So, literality, this is our 30th take in this intro.
Here’s how it’s going to be.
I’ll teach you how to edit photos.
This one.
Hi guys, welcome back to 
our channel
and this is Fair & Squares.
If you’re new to this channel,
we do tips and videos about landscape and outdoor photography.
So, if your interested and you want to learn more,
consider subscribing now.
So, how did I do it?
First, you need and editing software. I use Photoshop.
Almost everything that I need is there especially masking.
Second,
you need to understand masking.
My workflow revolves around masking.
I’ll show you along the way.
There are five things you need to remember before we start, I’ll just show you.
These things are important
because these are the only things that will use along the way.
So, game.
In the first step, we need to make our base image.
Here, we have several photos that we will blend
that’s why we need to learn to mask.
I use focus stacking and exposure blending.
This is consists of six images.
The first three, the green layers,
those are for focus stacking.
The red one is the sky, which I’ll blend through exposure blending.
Then, the orange one is the sunburst which I’ll add last.
I’ll start now.
So, why do I use focus stacking?
It’s to ensure that the photo is sharp
from foreground to background.
There are three images that I use here.
First shot, I focused here in the flowers in the foreground.
Next here in the midground.
Last in the background focus.
Those are the focus points that I took in those three photos.
Next, I arranged the layers in order
so that I know what I’ll make a mask of.
First, I’ll create a mask in the midground.
The mid ground is in the middle part.
I’ll create a black mask there.
Hold down alt and click the mask icon.
Then I’ll add a gradient.
This is the gradient tool.
From white to black.
White must be on top of this one.
I’ll hold shift then I’ll drag the left click down here.
I’ll do the same thing in the background focus
It’s the same procedure,
hold down alt and click the mask icon
to create a black mask then I’ll use gradient.
As you can see,
when I turn it on, it’s already sharp.
Since we use focus staking here,
from foreground to background, we know that it is sharp.
Next, I blended the sky.
Here I use exposure blending.
I took a photo of a darker exposure
to blend the sky in the foreground.
The step will be the same.
I’ll create a black mask
so that it’ll be invisible.
Then I’ll use the gradient tool.
Next is the sunburst,
I’ll add this burst, this rays, I’ll add this next.
Here it’s still the same. I’ll create a black mask.
Instead of using the gradient tool, I’ll use the brush tool.
I’ll just make it larger
and flow of 20%.
I’ll brush it in the sunburst.
This needs to be a white brush.
Then I’ll just brush it.
You can see that it created
flares just at the bottom of the sun
that’s why I took another shot
to remove the flare in post.
I just blocked the sun using my fingers.
Then will just blend that part of the image.
So, the same procedure. Add black mask
in my flare correction layer
and I’ll just brush it.
That’s it. I created my base image.
My final step is merging them into one image.
Just press, Ctrl + Alt + Shift + E.
After it’s merged, I’ll open it in adobe camera raw
to fix the exposure just a bit.
I’ll raise the blacks a bit.
Lower the highlights.
Raise the shadows a bit.
That’s it. That’s our base image.
Next, We’ll edit it.
The color or whatever effect we choose to do with it.
The first thing that I do is fix what I don’t want in the photo.
I’ll remove the distracting elements, dust, etc.
Like this flower, I don’t want this here that’s why I’ll remove it.
I’ll use content-aware.
I’ll select it using Lasso Tool
then I’ll press Shift + F5
and then press OK.
I’ll do a few refining here.
Next step, I’ll put contrast in the image.
How do I do it? I add curves.
I’ll click it here in the bottom
then,
click curves.
Then I’ll put a basic S-Curve
to add contrast in the image.
I’ll raise the highlights,
bring down shadows,
raise the blacks
and lower the whites a bit.
Next,
since the greens are overpowering the photo,
I’ll shift it a little bit then desaturate it.
I’ll open the Hue/ Saturation Adjustment Layer
to shift the greens
closer to yellow to avoid the distraction
in the image because the greens are quite overpowering.
I’ll color pick the leaves
and I’ll max the saturation.
I’m maxing the saturation so that I can see
the selected colors that I picked.
Since the reds, yellows, and oranges are still selected,
I’ll just move this bar
to unselect the yellows in the flowers.
Since I selected the colors that I want to change,
I’ll just reduce the saturation,
around -10
then I’ll shift the hues towards yellows.
That’s fine a bit then maybe I’ll darken it a bit.
There, the greens are less powerful now.
Next step, since I quite still see the greens,
I’ll just darken it more.
I’ll use curves again.
I’ll lower the mid-tones just a bit.
Since the greens are darkened now
I’ll just unmask the areas
that I don’t want it to be affected.
Use brush again,
20% flow,
100% opacity,
black paint to unmask the flowers to remove the effect.
I’ll unmask all the flowers.
You’ll see that only the greens are affected.
They are the ones that darkened.
The next step is the Split Toning.
In this image,
I want warmth in the flowers and sky.
To add contrast,
I’ll add colds in the shadows, the darkened areas.
I’ll add Photo Filter.
I’ll click this Photo Filter
then I’ll invert the mask by pressing Ctrl + I.
I’ll use the gradient tool to add warmth in the sky.
Just a bit more around 45%.
I’ll add the gradient
and brush the flowers.
Then I’ll add the colds in the shadows.
I’ll click Photo Filter again
but instead of using the Warming Filter,
I’ll use the Cooling Filter.
Basically like that.
I’ll invert the mask again then I’ll just brush it.
My last step in editing this photo is adding the Orton Effect.
Orton Effect is like putting a glow in your images.
Here is how I do it.
First, I’ll merge all the layers on top.
Just press Ctrl + Alt + Shift + E.
Here’s the newly created layer on top.
After that go to Filter,
Blur then Gaussian Blur.
Maybe around 30-40%.
Hit Ok.
Then lower the Opacity to around 22%.
You’ll see the effect when I turn it on and off.
Here’s on.
Here’s off.
I only want it to affect the top side of the image
because that’s my light source.
I’ll put on a black mask
and put a gradient at the top
then I’ll just brush the flowers
on the top to add glow on them.
That’s it! That’s our final step.
This is our final output.
Did you like our image?
I think it is okay. I like the output.
This is one of my favorite photos.
I just showed you how I process it.
If you learned something on this video,
leave a like, comment and subscribe and I will see you next time.
