Thursday, July 28, 2016

CoffeeShop "Sanibel Beach Dreams" Photoshop/PSE Editing Tutorial: Part 2!!!


I am so excited about my newest beach portrait editing tutorial I call "Sanibel Beach Dreams". This editing technique is very dreamy  and colorful, reminiscent of a Skagen beach painting.

Today is Part 2 of my "Sanibel Beach Dreams" Photoshop/PSE editing tutorial. In Part 1 I walked you through the portrait retouching. Please go read that post first. Today in Part 2 I will show you how I add gorgeous pastel color to the sand, water, and sky. You can grab the  "Beach Dreams Water & Sky" Photoshop/PSE action if you want to automate the process.

You can grab the full version deluxe "Sanibel Beach Dreams" action in my CoffeeShop Action Download pack.

In Part 3 I will show you how I add a gorgeous sky overlay to a boring beach sky and I include some custom  CoffeeShop sky overlays.


CoffeeShop "Sanibel Beach Dreams" Photoshop/PSE Editing Tutorial PART 2: Pretty Sand, Water and Sky

Today we will go from the "before" on the left to the "after" on the right. The gorgeous original image is by Jessica Edwards Photography.


Here is where we were when I left you yesterday in Part 1 of the tutorial. The retouching is finished and we are ready to add gorgeous colors!


1. Beautiful Sand: To add a beautiful glowing color to the sand, I start with a brownish Color Fill adjustment layer (#b3a298) and I fill its layer mask with black to hide the effect. 

You can play around with the brown color for your own images to get the perfect final tint.


I used a semi-soft white brush on the layer mask to paint in the beautiful color on the sand and on her hat. To see where I have added the brown "Sand" layer (white paint) I clicked on the layer mask while holding the alt/option key down. Click again to remove.

If you are new to layer masks please go read this layer mask tutorial.


I put the "Sand" layer in Overlay blending mode, 100%. You can also try Soft Light or Multiply. 

I think this is lovely.


2. Pretty Water and Sky: The next step is to add beautiful color to the sky and water. 

If you have a flat sky with no clouds you can add a sky overlay before doing this step. I show you how I do this in Part 3 (and I include some new beach overlays) I have some for free download here and here.  I will also post a new one on my next post. Pretty Actions has some beautiful sky overlays you could also purchase or you can find gorgeous ones you can edit at Pixabay.

In this image the sky is perfect so I will just add some beautiful color. I added a Color Fill Adjustment layer (#117a81) and filled the layer mask with black. You can adjust this blue color for your own image.


I used a 50% semi-soft white brush to  paint the color into the ocean and a 100% soft brush to add it to the sky. You can play with the brush opacities and also adjust the final opacity of that layer to taste. You could also make two layers, one for the sky and one for the water.



I put the "Pretty Water and Sky" layer in Overlay blending mode, 100%. You could also try Soft Light or Multiply.

At this point of the edit I will fine-tune the Sand and Water colors where they meet by painting on their layer masks so it looks more realistic. You don't want the blue water color on the sand.



At this point I am loving this edit! I could stop here, but I want to add gorgeous pink/ivory colors to the sky and water next in Part 4 of my "Sanibel Beach Dreams" tutorial.  If you want to add a dramatic sky to your portrait, be sure to go read Part 3 of my tutorial (includes new sky overlays.)


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1 comment:

  1. I'm loving this action and can't wait til you release it! I live in Florida and do a lot of beach photography so this will totally make things easier for me! Thanks!!

    ReplyDelete

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Rita