Filters and Effects to Help your Freelance Digital Photography Sell

February 24, 2010

As a freelance digital photographer I know that sometimes a picture can sell better with filters or effects. It depends on what your taking pictures of, but sometimes a digital picture can look rather bland and totally lacking originality without effects. A digital picture has to be easily noticed by buyers and sometimes a digital camera cannot do this alone. The solution that a lot of freelance photographers have turned to is Photoshop or a Photoshop-like program. Photoshop can drastically alter a pictures appearance or change dynamic features for an edgier look. Either way, you shouldn’t be afraid to experiment in order to improve your online sales. I will show you a couple of effects I use to spice up my digital photos and increase my profits. For a more comprehensive tutorial check out photoshop and photography lessonsMake Your Photos Glow

The filter diffuse glow will give your pictures a surreal or heavenly look. First, I will tell you where to find it (I am using photoshop). Click on FILTERS – DISTORT – DIFFUSE GLOW, before using this filter make sure that you have the proper color in your palette. If you have blue in your bottom palette, your picture will diffuse glow blue. I usually only use white but you are free to experiment. This effect can only be used on certain types of photographs in order for it to look decent. I wouldn’t recommend trying this filter on freelance photos of people. A good time to use this filter is taking pictures of lights or nighttime photography. Adding Noise

This is a simple filter that doesn’t make any radical changes but adds a lot of depth to your digital photography. Noise will add speckles making a photo look like the photo is taken with a vintage camera. It is very easy to use, go to FILTERS – NOISE – ADD NOISE. Play around with the settings and I usually click the MONOCHORMATIC button to turn your noise into black and white. This can be use on almost any picture, but I don’t recommend using this on macro photos or any digital photos with a lot of detail.Outstanding Colors

A neat trick is to desaturate your photo except for a color or two. This will making a certain aspect or color stand out in your photo. It will give the picture a timely look and easily attract eyes to certain parts of your photo. This technique is a little bit harder, involving a few steps. Start off by going to SELECT – COLOR RANGE in the top menu bar. Now you should see your photo in a small box, use the eye dropper tool to select the particular color you want to stand out. Click on the “+” eye dropper button if you want to add another color. When your done click OK, and then, go to SELECT (again) and click on INVERSE. This will select everything but the colors you have chosen. Finally go to IMAGE – ADJUSTMENTS – HUE/SATURATION and slide the saturation slider down to the desire amount. The finished product will be a few outstanding colors and duller backgrounds.

These are just a few effects, for more comprehensive tutorials and pictures, with additional advice on how to start selling your digital pictures online check out my website Freelance Digital Photography Jobs and Tutorials

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