer. Now press Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+U to desaturate the copy layer. In the Layers Panel (Window > Layers), click where it says Normal and change the Blending Mode to Soft Light, This will boost the contrast and reduce the saturation across all the colours in the shot, giving a slightly bleached look to the image.

Boost the accent colour

To isolate and enhance an accent colour (like the red on the lighthouse), draw around it with the Lasso Tool to make a selection, then create another Hue/Sat Adjustment Layer. In the Hue/Sat panel, move Hue to change the colour, and Saturation to change the intensity. If you brighten it with Lightness, do so gently to avoid washing out the contrast.

Mute some colours

Click the Adjustment Layer icon at the foot of the Layers Panel, and choose Hue/Saturation from the resulting menu. In the Hue/ Sat panel, click on the Master box and select the colour group you want to mute. (We chose Yellows). Now reduce Saturation to -50. Select other colours you want to mute (such as Blues or Cyans), and do the same, dialling them back and reducing their impact.

Add a vignette

To complement the gritty, desaturated look, make sure the top layer is active, then merge all the work done so far into a new layer by pressing Ctrl/Cmd +Alt+Shift+E. Now go to Filter > Camera Raw Filter and open the FX panel. Under Post Crop Vignetting, move the Amount slider to the left to darken the edges and focus attention on the centre, and click OK.