Color Correcting

I'm going to be teaching you to color correct photos.
I firmly believe that color correcting is the most important part of making graphics.
Okay, so I'm using this photo of Jewel.

It already looks pretty, right? But, Jewel's feet are a bit in the dark, and the Camera made little discolored spots appear on her shoulder.
So, with the help of Paint Shop Pro, we are going to fix all those things, make her a more vibrant, and overall make the photo look TONS better.
So, let's begin, open up Paint Shop Pro, and paste your photo into it.
First off, we are going to use my favorite Paint Shop Pro tool, Digital Camera Noise Removal. This removes those icky little spots, and cleans up the junk leftover from the Camera.
The settings don't matter. So just go Adjust > Digital Camera Noise Removal.

It'll bring up a new window, just hit enter, and watch it do it's wonders.

Now, doesn't she look tons better? But that's only step one.
Now, we need to make her a little lighter, to get those feet out of Darkness. I do this by doing the Brightness/Contrast tool, it's very helpful. Open by doing this:

Again, it'll bring up a window, use these settings:

Hit okay, and watch the photo get lighter. Now, she really looks nice. Now onto my FAVORITE step. Duplicate the layer by right clicking on the photo in the Layers box.

Now, above the thumbnail of the picture, you'll see a little box that says: 'Normal'. Click on the little arrow, and it should bring up a little list. Click on 'Overlay'.

Now, the photo should be quite vibrant, this is the look we are going for. Now, let's merge the layers.
All done! Isn't it wonderfully simple?


Before:


After:
See the difference? Now, that you know that, you can work wonders, I mean it.

.:: Tutorial By Ginny/ginny209 ::.