Columbus OH seniors & lifestyle photographer | Amy Bethune Photography

Let’s talk about editing today, shall we? As an example, I’m using a favorite recent shot of my little boy, who loves his lovey! Take a look at the two versions of the image and you’ll see a subtle difference, especially where contrast is concerned. The top version is vibrant and clear, with ample contrast between the dark and light elements, and particularly in the darks (see the navy shirt and the outer edges of his irises–yes, they really are that blue!). In the lower version, there is much less contrast–it looks a bit hazy, especially in the darker areas. It really looks a bit more like a film photograph, right? And film (either using real film or manipulating digital images to look more “filmy”) is making a huge comeback.

For the images below, I used some great new actions that I purchased from Marissa Gifford, specifically, I used the Clean Workflow action on both images. On the top image, I then used the Rich Color action for a bit more “punch” and on the lower image, I used the Dramatic Matte at 100%. I love these actions and I highly recommend them! But if you prefer to play around in photoshop, you can try creating the matte effect on your own. There are several ways to accomplish it, but I’ll suggest two to start. The first is to use an Exposure Adjustment layer and push the Offset slightly to the positive. If you need to, you can add in more exposure in the darks/blacks by moving the Gamma Correction slider to the right. Note: you’ll probably want to decrease the opacity of the Adjustment layer! The second method for adding a matte effect is to use a Curves Adjustment layer and raise the value of the blacks point (“input = 0″; the lowest point on the “curve”, which begins as a straight line) straight up (try for an output in the 30s or so). Again, you might want to decrease the opacity of the curves layer. And have fun experimenting! Or feel free to share your favorite film/matte actions in the comments below.