Golden Fall Photos

with 24 Comments

Golden Fall Photos
by Nannette Dalton

I love autumn! It is a time for apple orchards, pumpkin patches, baking, gorgeous foliage, canning, and built-in quality family time. Here where I live, autumn is one of the most magical seasons of the year.

Did you know that light actually changes in Autumn? As winter draws in, the sun moves through a lower arc in the sky, and light angles become much longer and more golden. I am not always able to capture this effect in my photography, but I can, with the help of Photoshop, replicate it and enhance it.

Step One:  Open and Duplicate a Photo

  • Open a photo (File > Open).
  • In the Menu Bar, choose File > Duplicate and click OK. (Photoshop: Choose Image > Duplicate.)
  • Close the original photo.

Here is a photo that was taken in the fall, but which lacks that golden touch.

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Step Two: Apply Color Adjustment Layers

  • In the Layers panel, click on the Create New Fill or Adjustment layer icon and choose Solid Color.
  • In the dialog box, enter Hex Code #614019 and click OK.
  • In the Layers panel, change the Blend Mode to Overlay and the Opacity to 45%.

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  • In the Layers panel, click on the Create New Fill or Adjustment layer icon and choose Solid Color.
  • In the dialog box, enter Hex Code #f1ebd9 and click OK.
  • In the Layers panel, change the Blend Mode to Soft Light and the Opacity anywhere between 50–100%, depending on the photo.

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Step Three: Add a Vignette

  • Press the letter D to reset the Color Chips to the default of black and white.
  • In the Layers panel, click on the Create New Fill or Adjustment layer icon and choose Gradient.
  • In the dialog box, open the Gradient Picker and choose Foreground to Transparent. (PS: Open the Gradient Picker, open the Basics folder, and choose Foreground to Transparent.)
    NOTE: If you don’t see Foreground to Transparent, open the drop-down menu and choose Default. (Photoshop: Open the fly-out menu, and choose Large List.) Set the Style to Radial, set the Angle 90°, check Reverse and Align With Layer, and set the Scale to your liking.

Note: Photoshop Elements users will probably want to set the Scale at 150%. Photoshop users will have a little more flexibility.

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Step Four: Save the Photo

  • In the Menu Bar, Choose Layer > Flatten Image.
  • Save the photo with a unique name (File > Save As).

Here is the photo before and after the effect was been applied. I feel like it gives the photo more of that warm autumn feel.

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Credits:
Digi Scrap Tutorial: Golden Fall Photos by Nannette Dalton

Software: Photoshop Elements 12, Adobe Photoshop CC 2014
Scrapbook page: Boy and His Stick by Nannette Dalton
Papers and embellishments: Autumn Days by Kristin Cronin-Barrow
Fonts: Garamond Italic, Arial Narrow

Download this Digi Scrap Tutorial

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Nannette-DaltonAuthor: Nannette Dalton | nann@digitalscrapper.com
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24 Responses

  1. Susie Roberts
    | Reply

    Super stunning layout, Nann! You are so talented!

  2. Donna
    | Reply

    WOW! What a difference this technique made in some family photos taken outside last Thanksgiving. It really warmed us all up–in a good way! Thanks for an easy and effective technique!

  3. Lidia
    | Reply

    I love to see the effect a lot on your picture! I love your layout as usual! Thanks for sharing this tutorial with us. I need to try this technique as well. 🙂

    • Nann Dalton
      | Reply

      Thanks so much Lidia.

  4. donna
    | Reply

    Nann, I love the colors of your photo. This technique really lets you highlight the main focus in the photo. Beautiful! I really want to try this soon.

    • Nann Dalton
      | Reply

      I’m really glad that you like it Donns. Please do give it a try.

  5. Mary Kuhn
    | Reply

    Finally my brain worked today and I was able to get the PDF. Oh!Happy day. It did not do what the instructions said I guess like everything my computer is use to me, doing my own thing! and it fixes it for me. So to the ladies who cannot get the Toots on IE. Follow the direction to save it as a FAVOURITE’S! mine never went to the tool bar! because my computer is an HP Touch Smart?. It went in the favorites folder after I clicked Add to favorites, as (E) Print Friendly) down at the bottom of the menu list. I opened The golden Fall photo’s folder on Digital Scrapper and then Favorites menu clicked on (Print friendly) it opens as a page with the Blog Golden Fall Photo’s. I hit the print button and it printed all the Instructions on the first page, and printed the pictures separate in order. Maybe this will help The ladies with Explorer. Thank you Nanette for the Tutorial.

    • Nann Dalton
      | Reply

      Oh, I’m so glad you were able to make it work! Good luck with the tutorial.

  6. Vivian
    | Reply

    Love this technique. Your tutorials are always so easy to follow. Thank you for doing this one!

    • Nann Dalton
      | Reply

      My Pleasure Vivian.

  7. Barbara B
    | Reply

    Love it and just what I was needing! Great layout Nann and thanks for all your fun projects.

    • Nann Dalton
      | Reply

      Well thank you for your kind comment Barbara. It makes me happy to hear that you can use the tutorial. Hope you share in the gallery,thanks again.

  8. Sharon M.
    | Reply

    Great! Thanks! Wish we could go back to the old way…pdf provided. My virus protector blocks this new pdf converter site. 🙁

    • Jen White
      | Reply

      Hi Sharon. Sorry to hear that.
      The website is perfectly safe.
      Try the site with a different browser. 😀

    • Glenys Masson
      | Reply

      In Google Chrome I use the old DOS command Ctrl+P and it gives me the option to save as a PDF file. Unfortunately it keeps the Blog banner, it also keeps the comments but these can be limited by only saving the relevant pages. It prints out ok if you need to.

      I also tried in Internet Explorer but didn’t get the “save as PDF” option but it can be saved to file.

      It might be worth trying these options and seeing if they work.

  9. Kate Crossley
    | Reply

    I had no idea you could create effects like this with solid colours so thanks very much for that new tip and all the previous ones too!

    • Nann Dalton
      | Reply

      You are very welcome Kate.

  10. Kathy
    | Reply

    Beautiful Nann as always! Gorgeous LO!

    • Nann Dalton
      | Reply

      Thanks Kathy, what a sweet thing to say.

  11. Nann Dalton
    | Reply

    Thanks Jen, I hope you do!

  12. Jenifer Juris
    | Reply

    Nann, this technique really made your page and photos POP! I love it and will def have to try this out! 🙂

  13. Nannette
    | Reply

    Ahh… thanks Barb.

  14. Barb
    | Reply

    Love this Nannette! and love your layout!

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