Geranium Color Processing

After processing and posting this photo:



I decided it might be cool to show what improvements I had made from the original image. Above you see the original image and below the "after." I may be wrong but I think it's an improvement.

Here are the steps I took in Photoshop

1. Adjust Levels.
I manual adjust levels so sliders at low and high are at end of spectrum showing up. This takes out extra brightness and extra darkness.

2. Adjust Vibrancy.
I usually up this to 10 but normally only on photos of nature, especially flowers, trees, sunlight, etc.

3. Adjust Saturation.
I usually up to 10 or 20, but sometimes to 30. Depends on the photo. Sometime I bring it a lot higher. (Sometimes I bring it lower.) But 20 is a good amount.

4. Adjust Curves.
Adjusting the curves is something that improves photos immensely. I don't know how it works, but somehow a simple adjustment to curves gives photos a depth and takes care of lots of lighting problems. For most of my photos I pull the curve adjuster so the cursor is in the square just to the lower right of the center. (Pull curve down and to the right, but only a bit, until it looks good.) With certain photos, ones that have a ton of color, lots of color, or are all black, this doesn't do much, but on many photos it really does something magical.

5. Add Frame
Not really a processing thing, but for a long time I have added borders/frames onto all my photos, because it helps set them off the background. I have a macro / Photoshop Action that does this. I think the action is Select, reduce select by 10, invert selection, then fill with foreground (black).

These are the standard steps I take for most photos I process and post to DA.