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Tutorial Tuesday: Pastel Photo Tutorial for Photoshop

by . April 29th, 2014

Hey Creatives! Today we’re teaching you how to do a Pastel Photo Tutorial effect while using Adobe Photoshop. This effect, I’ve noticed, is gaining quite a bit of ground on websites like Tumblr and Pinterest. This is a really easy tutorial that will hopefully teach you guys how to get that dreamy and soft look to use on your photos and graphics!

STEP 01:

Open Photoshop and fire up the photo you’re going to edit. I’m using a photo from the ‘Band’ Set of Death to the StockPhoto. They’re a really good alternative to websites like Shutterstock.

 

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STEP 02:

Create a new Adjustment Layer by going to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Selective Color. What I want to do here is to make the photo more vibrant.

I used these settings:

RED – Cyan: -48 / Magenta: +23 / Yellow: -25 / Black: +6
YELLOW – Cyan: -53/ Magenta: -14 / Yellow: +10 / Black: -2
WHITES – Cyan:  -68 / Magenta: -46 / Yellow: -53 / Black: -17
BLACKS – Cyan: +15 / Magenta: +5 / Yellow: -13 / Black: +3

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STEP 03:

Create a new Adjustment Layer by going to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Photo Filter. Use a color instead of one of the presets. I used #c9f5ff, which is a light blue. I set the density to 40%.

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STEP 04:

Apply another Adjustment Layer. Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Black and White. Select ‘Auto’. I set this layer to ‘Overlay’ at 60%.

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STEP 05:

Give the photo a greyer tint by adding another Selective Color Layer. Go to  Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Selective Color and input the following settings:

NEUTRALS – Cyan:  -4 / Magenta: -5 / Yellow: -17 / Black: -37
WHITES – Cyan:  +47 / Magenta: -21 / Yellow: -24 / Black: -36
BLACKS – Cyan: +10 / Magenta: +3 / Yellow: -3 / Black: -13

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STEP 06:

Create a New Fill Layer. Layer >New Fill Layer > Color. Fill it with #efefef and set it to Soft Light at 30%.

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STEP 07:

Create one last Adjustment Layer. Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Selective Color and put in these settings:

RED – Cyan:  -51 / Magenta: +14 / Yellow: -10 / Black: -32
MAGENTA – Cyan:  -4 / Magenta: +48 / Yellow: +35 / +26

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And voila. There you have it. Your own pastel photo!

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Feel free to adjust and play around with settings. Not all photos are created equal, so you may need to hide, adjust or play with the opacities of some layers.

If you want more effects like this, you can also check out some of our previously released sets of Photoshop Actions! Please feel free to show us your work! Let us know your thoughts by leaving a comment below.

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