basics: gaussian blur.

Sometimes photos are taken in conditions where the lighting is bad, but there are always many ways of making the whole picture brighter, with a nicer colour balance and just, generally, a better looking one. Here is a step-by-step tutorial to help you improve your photos. The idea here is to overlay a duplicated layer in order to blend with the original. This is just one of a million ways. You could manipulate and create your own effects after taking in this basic idea.

Choose a photo that you would like to improve.

Then open it with Photoshop. The following images are really quite self-explanatory. 
1) Duplicate the original layer so you get two layers of the same image. You can do this by right-clicking on the first layer.

2) We then have to do something with the new layer. Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. As I said, this is only an example. You can choose any type of blur you would like, or any other effects. I chose Gaussian blur because it particularly lightens an image and hides small details. When blended with the first layer, the image would look much softer.

3) You have to choose a value for the amount of blur you would like to create. I recommend a value between 7 to 10. It depends. Play with it and see which suits you best.

4) Now your photo would be all blurry. Go to your layers box (if it has disappeared, go to Windows > Layers to retrieve the box) and then select "Screen" on the push down menu. Overlay and soft light could also be possible choices. Choose the best one that suits your photo and your taste.


5) After you have done so, go to Layers (on the top toolbar) > Merge down. This would help you flatten the layers and make it into one and is extremely helpful if you want to do further edits to the colour/contrast/brightness.

6) Now, go to Image > adjustments and choose Color Balance. I cannot tell you an exact value to fill in for the Color Levels, do as you see fit. Choose the best possible effect.




7) Last but not least, go to Image > Adjustments > Auto Color. Photoshop is capable of enhancing and finalizing the colors of your photo. It would make it look better. You could also select Auto Levels and Auto Contrast after you have selected Auto Color.


You are basically done. Here is an image of the finished product that followed exactly the steps written on this page: