What can I do to make this photo more interesting?

[MarieMeyer]

What techniques can I try to add a little more dynamism to this image without radically the changing the majority color?

[davescm · Accepted solution]

Hi

If you just mean brighten up the mid tones and expand the contrast, then a simple curves adjustment  layer will give it more contrast

Dropping back the saturation slightly stops the increase in contrast over-saturating the colours

After that - well how far do you want to go.....

(It is just an animated gif made of some duplicate layers and using liquify on the eye and mouth)

Dave

[MarieMeyer]

I LOL'd. Sadly it is for print! I'll give your suggestions a try. Thanks.

[Eternal Warrior]

Also, you could use Camera Raw with your image converted to RGB mode (8/16 BIT) to alter the "lighting" etc before converting back to CMYK - But please do it relatively subtle as nothing looks worse (personally) than over saturated etc. images.

I normally try to make changes up to a maximum of + or - 20. Normally I do about +/- 10.

I also try and follow a balancing rule (depending on the image) so say you increase whites by 10 then blacks should be decreased by a maximum of 10.

Obviously, it depends on your style and I like a relatively subtle glossy look to an image going for Print.

But some food for thought I hope...

[Simmer1]

Hi Marie,

Another approach would be to duplicate your image Layer by going Layer> Duplicate Layer.

Next set the duplicated Layer Blendmode to Overlay and reduce the Layer Opacity to 35%:

Finally add a Brightness/Contrast Adjustment Layer setting the Brightness to 42 and the Contrast to around -3.

Thanks,

Sim

[c.pfaffenbichler]

Another approach would be to duplicate your image Layer by going Layer> Duplicate Layer.
Next set the duplicated Layer Blendmode to Overlay and reduce the Layer Opacity to 35%:

I have found this approach an unfortunate one for some time now.

Why add unnecessary pixel data when an unadjusted blank Adjustment Layer with the appropriate Blend Mode achieves the same result without making touch-up of the base layer a problem?

[Randy Hufford]

I Love rabbits

[Trevor.Dennis]

[MarieMeyer]

As someone once said, we all have more computing power at our fingertips than every moonshot put together. And what do we do with it? We look at pictures of cats.

[cmgap]

thanks for the chuckle