Wedding photography is all about fun, laughter and more fun. Combine these with elegance and a touch of sweet romance, and you can create one heck of a memorable collection. Considering the pictures may eventually tell the story of the special day for generations to come, the photographer has quite a meaningful task to undertake. Fortunately, the job is made easier using Photoshop effects for wedding photography. With a few simple tools that add style and sophistication to any photo, you can make sure that the special couple who just tied the knot will have an amazing album to share.
Want to make the most out of your wedding photos? Read these essential Photoshop tips for pros.
Turning the Photo into Black and White
Classic, romantic and nostalgic – that’s a great look for a wedding. And nothing communicates that better than a beautiful black and white photo of the newlyweds. Photoshop lets you to turn any photo into a black and white image with zero hassle. Here’s how you do it:
Open the photo you want to work on
Go to adjustment layers and add a Black and White layer.
On the adjustment panel of this layer you can manually set each color to the level you want or use one of the presets that Photoshop offers. The Auto button usually does a good job, but you can always play around with different options to see which creates the best tone
Now let’s increase the contrast by making the black deeper and the white brighter. You can do that by adding the Levels adjustment layer
In the Levels panel drag the black slider input (on the left) a bit to the right, and the white slider input slightly to the left – this action makes the image contrast higher
The result looks great in the mid-tones of the image, but we need to make sure that we don’t lose any important details from the highlights or shadows of the image (for example, the texture of the white dress). To do that, double click the Levels layer -> Blending Option -> Layer Style Menu ->Blend If options -> Underlying Layer. Hold down ALT key, drag the white input slider to the left to restore the details and the highlights. Now do the same to the black slider to restore the details and the shadows until you are happy with the outcome
You can also add a radial gradient around the happy couple to make them pop out a bit more
Voila! As good as getting married in Paris!
Adding a Dreamy Glam Effect
A fairy tale love story deserves fairy-tale styled photos. Lucky for you, no wicked witches or evil stepmothers will be involved in the making of these magical scenes.
Choose a pic with some nice colorful details in it, such as the bride’s bouquet
Duplicate the original image (ctrl + J)
Select the copy of the original image, go to: Image-> Adjustment -> Desaturate
Now we would like to blur the desaturated layer, so go to: Filter -> Blur -> Gaussian blur and set the radius to around
Set the opacity of the blurred layer to 70 percent. This will give the image a soft effect. It also washes out the image and gives it a dream-like appearance
Now we want to make some colors stand out, so we will add a mask to the blurred layer, and hide the parts of the picture that we want to keep in the original color. In this case we chose the bride’s bouquet, her necklace and the groom’s ring and cufflings. After you add a mask to the layer, choose a brush, set the color to black, and brush over the parts you want to keep in the original color
That’s it! And they lived happily ever after…
Creating an Awesome Frame
Every picture needs a frame. Here is a quick way to make cool, grungy picture frames for your photos:
Open the picture that you want to edit
Use the rectangular marquee tool to make a selection of the area you would like to frame
Press Q on the keyboard to create a quick mask. You will see the area of the mask highlighted in red
Now go to the Filter menu: Filter -> Filter Gallery, and play around with the different options. These filters will change the original selection we made, and create a cool grungy effect. You can add several effects by clicking the New Effect icon at the bottom of the window and trying different combinations until you get the most awesome result. We used the following options: Sprayed Strokes, Spatter, Charcoal and Texturizer. When you are done click OK
Next, press Q again to create a selection from the quick mask
Add a mask to the layer of the original image
All that is left to do now is add another layer with the color of your choice for the frame and place it under the original image layer
I pronounce you husband and wife!
