I love black and white photography and I love High Key photography. (if you want to know more about High Key photography there is more info HERE). In this Photoshop Tutorial I’ll try to explain how to create High Key photos from your color photos in Photoshop.
First we will convert color image in black and white one using Image -> Adjustment – > Desaturate form main Photoshop menu.
Next, add some more light (restrict the tones) by making an “S” shape under Layer -> Adjustment -> Curves
Now, we will copy layer with the image (Ctrl+J) and use Filter -> Blur -> Gaussian Blur option (number may vary depends on the image size!). This will soften the image at the end.
Now add layer mask by pressing “Layer Mask” symbol (quadrant with the circle) at the bottom of the Layers Window.
Using Black foreground color and circled brush with 0% hardness (B) “erase” blurred parts that you want to be sharp (in this case eyes, nose, lips and chin). Brush Opacity is set to 50% and Flow to 50% here, but you can play with the numbers – they will depend on your image size (same for the brush size, mine was 65 here).
That’s it. Easy, huh? 🙂
At the end, you can darken some parts of the image using “Burn Tool” tool if needed.
