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Wedding Photo Enhancement using The GIMP

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I have been giving a lot of love to Inkscape lately, so I thought I would do a Gimp tutorial today.
I recently did a photo shoot for a wedding. I will show you how to do some enhancements to the photos using the GIMP.



Step 1 - Duplicate layer
We want to duplicate the background layer. We probably won't need to use this, but it is good to have a backup and a reference point.
Step 2 - Adjust Levels
The image is quite flat right now, so we want to bring out some of the levels.  Go to Colors>Levels
You can do auto level at this point and that usually works quite well, but I want to get it a bit more exact.
Choose the black eye dropper and pick the darkest region on her hair.



Now pick the white eyedropper and pick the whitest region on the white flowers.
That should make the levels pop a bit more.

While we have the levels dialog up, we will lighten it a bit and increase the contrast.

Move the sliders until you are satisfied.  I moved the middle slider to .90 and the white slider to 235.


Step 3 - Vibrancy and Saturation


Let's make the colors a bit more vibrant.
Open Colors>Hue-Saturation...   Increase saturation (I did 20).



Step 4 - Fine Tuning

You may be happy with your image now and can skip this step.  If you want to do some more fine tuning, you can go back to levels and edit some of the levels.  I usually edit some of the color channels (like red) to get the color more how I want it.  You can also do more adjusting with hue and saturation.

Step 5 - Soft Glow

Duplicate your layer.
On your new layer, add a Gaussian blur.  Filters>Blur>Gaussian Blur...
Blur with a value of 4 or 5.



Now change the layer mode to "Screen" and turn the opacity down to about 25%

Layer mode to screen






Step 6 - Add a vignette


Create a new transparent layer.
Select the gradient tool.  Choose FG to transparent.

Reverse the gradient direction, then choose "Radial" as the gradient shape.

Draw the gradient over the image.  Start where you want your hightlight to be (in this case, the bride's cheek area) and draw to just outside the screen.  Turn the opacity down to about 30%


Here is the before and after:

Before

After

About McKay

25 comments:

  1. AnonymousDecember 13, 2010 at 6:12 AM

    Instead of just using the saturation slider, I usually prefer to pass a layer through a LAB decomposition, there are good tutorials which cover the process:
    http://www.digital-photography-school.com/turn-ho-hum-color-into-wow-with-photoshop

    ReplyDelete
  2. McKayDecember 13, 2010 at 9:54 AM

    Thanks for the tip and link! Just played around with that for a bit. It was fun playing with decomposition and curves. I think I will play with it some more and perhaps do a tutorial when I come up with something cool!

    Thanks again!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Emperor HarveyJanuary 17, 2011 at 3:40 AM

    Hey that's cool enhancing the photo's no need buy DSLR Camera just edit the photo in adobe photoshop...i had my own technique witch i edit it in a easy way without adobe photoshop, i used Microsoft Picture Manager as a simple editor. just click the edit picture and adjust the contrast and the brightness then you see the changes on your picture..easy Enhacement...:)

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousJuly 28, 2011 at 9:35 PM

    Ugh!... Go to the trouble of ding a Gimp tut then get comments about Photoshop and MS Picture Manager. Jeez.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Stan SSeptember 3, 2011 at 12:31 PM

    To Anonymous;
    If you shoot photos with your iphone, I see no reason to not use auto-everything like Emperor stated.

    ReplyDelete
  6. wedding photographers stirlingSeptember 5, 2011 at 2:24 AM

    Just Love the photos!!! You take such wonderful shots and the couples do look adorable. Thanks for the nice pictures. :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. McKaySeptember 12, 2011 at 4:04 AM

    Thank you so much! That is wonderful to hear. I certainly appreciate your compliment!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Wedding Photographer New York CitySeptember 21, 2011 at 11:14 PM

    My true passion is photography. Everyday in life I look for new inspiration and ideas to photograph your wedding in a unique way, mixing true photojournalistic approach with creative portraits.Thanks for the nice blog.:)

    ReplyDelete
  9. AnonymousOctober 13, 2011 at 5:34 AM

    For beginners, Gimp bad for a wedding photo no lessons. How to create an album of lessons there. Luchshe use Photoshop for a lot of different lessons and it is easy to learn. Gimp no wedding lessons

    ReplyDelete
  10. Glasgow Wedding PhotographerMarch 27, 2012 at 9:03 AM

    Really interesting read , thanks !

    ReplyDelete
  11. MatrimonialNovember 27, 2012 at 2:48 AM

    Absolutely stunning post!! Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  12. Wedding photographer liverpoolFebruary 26, 2013 at 5:20 AM

    Nice...no words to describe.

    ReplyDelete
  13. AnonymousMarch 6, 2013 at 5:24 AM

    This guy has pinched your images for his ebay listing for gimp, yeah he's selling gimp and has 4 bids...

    http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Photo-Image-Editing-for-Adobe-Photoshop-CS-6-7-8-10-11-Elements-Full-Retail-user-/281070155350?pt=AU_software&hash=item4171163656&_uhb=1#ht_14175wt_1338

    ReplyDelete
  14. McKayMarch 15, 2013 at 5:33 PM

    Thanks anon for the comment. Think it is quite interesting that they guy selling Gimp on ebay is just showing pictures of all the tutorials they find online. Does not seem very ethical to sell Gimp... oh well.

    ReplyDelete
  15. AnonymousJune 18, 2013 at 2:23 AM

    Very useful and easy to understandable tutorial san francisco wedding video

    ReplyDelete
  16. Shirley(clipping path)June 30, 2014 at 4:26 AM

    Wow! It's awesome blog post here.... really very interesting for reading.....
    clipping path

    ReplyDelete
  17. UnknownSeptember 14, 2014 at 11:59 AM

    It was certainly interesting for me to read that article. Thanx for it. I like such topics and anything that is connected to this matter. I definitely want to read more on that blog soon.

    John Yu

    ReplyDelete
  18. UnknownMarch 13, 2015 at 11:56 AM

    You have done fantastic work. Keep it up such a great post about wedding photography toronto.

    ReplyDelete
  19. matrimonyOctober 19, 2015 at 12:49 PM

    thanx for amazing trick :)

    ReplyDelete
  20. UnknownNovember 25, 2015 at 2:40 PM

    What are your thoughts on this: Combine Multiple Photos Together

    ReplyDelete
  21. UnknownMarch 4, 2016 at 5:46 PM

    So glad I came across your tutorial....my daughter had a friend take pictures for her wedding and she did an awesome job but she wanted the raw photos and asked my to enhance and edit them. I use GIMP and you helped so much. Thank You

    ReplyDelete
  22. NehaJune 14, 2016 at 12:19 AM

    Wow...

    It is a nice tutorial, sharing such beautiful and nice tricks to enhance the pictures with so much ease.

    ReplyDelete
  23. image optimization for web useJanuary 20, 2018 at 1:49 AM

    Great

    ReplyDelete
  24. SofiaDecember 30, 2018 at 1:33 AM

    Both of you looking gorgeous and fabulous. Thanks for sharing this imformation.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Kavin cookJanuary 19, 2019 at 12:29 AM

    If you are looking for more sophisticated effects and features, Photoshop is the choice software in the market.Go Here

    ReplyDelete

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