Creating mixed light sources

The image I used to start with was of London's Putney Bridge on a cold grey afternoon. The image could almost be a greyscale, if it were not for the hint of blue in the sky and suggestion of red on the bus. It is the kind of image that most photographers would consign to the bin to save hard disc space. But for me, it provided the ideal canvas to demonstrate how to use PhotoShop to create an image that is illuminated by different light sources. The magazine brief called for the photo to show both natural and artificial light sources combined. The finished result was completed using a range of PhotoShops techniques including The lighting effects filter, lens flares, layer blending modes and blurs.

Creating a virtual studio lighting set up

PhotoShop is very adept at stepping in when studio lighting in the original shot was less than adequate. The magazine brief called for a warm atmospheric lighting effect without using any real studio lights and only employing photoShop techniques. The source image of the bride uses a cold flat light and that proved helpful as it provided a simple uniform surface on which to work. In addition to PhotoShop's lighting effects filter, I used channels, filters and masks to generate the warm light and to soften the skin tones.