It's been a while since something has been posted, but finally! We're back at it with another tutorial for you photoshop editors.
So for most of you, taking pictures under artificial light (with no flash) may seem a little tricky because you have to determine how long the shutter has to stay open, your metering, iso, etc. The only thing I can say is practice makes perfect, and even I am far from it. But here's a few tips/tricks to help you edit your pictures under artificial lighting by applying some effect in photoshop.
So for most of you, taking pictures under artificial light (with no flash) may seem a little tricky because you have to determine how long the shutter has to stay open, your metering, iso, etc. The only thing I can say is practice makes perfect, and even I am far from it. But here's a few tips/tricks to help you edit your pictures under artificial lighting by applying some effect in photoshop.
So here we have a nice MR2 that I saw at a local car meet. I used the "bulb" setting for my exposure time with a aperture of f/6, iso 200. With the bulb setting I was able to pull off this picture without blowing out my subject, however there are a few spots in the rear that show reflection as well as some underexposed portions of the car.
to start off, I lit up the front fender, middle, and the wheel; basically the front portion, in order to balance out the lighting of the subject. You want to make sure you work with layers rather than stacking your filters/effects on one single layer as it is easier to go back and fix your mistakes.
After lighting, I cloned out the lines in the wall, as well as the shadow on the ground so that the main focus is the car. I also brushed out the light reflections to make the reflections less harsh.
I then edited the tonal curve in order to bring our more contrast/detail in the car as well as to separate the car from the background, giving that lighted up look.
A few tips to keep in mind when shooting at night/low light settings; Always bring a tripod (you'll never know). Set your exposure to bulb. If you want more detail, then use a lower f/stop number. Be sure to work in layers in post edit.