Create a Cool Photo Effect in Photoshop

In this tutorial we are going to Learn How to enhance picture using Photoshop and give a them a cool effect in few steps. So Lets start:

Step 1:

Open an image of a person. Whom picture you want to edit. I used Following:

Make a Curves adjustment layer by clicking on third icon at the bottom of layer panel or go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Curves. Now brighten up the image by making positive bend using two anchor points. Here are the values for Curves:

Step 2:

Make a Gradient Map adjustment layer then alter the gradient flow from a dark blue (#030629) to a mid yellow (#796426) to vibrant green (#1432af). These colours will be applied to the shadows, midtones and highlights part of the image. This Gradient Map adjustment layer is for achieving second alternative version with yellow tints.

Set the blending mode of the Gradient Map to Overlay and reduce the opacity to 70%. Here are the results :

Step 3:

We are going to achieved a vignette in this step. Add a Curves adjustment layer and reduce the brightness using the following settings.

On the layer mask of Curves, I masked the effect in the middle and leave the dark effect at the corners. Use a soft basic, black brush for masking the effect. Here are the results after masking the effect :

Step 4:

Press CTRL + ALT + SHIFT + E to merge all layers into single layer. Convert the newly merged layer into Smart Objects. Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur, use 6.1 pixels radius value to apply blur to the image.

Select the Smart Filter layer mask and mask the effect in the middle. Keep the blur effect at the corners. Here are results :

Step 5:

In this step we’ll achieve the effect as shown in this post feature image. Make a Levels adjustment layer above all layers. Set the RGB settings as shown blue.

Set the Green little bit as shown below :

Set the Blue as shown below to get the final effect :

Final Result