How To Create a High Key Image in Photoshop by Michael Sweeney

A classic look in photography is Black and White imagery. Black and white images are not always pure; sometimes they are sepia tone or cool blue tone, or even Duotone which is not B/W but most drop it into that catagory. It’s a timeless look and with the right image, and a very powerful look. For professional photographers, it can also be a lifesaver with a high ISO grainy image or an image with incorrect exposure.

I am going to show you today how I recovered an overexposed image into a usable image. I shot it with a wide open F1.4, 50mm (crop sensor so about 80mm) and the between the wide open lens and the lighting, I had an over exposure or perhaps it’s better to call it “flare” going on.

You see my original image of my model below.

Original Image

I always start my editing workflow in Lightroom. Then I go into Photoshop for any heavy lifting that Lightroom either can not do or does do it well. One of my first steps is to always apply a camera profile preset which brings in the various settings to match my camera, in this case, a Nikon D300. Then I will apply a Black and White conversion preset and do some basic adjustments. As you can see, I apply the camera preset and then I use a B/W conversion preset from Jack Davis.

BAM – FREE Camera Dojo free Lightroom preset.
WOW BnW_02 – FREE Jack Davis B/W conversion preset from his How to WOW series

Once I have these two presets applied, I tweaked it a bit in Lightroom as I show here.

Highlights +40

Darks +75

Shadows -19

sharpness -80

The sharpness has been dialed down to let me run the noise clean up, then I reapply the sharpness as needed.

luminance +54

color noise +27

sharpness +40

After Lightroom Conversion

Even with Lightroom and Jack’s black and white magic, the image is still pretty much middle gray which I despise. So now we drop into Photoshop to really start tweaking the image to a high key look.

My first step is apply a curves layer in Photoshop. This brings out the whiteness of the skin.

curve example

Then I make a duplicate layer and start to sample the image and paint it using the samples. I should point out here that while you can do this with a mouse, sort of, it is much better to have a tablet like a Wacom that is pressure sensitive. I can not stress how useful a tablet is when editing like this and you need a very delicate touch.

This editing evened out the shadow under the chin. I made the eyelashes darker, whites of the eyes brighter and so on.

After PS Curves Adjustment

Once I have all my painting finished, I apply a blur to a duplicate layer of the painted image. I then apply a layer mask to hide the new blurred layer. Now I use my Wacom again to paint in the blur at something like a 20% opacity.

Final Image

You can see that we have gone from a blah image to a dramatic black and white image in the high key style. This style of image really shows off her eyes and the overall beauty of her face without the distractions of lens flare, color and and so on. If you were to print this on black and white paper or aluminum and you have an amazing piece wall art. And if you do this for a client, you are sure to get lots of interest in more types of prints like this. Everyone likes to look like a million dollars and this type of image really does it well.

About Michael Sweeney @Michael Sweeney Photography
I started my visual career by drawing incessantly from the time I was old enough to be trusted with a box of crayons. Now days I blend my photography skills with my extensive knowledge of technology to produce images that are both classic and state of the art.

Summer is a fun time to try something new.  Challenge yourself to go out and find those ever-abundant flowers or other wonders of nature. Get close!  From flowers to bees to bark, there is so much out there with incredible detail.  Now is the time to play with macro photography and grab the chance while you can.  Below are some articles that have previously appeared here on the MCP Actions Blog that should help achieve some great macro shots.  Have fun!

Macro Photography on a Budget

Intro to Macro Photography – how to get incredible close-up shots this summer

Flower and Bee Close Ups with Non-Macro Lenses

Adding Texture to Macro Photographs

I would love to see everyone share your favorite macro shots here.  Just upload a 600px wide photo into the comment section of this post.  If you want to share some tips, tricks, or details on how you captured your macro shot, that would be fantastic! Here are a few of mine.

***FLAG IN A FLASH Free Photoshop action***

If you have been following me for years, you have seen this the past two summers already.  If you missed it or are new to MCP this year, and celebrate Independence Day, you will love this fun Patriotic Photoshop action called “Flag in a Flash.” This action is compatible with Photoshop CS, CS2, CS3, CS4 and CS5. It creates a 20×20 Patriotic Flag Storyboard in seconds. You can resize the storyboard to any smaller size square (such as 8×8, 10×10, 12×12, 16×16, etc). Perfect for framing, printing on canvas, or for use in scrapbooking.

If you have a chance, please share your completed work on my Facebook Page and on your blog.  And let others know to “like” MCP on Facebook and also to come here and download the FREE Photoshop action too!

Just download the Flag by clicking on any of the photos in this post, unzip, and install the action into photoshop. Then click play. Once it runs, you will want to crop 4 photos to insert. The openings are each 300 ppi:

6.5×4.75
(2) 4×4
6×4

When cropping, make sure resolution is at 300 pixels per inch and add .25 to the width and height. So crop the 6×4 photo to 6.25×4.25 for example. Then use Move Tool to move the photos into the Storyboard. Make sure that they are under the “Photos Go Below Here” layer. Then save (or re-size and save if you want a smaller version). Color of the background can be changed by clicking on the blue square in the layers palette and selecting a new color. You also may add a photo to take the place of the white stripes, though usually that ends up a little bit busy.

Enjoy the action. Click on one of the examples to download the action. It works great for Memorial Day, Independence Day (4th of July), Labor Day, and Veteran’s Day too.