The photograph below is one of me when I was 12 years old, scanned from an old negative and is in need of some tender loving care, lol!
A lot of people are not sure what the Histogram Adjustment Tool is for but it is a very powerful tool for photo enhancement. So let's see what it can do :) Ok, let's go to Colors/Histogram Functions, and click on the Histogram Adjustment Tool.
The menu displays the spreading of saturation in the image's Luminosity. It runs from black on the left to white on the right. By looking at this graph menu, you can specify how to adjust your photo to optimize its contrast and bring out more detail without the loss of important information.
Looking at the graph, we can see that there is a gap between the left edge of the menu and the point where the graph starts to rise. Similarly, there is a gap between the right edge of the menu and the point where the graph ends. We want these to be the upper and lower clipping limits for the image.
To do this, we have to slide the black triangle to the right until it is directly below where the graph starts and the white triangle to the left at the point where the graph ends. The saturation at the two locations are shown in the boxes labeled Low and High. The lower clip limit and everything below this limit is set to black. The higher clip limit and everything above is set to white. The boxes below the Low and High values indicate what percentage of the pixels will be affected.
The preview windows above the graph show the image in its original state (left) and how the new settings will change it (right). Sometimes, adjusting the entire image at once is not the answer. A change in contrast can reduce color saturations and you may find it is enough.
As each of our photographs are different you will have to adjust the settings to suit your own needs. Don't forget if you want to work on a photograph, press Shift and D to duplicate it, then close the original down. This way if you do make a mistake you still have your original. These are the settings I used for this photograph:
Already the photograph is looking better. The clipping limits that I've selected have greatly improved the lightness in the face and hair and have given the photograph a new life. Now go to Effects/Enhance Photo/Automatic Contrast Enhancement:
I used the following settings but you will probably again have to adjust yours to suit your photograph:)
Finally I went to Effects/Noise/Edge Preserving Smooth to keep the detail in the edges and add a little smoothness to the face. The settings I used are below:
I think you can now see the huge difference in the photographs. It may not have improved my face but overall the photograph is a lot better, lol!
Should you have any questions relating to this tutorial, then please feel free to email me, and I'll try to help :)
