I have gotten several requests to provide a tutorial of the steps that I use in Photoshop when postworking a render. I am using Photoshop CS2, so for lower versions of Photoshop there may not be the same features, but you should be able to find something comparable within the tools to make it work. I am going to keep this to the basic and most effective steps so as to not make it too long.

So here goes, I will give this my best shot:

1. The first step that I always take when opening a render in photoshop is kind of a no brainer step - I always duplicate the layer. This way if I make a change and I don't like it, I have the original file to continue to work with.

2. As soon as I have the duplicated layer, I change the 'curves'. I usually drop the lower left side of the diagonal line down slightly and the top right side of the diagonal line up slightly. This can make quite a dramatic effect to your image, and can make it appear more dimensional. Each image is different, some require more time messing with this feature than others.

3. As soon as I have changed the curves, I once again duplicate that layer, and I begin using the burn tool. I use this tool A LOT! It can make the skin more dimensional, and can provide a more realistic feel. It also helps tremendously with providing a shadow effect. In the image above you can see it was used around all the clothing, around her necklace, hair line, face, neck, etc. I spend a lot of time on the facial features with this tool in conjunction with the Dodge Tool. I use them to really make the eyes more prominent. These two tools are most definitely your friends!

I always continue to duplicate my layers, merge layers when they are working well together, etc. I don't ever want to put myself in a spot where I can't use the 'undo' feature enough times.

The rest is pretty much just hit and miss, whatever is working well with the image. I will usually duplicate my layer, and then change the hues and saturations within that layer, and then erase parts of the layer to show only the parts that work well within the image. This can add a lot more color to the image. You can see that I used this in the above image with the sky particularly. In the rendered image the sky was a flat blue and by changing the hues and saturation several times I was able to give it a more colorful appearance.

I also use a lot of brushes. You can find a lot here at Deviant Art that are free to use, and you can also create your own. You can find many tutorials online that teach you how to do that. In particular for many of my renders I use fog and mist brushes, they seem to help in adding depth to the image. In the above image I also used cloud brushes.

That just skims the surface of what you can do with photoshop, and I hope it hasn't been too confusing. And I in no way claim myself to be an expert!!! This is just for those people that have asked about the steps I use in my Postwork, and hopefully you can find it somewhat useful. If you have any other questions, please feel free to leave me a note.

Thanks so much for looking, and have a most wonderful day/night.

Don't forget kids, if you haven't already joined the Vampyre Army, you best be doing so.