levels tutorial for buildings

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Bring a Photograph toLife Using Levels WithZonesJose Tomas Tocino on May 10th 2010 with 13 comments

Videos \ Post-Processing

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In this tutorial youll learn how to use levels in Photoshop to add a spark of life to an otherwise dull

photograph. Well divide the image into different zones in order to process them independently, achieving

an interesting look. Lets get to work!

Watch the Video

Step 1

The first step is to open the image to pre-process it with Camera Raw. If you have a raw file (like .CR2 files

on Canon cameras) just open it in Photoshop. If you are using a JPEG image to start, go to File > Open As,

choose Camera Raw as the file type and open your file. Then the Camera Raw dialog will appear.

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Step 2

Increase the temperature using the first slider. Were looking for a warm look, so choose a value close to

8000k. Also, decrease the saturation to give it an older look. Do not change Contrast or Blacks as we will be

changing them later using levels and curves.

Step 3

Go to Lens Correction and add some Lens Vignetting by moving the Amount slider down to -21. Then hold

Shift and the Open Image button will change to Open Object. Click it.



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Step 4

Before starting to tweak levels and curves, remove anything you dont want in your final image. In the

example image there was a girl in the bottom left corner that I had to remove using the Clone Stamp Tool

(S). Right-Click the layer and select Duplicate Layer, click OK and then Right-Click the new layer and selectRasterize Layer.

This way you will keep a copy of the original raw file that you can edit in Camera Raw just Double-Clicking

on the layers thumbnail. Do your cloning and healing process in the new layer.

Step 5

Now we will start working with the different zones of the image. We can divide our image in 5 sections:

1. The left walls in the foreground.

2. The right walls in the foreground.

3. The white building in the background.

4. The road.

5. The sky.



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Step 6

We will start with the 4th zone: the road. Choose the Pen Tool (P) and select the Paths option (second

button) in the upper toolbar. Now draw the shape of the road.

Step 7

Once you finish with the Pen Tool, Right-Click the newly created shape and select Make Selection. Make

sure Anti-Aliased is ticked and Feather Radius is set to 0px, then click OK. Now go to Layers > New

Adjustment Layer > Levels and create a new levels layer called Road.



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Now lets adjust the levels. Double-Click on the Road Levels layer and the Levels Adjustment window will

appear. Now move the black handle to the beginning of the histogram, and the white handle to the end of

the histogram.

This increases the contrast of the area, as the white point of the histogram matches the white point of the

area, and the same with the black point. However, you have to be careful because the smaller the area

between the black and white handles, the less information you leave on that area. Move the middle handle

to the right until it looks good.

Step 8

Now repeat the process with the first, second and third sections (refer to Step 5). Use the Pen Tool (P) (or

any other selection tool you prefer) to select the area, make a new Levels Adjustment Layer and move the

handles to match the histogram.

Sometimes, like with the left wall, its good to make more than one adjustment layer: one for the whole area,

and another one for a smaller area within. For instance, for the left wall I used a layer for the whole building,

and then another layer for bottom floor of the first building.



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Step 9

Once the road and all the buildings have their own Levels Adjustment Layer, let s work with the sky. Right-

Click on the first layer (the original image, not the rasterized one) and select New Smart Object via Copy.

Rename the layer to Sky Layer and move it to the foreground. Double-Click it to edit it in Camera Raw and

use the following settings:

Notice that we have decreased the temperature, in order to cool the sky a little bit. Also we have decreased

the exposure and increased the contrast in order to get some details in the clouds. Now use the Pen Tool

(P) to select the sky, bordered by the buildings roofs.

Right click the new path and choose Make Selection, and use the selection as a mask for the Sky layer. Its

good to feather after having set the mask rather than before, as you can see how the different values for

the feather work in real time, using the Masks panel.



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Step 10The buildings are very bright, and the sky is quite dark, so lets ease that difference a bit. Create a New

Smart Object via copy from the original one and use these adjustments in Camera Raw:

Rename the layer to Sky surroundings and Ctrl-Click on the mask of the Sky layer. Go to Select > Modify >

Expand and use a value of 100px. Choose the Sky Surroundings layer and then click on Layer > Layer

Mask > Reveal Selection. Now its time to feather the mask a little bit using Select > Refine Edge. A Feather

value about 70px is OK, but experimenting is key.



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Step 11

To end up, make a loose selection of the sky and make a new Levels Adjustment Layer to tweak it a bit.

Optionally you can add a global levels layer. Now go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Curves, name it

General Curves, and choose Linear Contrast from the dropdown menu on the Adjustments Panel. It will

increase the general contrast a little.

Finally, lets add a black border: Go to Image > Canvas Size, disable Relative, and use 50px as width and

height. Click OK, create a new background layer and fill it with black. Were done!

Conclusion

Although the process is pretty simple, the results are quite impressive. Here you can compare the original

image and the final one.



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And the final result:



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Discussion 13 Comments

Thanks for reading, and let us know whether you feel this effect is useful for any of your own images!

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Add Comment

May 10, 2010 at 2:06 pm

I cant help but to feel like Ive been stabbed directly in the heart everytime I see a

photography tutorial which relies so much on hard and zone manipulation. As a photo

piece, the final result means very little to me, and I liked the visual result before I knew

what was going on here. Its the process itself that killed it for me and removed all of its

photographic value.

Sorry I just had to let it out. Your tutorial is very good at a manipulation level, with some

good tips on dealing with RAW. Indeed useful. But the whole thing makes me a bit sad

watching what photography has become; zone manipulation and clone tool.

Ricardo

REPLY

May 10, 2010 at 4:56 pm

Hey Ricardo. I dont really agree with what youre saying, though I see what you mean. Although I

myself try to avoid zone manipulation and cloning, I would say that photography is an art-form. A

photo is just the basis upon which you can express your vision (like a painting or sculpture) so

the means, although it sometimes seems like cheating, isnt really important.

If you take photos more for like, documenting a memory or photojournalism or something, its a

different story though.

Jacob

REPLY

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May 11, 2010 at 4:21 pm

You just expressed my thoughts on the subject! Thanks!

Patareco

REPLY

December 9, 2010 at 11:50 pm

+1 to this

Steven Davis

REPLY

May 11, 2010 at 6:57 pm

You are quite right.

Joaquin

REPLY

May 10, 2010 at 4:49 pm

Excellent tutorial, thank you very much indeed!

@Ricardo; Photography has always used this method. Dodging and burning would be

used in the darkroom to achieve the desired effects. Ansel Adams, generally considered to

be one of the greatest photographers the world has ever seen, was a master at working

with zones.

The only difference is, now its done digitally. Are you saying that any manipulation to a

photograph is wrong? If so, how can you say that the final result means nothing to you?

The Before photo is a RAW file. Therefore it hasnt had any of the kinds of influence

added to it that would have been present, had it been shot on film, or as a JPG.

In the past, a photographer would have to choose what he wanted the final result to look

like and based on that, would decide what film to use and what areas to dodge and burn

when processing it.

Now we can take a shot and make those decisions once we get them on to the computer.

If you think that the photos of old that make your jaw drop through the magnificent range

of exposure werent manipulated in the darkroom, then you need to do some reading, my

friend.

Mike

REPLY

May 14, 2010 at 8:02 pm

Adams zone system has nothing to do with this technique at all. Not even a little bit. The Zone

System you refer to deals with properly exposing a photograph in the first place. This tutorial is

about altering an image via artistic expression.

7

REPLY

May 21, 2010 at 10:50 pm

But Adams did selectively burn and dodge sections of his photographs to achieve the look

he wanted, similar to what this tutorial has shown. Read the third book in his photography

series, The Print. It talks about how he would create and manipulate the print to create his

photos.

oldred

REPLY

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May 10, 2010 at 7:58 pm

Nice tutorial on how to use some of the tools inside of Photoshop to edit levels though

you can achieve the same selective adjustments to tone exclusively within ACR.

Im not sure I particularly like where you took the image though. The edges of each area

are harsh and obviously unnatural. The human eye knows how things are supposed to

look and will quickly catch transitions from natural to manipulated. Particularly around the

satellite dish and edges of the buildings with the sky theyve practically gone black.

I dont agree with editing the girl out. I think that you should either have waited for her to

pass and take the picture again or better wait for her to make it further into frame anduse her as a compositional element. She would help add a feeling of life to the image

which I think would have made for nice juxtaposition with the pretty drab and dead scenery.

Stephen

REPLY

May 11, 2010 at 6:30 pm

The ability to manipulate an image on Photoshop is in essence no different that the

manipulation by the photographer when he/she composes the image in the camera. The

photographer/artist is at that instant capturing a portion of world/environment that they

wish to capture for themselves or to convey to others in the form of a photograph. They

are manipulating the environment through the technology of the camera (film or digital)

and capturing a mere sliver of the world around them and presenting only that sliver to the

viewer. This manipulation with evoke thoughts and feelings, some of which the

photographer intended and some that were not intended. Some viewers will focus on the

simple beauty of the image, some will focus on the lines, some will focus on the

architecture, some will focus on the colours, some will focus on the textures and some will

focus on the sky or the weather. Following the logic of some of the comments a true purist

would take a camera, set it on automatic, take a 360 degree sphere panorama and then

let the viewer choose which portion of the image they wish to look at. If one chooses to

take photographs then one is choosing to manipulate the environment because the

exposure latitude of the camera sensor will never equal the exposure latitude of the human

eye and can therefore never capture the true essence of that moment in time and space

which will include the sounds, smells and weather conditions of that moment. As with mostart if you dont like it then dont look at and/or go out and take the image yourself and post

it.

TJ

REPLY

May 14, 2010 at 7:39 pm

digital photography. There must be a reason on the word digital there

Just my personal opinion. RAW images contain more info than the jpegs, these infos are

meant to be used in processing the pictures. Previewing it would not make a difference

comparing to a jpeg. If one don

t fancy digital manipulations, I would suggest using a filmcamera instead.

byrn

REPLY

June 9, 2010 at 6:17 pm

My version of an image by playing with zones and levels from this tutorial

http://www.flickr.com/photos/denisart/4685095122/

Daniel

REPLY

December 9, 2010 at 11:48 pm

Great tutorial. Would be much harder on a landscape shot with less hard lines, but nice

principals

Steven Davis

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