The human eye is adept at discerning detail in a wide range of tones, even when faced with a contrasting mixture of sun and shade.

Your camera’s various metering modes are designed to help it compromise in contrasting lighting conditions, but it may still struggle to capture shadow or highlight detail in important areas.

In our start image below the camera has tried to get a balance between revealing detail in the shadows and retaining highlight detail.

Our start image

This compromise has produced a disappointing shot in which you can’t clearly see the interesting textures in the shadows, plus many of the highlight details are still over-exposed. These clipped highlights will print out as detail-free patches of garish colour, especially in the paintwork of the sunlit boats.

Fortunately, Photoshop Elements’ tone-tweaking tools can enable you to create a more balanced exposure with less highlight clipping.

Here, we’ll show you how to use the histogram window and the Levels command to identify clipped highlights and then send in the powerful Shadows/Highlights command to restore highlight detail.

Shadows/Highlights can produce halos around contrasting features in the image though, so we’ll also show you a brush-based trick that 
will reduce these ugly image-editing artefacts.

After fixing our photo using Elements’ standard tone-tweaking tools we’ll finish off with an alternative technique by showing you how to give your humble JPEG access to the Camera Raw editor, so that you can make use of its handy clipping warning and tone-tweaking tools.

Step by step how to recover clipped highlight detail in Photoshop Elements

01 Open the start file
Launch Photoshop Elements. Go to File>Open and browse to your start image. Click Open and the photo will open in Photoshop Elements 11’s Expert editing workspace (or Full workspace if you’re using an older version of Elements). Go to Window>Layers to make the Layers palette visible.

02 Duplicate the layer
Before editing the image it’s worth making a copy of the Background layer, so that you can compare the edited version with the original. In the Layers palette, click on the Background layer’s thumbnail. Press Cmd/Ctrl+J to duplicate it. The duplicated layer will appear as Layer 1.

03 Summon the histogram
To understand the shot’s spread of tones, go to Window>Histogram. You can see from the Colours histogram that our photo contains some strong blues peaking in the highlight section far right. These bright blues will be clipped and print out with no detail. They’ll just be featureless patches of colour.

04 Create an Adjustment Layer
Go to Layers>New Adjustment Layer>Levels. Click OK. The black and white Levels histogram shows the spread and strength of tones in the shot, from the shadows at the far left to the highlights at the far right. Just as you saw with the Colours histogram, the brightest highlights are off the scale.

05 Use the clipping warning
To see more clearly which areas in the shot are clipped (over-exposed), you can use the Levels command to summon a clipping warning. Alt-click on the white highlight input level slider at the right of the graph. Clipped areas (such as the sky and most of the sunlit boats) will appear as patches of colour.

06 Levels’ limitations
The highlight input level slider only slides to the left, making the highlights become brighter and causing even more clipping. Leave it at 255. While the Levels command provides a useful highlight clipping warning, it can’t cure the problem. Fortunately there is another command you can use along with Levels.

07 Try Shadows/Highlights
In the Layers palette, click on Layer 1. Go to Enhance>Adjust Lighting>Shadows/Highlights. By default, this assumes the image is backlit and suffers from under-exposed shadows, so it automatically sets the Lighten Shadows slider to 35%. Drop this to 
0 so you can focus on fixing the clipped highlights.

08 Horrible halos
Drag the Darken Highlights slider right to 65%. This restores more detail to the over-exposed clipped highlights (adding more colour and texture to areas like the girl’s leg). However, you need to watch out for lighter halos around contrasting areas such as the roof and lamppost.

09 Before and after
To get a compromise between restoring highlight detail and keeping halos to a minimum, set the Darken Highlights slider to a lower value of 35%. Tick and untick the little Preview box to see a before-and-after version of the edited image. Click OK to apply the highlight adjustment.

10 Check for clipping
In the Histogram window the graph’s blue highlights have slid left, indicating they are not as over-exposed as they were. For a second opinion, double-click on the Levels Adjustment Layer. Alt-click on the white highlight input level slider. The clipping warning patches have been considerably reduced.

11 Improve the contrast
To lighten the shaded areas, drag the grey midtone slider left to 1.51. This reveals some architectural detail in the under-exposed buildings. 
To make sure that the shot has some dark shadows (and a healthy range of black and white pixels), set the black shadow input level slider to 4.

12 Warm it up
The shot’s colour balance could be considered a little cool, especially given its sunny subject. To warm up our scene, go to Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Photo Filter. Set the Filter drop-down to Warming Filter (LBA) and reduce the Density to 20% for a more subtle warming effect.

13 Boost the colours
To give the shot more impact, go to Layers> New Adjustment Layer>Hue/Saturation. Keep the Channel set to Master and drag the Saturation slider to +16. It’s a good idea to keep your colour boost adjustment subtle, or you’ll run the risk of 
re-introducing clipped colours into the shot.

14 Set up a brush
There’s a hint of a halo around the lamppost. To fix this, choose Layer>New>Layer and click OK. Layer 2 will appear at the top of the Layers palette’s stack. Grab the Brush tool. From the Brush Preset picker in the options bar, choose a soft round tip with a Size of 200 and set Opacity to 100%.

15 Hide the halos
Place the brush near the lamppost (but not on the lighter halo) and hold Alt to activate the Eyedropper tool. Click to sample some blue sky. Spray the tip over the lamppost. To hide the lighter halo set the layer’s Blending Mode to Darken and reduce its Opacity to 29%.

16 Save the edited version
You can now go to File>Save As and set the Format drop-down menu to Photoshop. This preserves your shot’s layers. Alternatively, set the Format to JPEG and label it clipping_after. This creates a flattened file that you can easily upload to Facebook or email to family and friends.

17 JPEG to raw
To open a JPEG in the Camera Raw editor, go to File>Open. Browse to our clipping_before.jpg. Set the Format drop-down menu to Camera Raw. Click Open. Press O (over-exposed) to see all of the clipped highlights as patches of red. Clipped shadows can be displayed by pressing U (under-exposed).

18 Clobber clipping
To restore detail to the clipped highlights in Elements 11, set the Highlights slider to –22. If you’re using an earlier version, the Recovery slider will do a similar job. Restore shadow detail by dragging Shadows to +55 (or use the Fill Light slider in older versions.) Boost Vibrance to 20 and you’re done.

Photoshop CS6 may have demanded all the attention, but its baby brother Photoshop Elements has been quietly growing up. Now at version 11, it’s a mature, sophisticated image-editing program that provides 90% of the functionality of the full Photoshop, at a fraction of the cost.

This time around, there are only a handful of new features as Adobe has concentrated on the look and feel of the program, giving it a bright, fresh appearance with more readable text and clear tool icons.

But the refurbishment is more than just skin deep: Adobe has also made the tools more intuitive, with intelligent walkthroughs and easy adjustments.

The Organiser
The Elements Organiser is the tool for cataloguing, retrieving, printing and filing your images. It offers a range of techniques to make the process easier, from facial recognition to geotagging to straight calendar searches; unfortunately, facial recognition is hit and miss (we were frequently asked to put a name to bits of buildings and other inanimate objects).

You can perform some routine image enhancement tasks with the Organiser, but you have no control over the process: it’s all or nothing, with single buttons to enhance sharpness, contrast, colour and so on. It’s almost always worth opening selected images in the Editor to get 
to grips with them properly.

An entirely separate application, files are transferred from the Organiser to the Editor to work on them, and this is a fairly straightforward process. Even tasks offered directly by the Organiser, such as creating calendars and photo books, are processed by the Editor.

The Editor
This is where the main body of Elements resides. It’s divided into three sections, each of which caters to a different level of user: Quick, Guided and Expert.

Although the three modes can act independently 
of each other, you can move smoothly between them – and this has huge benefits, particularly when moving from Guided to Expert mode.

In all three modes, the Options bar, which shows tool settings, has moved from the top to the bottom of the screen, and it shows all the parameters in a clear, understandable way.

Together with the tool and side panels, this takes up a lot of screen space; but they can all be moved out of the way, and there’s even a floating panel mode for those who prefer it.

Using Photoshop Elements 11

Quick mode
In this stripped-down view, there are only a handful of tools – selection, redeye, tooth brightening, text and healing. The Smart Fix, Exposure, Colour and other buttons that were one-click effects in the Organiser now pop open to reveal a 3×3 grid of variations, each showing the target image.

There are other simple controls as well – the Colour adjustment, for instance, can target Saturation, Hue or Vibrance, as well 
as having an Auto button.

While the panels have been pared down, the menus still offer the full Elements experience, with access to all the filters, adjustments and techniques. For the beginner, though, Quick mode will provide much of what they need to do on a day-to-day basis, without scaring them off.

Guided mode
In this mode all the tools and panels are hidden, save for a single panel that presents you with a series of options – Touchups (skin tone correction, colour enhancement, scratch and blemish removal, and so on), Photo Effects (depth of field, Orton effect, and now featuring tilt-shift, high-key and low-key effects) and Photo Play (out of bounds, pop art, picture stack and reflection).

Selecting any one of these guides you through the process, holding your virtual hand as you make adjustments, invoke filters and apply enhancements – all without reaching for a tool or menu option. Guided mode is a terrific learning experience, as it shows the power of Elements without frightening the horses.

Expert mode
The biggest surprise comes when you create an effect in Guided mode, and then switch to Expert. Your image is now presented as a series of layers, masks, adjustments and filters, exactly as if you’d created all the effects in Expert mode in the first place.

This allows you to edit the images you’ve created, fine-tuning the results, adjusting layer modes and repainting masks. Plus, it also enables new users to learn a lot about how the effects have actually been created.

Apart from the cleaner look, Expert mode benefits from a few new filters. As well as a powerful Lens Blur effect there are new Comic, Graphic Novel and Pen and Ink filters, all of which create variously hand-drawn looks with a great sense of realism – far better than anything Photoshop itself can produce.

The new Refine Edge window now provides sophisticated cut-out tools – not just smoothing edges, but isolating tricky areas such as hair from difficult backgrounds.

There’s also enhanced support for Actions (the automation system that enables a complex series of effects to be executed with a keystroke); however, as in previous versions of Elements you can only use Actions that have been built in to Photoshop CS. You can’t create new ones, and not all effects work.

Adobe Photoshop Elements 11 Review: the verdict

Photoshop Elements 11 is a mature, thoughtful release that has eschewed flashy new features in favour of a genuinely more approachable interface. The Refine Edge tool in itself is enough to warrant the upgrade; the extra filters are the icing on the cake.

Features: 4/5
Ease of use: 5/5
Results: 4/5
Value: 4/5

Overall Score: 4/5

Other photo editing options

Adobe Lightroom 4
Price: £106.50
Lightroom 4 has a more comprehensive version of Adobe Camera Raw, seamlessly integrated 
for easy raw file editing.
Our score: 4/5

Corel PaintShop Pro X5
Price: £60
A strong contender
with sophisticated tools, including a useful Learning Centre to help get you going.
Our score: N/A

Serif Photoplus
Price: £71.50
Adjustments are made in 
a similar way to Elements, with Adjustment Layers and masks, but it lacks the polish of Adobe’s software.
Our score: 3/5

When taking photographs in certain lighting conditions, such as on a dull, overcast day, your photo location’s colours may be less than striking in your final image.

In our start image, for example, a burst of flash has brought out the colours of our model’s clothing, make-up and skin tones, but the rest of the shot’s colours are rather drab and desaturated.

Our start image

The location’s flat-lit colours – like the boring brown brickwork in the background – may be weaker, but they still distract the eye from our main subject. There is a solution.

In this tutorial we’ll show you how to use Photoshop Elements to desaturate the shot’s weaker (and largely irrelevant) background colours to create a more moody monochrome urban scene.

You’ll then discover how to apply brush strokes to a Layer Mask to restore the model’s vibrant colours so that she stands out more effectively against the monochrome environment.

By making selective colour adjustments in this way you can emphasise the shot’s strengths – such as the attractive colours of the flash-lit model – while desaturating the location’s weaker colours.

We’ll also show you how to make selective tonal adjustments so that the brighter model stands out even more against the darker background. By using the Burn tool to darken specific tones you can also hide some of the room’s busy and distracting details and add a sense of mood and mystery to the simplified scene.

To add a gritty texture to our urban location we’ll also demonstrate how to use filters, layers and Blending Modes to give our clean, digitally-sourced start image a film-style grain. This analogue look helps make the shot look more ‘street’!

On the next page we show you step by step how to achieve the effect of keeping selective colour in your images when making black and white converstions.

How to keep selective colour in black and white conversions: Steps 1-9

01 Open the start file
Open your start image in Photoshop Elements. The photo will open in Photoshop Elements’ Full Edit workspace. Go to Window>Layers to make the Layers palette visible, then click on the Background layer and press Cmd/Ctrl+J to duplicate it.

02 Make it mono
In the Layers palette, click on the new Layer 1 thumbnail. Go to Enhance>Remove Colour. This creates a black-and-white version of the image. To reveal some of the girl’s colours from the Background layer below, click on the Add Layer Mask icon at the bottom of the Layers palette.

03 Brush tool options
Use the Zoom tool to get a closer look at the model’s face. Choose the Brush tool, then click on the Brush Preset picker at the left of the options bar and choose a soft round tip with a Size of 100 pixels. Click on Layer 1’s white mask. Press X to toggle the Tools palette’s foreground colour to black.

04 Paint on the mask
Spray the black brush on the white mask to poke a hole through the monochrome layer and reveal the girl’s colours on the Background layer below. If you reveal unwanted background colours by mistake, press X to toggle to a white foreground colour and spray to restore these areas to monochrome.

05 Re-colour the girl
Keep spraying a black brush over the model to reveal her skin and clothing colours – don’t worry too much about editing all of her jacket, because it only has a hint of colour in the leather’s shiny specular highlights. Using this technique you can restore the rest of the model to full colour.

06 Fill with grey
Choose Layer>New>Layer. In the New Layer window’s Name field, type ‘Dodge and Burn’. Click OK. This creates a new transparent layer called Dodge and Burn. Go to Edit>Fill Layer. Select 50% Grey and then click OK. Set the Dodge and Burn layer’s Blending Mode to Overlay.

07 Darken the shadows
Choose the Burn tool from the Tools palette. Grab a soft-edged tip from the Brush Preset Picker and set the Size option to 600. Set Range to Shadows and drop Exposure to 15%. Spray around the edges of the frame to darken the shadows and hide the interior’s distracting architectural details.

08 Add drama
To tease out more detail in the clouds, set the Burn tool’s Range option to Midtones. Keep the Exposure option set to 15% so you can edit the clouds in gentle and controllable increments. Spray the Burn tool over the clouds to darken the midtones and make the cloud texture look more prominent.

09 Lighten the midtones
The girl’s dark jacket blends too much with the shadows, so to help her stand out from the background choose the Dodge tool from the Tools palette. Set Size to 125 and Range to Midtones. Keep Exposure at 15%. Spray behind her head and jacket collar to lighten the midtones of the roof a little.

10 Copy and Paste a mask
Choose Layer>New>Adjustment Layer>Levels. Click OK. Alt-click on Layer 1’s mask to see the girl-shaped black brush strokes you created in step 4. Choose Select>All then Edit>Copy. Click on the Levels Adjustment Layer’s mask and choose Edit>Paste to add the same brush strokes to the new mask.

11 Invert the mask
Press Ctrl+I to invert the Levels Adjustment Layer’s mask so that the girl’s shape is white, while the background is black. These white strokes will enable the Levels Adjustment Layer to change the tones of the girl without altering the carefully dodged and burned tones in the rest of the image.

12 Adjust the levels
Click on the Levels Adjustment Layer’s thumbnail (the little cog icon) to see the image layer. In the Levels adjustment panel drag the grey slider left to 1.24 to lighten the girl’s midtones. Drag the white slider left to 236 to brighten her highlights and help her stand out against the dark background.

13 Restore clipped highlights
The highlight Levels adjustment brightens up our subject and gives her more impact, but her white shirt has become clipped. To restore detail to the shirt’s blown-out highlights, grab the Brush tool from the Layers palette. Set Opacity to 50%. Now click on the mask and spray grey strokes on the shirt.

14 More modelling
To emphasise the contours of the girl’s face, increase the contrast between the shadows and highlights. Grab the Burn tool and set Range to Midtones and Exposure to 15%. Set Size to 90 pixels. Click on the grey Dodge and Burn layer. Spray over the shadows on her neck and cheek to darken them.

15 Reduce saturation
The model’s colours are a little too vibrant. To create a more subtle colour palette choose Layer>New Adjustment Layer> Hue/Saturation. Drag this Adjustment Layer to the top of the layer stack. In the adjustment panel, drag the Master Saturation slider down to -21. This creates a moodier look.

16 Go grey
To ‘rough up’ the clean digital image and give the whole thing a more filmic look, choose Layer>New>Layer. In the New Layer window, name the layer ‘Grain’ and click OK. Next, go to Edit>Fill Layer. In the Fill layer window set the Contents Use drop-down menu to 50% Grey. Click OK.

17 Make some noise
Set the Grain layer’s Blending Mode to Overlay so that the neutral grey pixels become invisible. Go to Filter>Noise>Add Noise. Set Amount to 10%. Tick the Monochromatic box. Click OK to apply the noise to the layer. At this stage the noise doesn’t look like film grain, but we’ll fix that in the final step.

18 Create film grain
Go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Set the Blur Radius to 1.0 and click OK. This turns the sharp dots of noise into more organic-looking clumps of grain. To see the grain more effectively, grab the Zoom tool and click to view at 100%. For a more subtle effect, reduce the Grain layer’s Opacity to 70%.

READ MORE

Polar Panoramas: how to make 360 degree images
Abstract Photoshop: recreate the Harris Shutter Effect
Photoshop Layers Demystified: a beginner’s guide to smarter photo editing
Blend Modes: the 10 best blends for photographers (and how to use them)

Facial expression is one of the most important factors in any type of portrait photography. That’s especially true of group photos and family portrait photography, where a grimace can ruin an otherwise perfect shot.

What’s more, the bigger the group the greater the probability that at any time one or more of them will be pulling an unintentional shocker. Luckily you can use a simple Photoshop face exchange technique and ‘fix’ an expression later on to save your otherwise perfect shot. The key to this, though, is to have the presence of mind to fire off a few similar frames when shooting the group – which is always a good idea.

The chances are that over several frames you’ll record decent expressions from everyone, but if no single shot cuts the mustard, it’s fairly easy to perform a little digital surgery and give someone a Photoshop face lift. To do this you’ll need to assess the images and figure out where the best place to make your digital incisions is.

Our shot we want to rescue

The expression we want to steal for our Photoshop face lift

We’ll show you how in this Photoshop Elements tutorial. Along the way you’ll learn key selection, mask and brush skills that come in handy for all kinds of montage techniques.

Step by step how to make a Photoshop face swap

01 Make a selection
Open your portrait with the bad expression and another version with the face you’d like to swap into Photoshop Elements. Go to the 02 image, then grab the Lasso tool from the Tools Panel and make a rough selection around the right-hand man’s head. Right-click and choose Feather. Set Feather Radius to 5 pixels and click OK.

02 Copy in the head
Grab the Move Tool from the Tools Panel then click and drag the selected head up to the tab of the 01 image. Keep holding the mouse button down as the image switches over, and drag down into the image window to copy the head in on a new layer.

03 Position the head
Go to the Layers Panel (Window>Layers) and lower the opacity of the top layer to about 50%. Drag the head into position with the Move Tool. Go to Image>Transform>Free Transform and use the bounding box to rotate and resize the head until it fits. Hit Enter to apply.

04 Add a mask
Go to the Layers Panel and drag the layer opacity of the top layer back up to 100%, then hold Alt and click the Add Layer Mask icon at the bottom of the panel. This will add a full black layer mask that completely hides the layer. Next grab the Brush tool.

05 Paint to reveal
Choose a soft circular brush tip and set your colour to white, then paint carefully over the head to reveal the layer with the better expression. Use ] and [ to resize your brush as you paint, and if you go wrong, hit X to flip to black and paint to hide the layer.

06 Clone to tidy
Click the Create New Layer icon in the Layers Panel. Grab the Clone Tool. Set Opacity to 20% and check ‘Sample All Layers’. Hold Alt to sample a source and paint to tidy any rough areas. Use the Spot Healing tool with ‘Sample All Layers’ checked to tidy up in the same way.

The technique works best when the areas you want to target are fairly easy to select, either with brushes or with a selection tool (you can then fill the selection on the mask), but you can also combine two exposures using a luminosity mask to produce an ‘HDR’ (High Dynamic Range) image.

Opening alternative raw edits
You’ll need to process your raw file twice, bringing out different details and tones in each version. If you’re using Photoshop, once you’ve produced your first edit of a raw file and opened it in the main editor, you’ll be able to reopen it from Bridge.

It’ll open again in Camera Raw, with the last settings that you configured applied – if you go to the Settings menu, you’ll see that Image Settings is selected.

You can now alter the settings to create a second version of the file, then open this new version as before; the filename will have an appropriate number appended.

If you’re using Elements you can’t do this; instead, after opening the first edit (usually in Full Edit mode, since you’ll be using layers), you need to go to File > Save As and save with a different filename before you open the raw file in Camera Raw again.

Another way of producing alternate versions of a raw file is to make your first set of edits, click Save Image, rename the image and save it to your desktop.

This way you don’t have to close the image, just readjust the sliders to produce a second edit, then save this new file in the same way with a different name.

Whichever method you use you’ll need to end up with two versions of your original raw file. Typically one will concentrate on bringing out details in the highlights, while the other focuses on the shadow areas.

READ MORE

Using the Camera Raw tonal adjustment sliders to finesse exposure
What to edit (and when) in Adobe Camera Raw

The resulting effect means static objects in the scene appear in full colour, whereas any elements that moved appear as the colour of the filter used while taking that exposure.

The ability to shoot multiple exposures on one frame is possible with some modern DSLR bodies, but not all, and the process itself can be tricky to get right.

However, with Photoshop Elements it’s possible to get the same results using three standard colour images shot in sequence. In our latest Photoshop Elements tutorial we’ll look at how to use Elements to apply colour fills and blending modes to filter the three shots into their component channels.

The first will display only the red colour information, the second green, and the third blue. After the three images have been filtered and prepared we’ll combine them into a new image.

As the layers are overlaid and combined using blending modes, the static objects, in this case the glass, will appear in full colour, while the water will display the colourful Harris Shutter Effect. So with your images ready, let’s give it a go.

Step-by-step how to recreate the Harris Shutter Effect

01 Create the red channel
Open your start image. Right-click the image layer and from the drop-down menu select Duplicate Layer. Click the half moon icon at the base of the Layers palette and create a new Solid Color layer. We want this first layer to be red so set the values of the layer to R: 255, G: 0 and B: 0.

02 Create green and blue layers
Change the blending mode of the layer to Multiply then select Layer>Merge Down. Duplicate the background layer copy, choose Enhance>Adjust Color>Adjust Hue/Saturation and increase the Hue to 120. Duplicate the green layer, open Hue/Saturation and increase to 120 to create a blue layer.

03 Remove green and blue
Change the blending modes of both the green and blue layers to Screen and then flatten the image. Click the half moon icon in the Layers palette and create a new Solid Colour Adjustment Layer. Set it to R: 255, G: 0 and B: 0. Choose Multiply from the Blending modes drop-down menu.

04 Create the other channels
From the Layers menu select Flatten Image. Repeat 1-3 with the other two images, replacing values of the Solid Color layer in steps 1 and 3 with R: 0, G: 255 and B:0 for the green channel and R:0, G: 0 and B: 255 for the blue. Press Ctrl A, Ctrl C and Ctrl V to paste the green and blue images into the red one.

05 Blend the images
Change the blending modes for the green and blue layers to Lighten then flatten the image. From Tools select the Burn tool. Select Shadows with exposure set to 50%; use this on the black background to remove any highlights. Reduce the Exposure to 5% and use on the glass to improve the contrast.

06 Apply finishing touches
Open Levels with Ctrl L. Move the Shadows and Highlight sliders to meet the edges of the histogram. From the Layer options, select Flatten Image. Open Hue/Saturation. Increase Saturation to +20. Choose Enhance>Smart Sharpen, increase the amount to 50%, set the radius to 1.6 and click OK.

Eileen Gittens, Blurb’s CEO, told tech news website TechRadar,  ”Lightroom is just the start.”

Blurb’s integration with Lightroom appeared in Lightroom 4, Adobe’s latest version of the image editing software. It allows photographers to create a book from within the application, which is then processed and shipped by Blurb.

Gittens said that Adobe was keen to compete better with Apple’s iPhoto by allowing for book creation and ordering within the software itself.

Speaking of why Adobe chose Blurb, Gittens said, “There are several reasons. We’re a global company, so that means wherever customers are, we can ship and our software is available in multiple languages.

“But most importantly, it was the quality. In all of their testing, we had the highest print quality.”

Asked what the reception to the integration had been, Gittens said, “We’re seeing far better than we expected, and another upside is that we’re partnering with Adobe for events, offering each other support.”

Stripping away detail from images so that you’re left with pure black and white is a great way to add give your photos a feel similar to pop art pictures in the style of Andy Warhol. If you then duplicate the image for repetitive effect and introduce blocks of bright colour, you’ll create dazzling images that’ll look great on any wall or even a T-shirt.

To get our desired Photoshop effects, we’re going to show you how to strip away all the midtones using the Photoshop Stamp filter, so you’re left with just a black and white shape. After cleaning up distracting blobs from the tarmac background, we’ll duplicate the shot four times and render each version in a different colour for a cool graphic art look.

You’ll also learn how to use Clipping Masks and Fill Layers to add to your creative armoury, so your image is totally re-editable, should you change your mind in the future. So let’s get started and see how it’s done…

Our start image

How to turn your photos into pop art pictures

Step 1: Clone out distractions
To begin this Photoshop tutorial, first open your start image. Here we’ve used a photo of a bike. Next, we’ve select the Clone Stamp from the Tools palette to remove the hand. Don’t worry about doing a perfect job, as it won’t show up later if the Photoshop effect’s been done properly. Crop the image to 4×6 inches at 300 pixels/inch. We’ve done this to change the proportions so the wheels look round: go to Image>Transform>Distort and grab the corner bounding boxes to reshape.

Step 2: Use the Stamp filter
Set the foreground to black and background to white, then go to Filter>Sketch>Stamp and enter a Light/Dark Balance value of 25 and a Smoothness of 5. This’ll strip away all the midtones, leaving just black and white. For your own images, different filters, such as Threshold, might work better. Next, we’ll deal with the pixelated tarmac at the bottom of the image…

Step 3: Refine the details
Change the foreground colour to white and select a hard round brush. Zoom in and paint away the pixels. Press Ctrl+A then Ctrl+C to copy the image. Create a new document, sized 12×8 inches at 300 pixels per inch, then paste the bike shot with Ctrl+V. Duplicate the layer three times (Ctrl+J) and use the Move tool (V) to position each in a separate corner.

Step 4: Add some colour
For a black background, highlight each layer in turn and press Ctrl+I to invert the layer. Select the top layer and create a new Fill Layer using a deep red colour. Set the Blending Mode to Multiply and go to Layer>CreateClippingMask, so the Fill Layer doesn’t affect other layers. Repeat this process for the other layers, choosing a different colour each time.

Top Tip
If you know you’re going 
to use this technique before you start shooting, you can make life a little easier for yourself by using a neutral background. The tarmac between the bike spokes was tricky and time consuming to remove, so always try and pre-visualise your end result.