GETTING RID OF THE HEADROOM
The next image we will work on, Elements Image 6.jpg, also needs a little help with the crop. The problem is that there is a little too much headroom, or empty space, over the subjects. To make this a more intimate image, we need to crop things a bit tighter.
FIGURE 9.6
Crop in tight to eliminate the headroom.
1. Select the image, click the Fix tab, and then click Edit Photos.
2. When the file opens in the Editor, press the C key to select the Crop tool.
3. Go to the tool options bar above the image area and change the Aspect Ratio setting to Use Photo Ratio.
4. Draw out a crop around the three figures and press the Enter key when done (Figure 9.6).
5. This image is suffering from color overload, but I think it would make a great black and white. Choose Enhance > Convert to Black and White.
6. Select the Portraits style and then click OK (Figure 9.7).
7. Finish off with some Unsharp Mask sharpening using the same settings as the last image.
FIGURE 9.7
Select Portraits from the black and white styles.
BLACK AND WHITE WITH A TINT
Since we just made one black and white image, why not continue with one more and use a slightly different effect? Select the file named ElementsImage 2.NEF and send it to the Editor. Since this is a raw photo, we will need to do some work in Camera Raw first.
1. In the Camera Calibration tab, select the Camera Standard profile.
2. In the Detail tab, set the options to the following: Amount 90, Radius 1.0, Detail 25, and Masking 40 (Figure 9.8). There is no need to touch the Noise Reduction setting for this image.
3. In the Basic panel, use the settings Exposure -.35, Fill Light 10, Blacks 21, and Clarity +50. Click Open Image when done.
4. Choose Enhance > Convert to Black and White, and select the Infrared Effect style. Click OK to apply (Figure 9.9).
5. Click the Create New Adjustment Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers panel and select Photo Filter.
6. Choose Sepia from the Filter list and change the Density setting to 55% to finish off the effect (Figure 9.10).
FIGURE 9.8
Making adjustments in the Detail panel.
FIGURE 9.9
Select Infrared Effect.
FIGURE 9.10
Add a Sepia filter from the adjustment layers.
TAMING THE DUST SPOTS
If you are shooting with a digital SLR, you will have to deal with dust spots sooner or later. The perfect solution would be to clean your sensor before every photo shoot, but that’s unrealistic. So let me show you how I deal with the dust spots that creep into my photos between camera cleanings.
1. In the Organizer, select Elements Image 3.NEF and open it in Camera Raw.
2. In the Camera Calibration panel, select the Camera Vivid profile.
3. In the Detail panel, set Amount to 85 and Masking to 60. Leave everything else set to the defaults.
4. Use the following settings in the Basic panel: White Balance Daylight, Exposure +.25, Recovery 100, Fill Light 10, Blacks 10, Brightness +45, Clarity +40, and Vibrance +10.
5. Click and hold the Crop tool, select an aspect ratio of 2 to 3, and draw out a tighter crop on the ornament (Figure 9.11).
FIGURE 9.11
Cropping with a 2 to 3 aspect ration.
FIGURE 9.12
Click with the Spot Healing Brush to remove dust spots.
6. Open the image in the Editor, and press the J key to activate the Spot Healing Brush tool. Enlarge the image, use the bracket keys to make the brush just larger than the dust spots, and click the brush on the spots to eliminate them (Figure 9.12).
7. To quickly move through the image, hold down the spacebar to activate the Hand tool. Click and drag to a new location on the image and release the spacebar. Continue clicking on the dust spots until they are all gone.
8. Apply some Unsharp Mask sharpening to finish things off.
OPENING THE SHADOWS
This next image is kind of dark, which was intended, but I want more details in the shadow areas. Let’s see what we can do with some Camera Raw adjustments.
1. In the Organizer, select Elements Image 1.NEF and open it in Camera Raw.
2. In the Camera Calibration panel, select the Camera Standard profile.
3. In the Detail panel, set Amount to 105 and Masking to 50.
4. In the Basic panel, change the Temperature setting to 3900 and the Tint setting to -21.
5. Move the Fill Light slider to 30 to open up the shadows, and move the Blacks setting to 10.
6. Move the Clarity slider to +100 to add lots of midtone contrast.
7. Use the Straighten tool to draw a line along the bottom of the engine and straighten up the crop (Figure 9.13).
FIGURE 9.13
Use the Straighten tool to square things up.
8. Open the image in the Editor, and press Control-J (Command-J) to duplicate the layer.
9. Choose Filter > Other > High Pass, and set the Radius to 10.
10. Finally, set the blend mode to Soft Light (Figure 9.14).
FIGURE 9.14
Set the blend mode to Soft Light.
FIGURE 9.15
The settings in the Basic tab.
