Sometimes, an already great picture needs a little help to elevate it further. Especially when you’re looking for that dreamy summer aesthetic that’s hard to get straight out of the camera. Fortunately, it’s quite easy to achieve a warm glow effect with a few edits and layers in Photoshop.
Lighten the whole image
Step 1: Add a curves layer
Once you’ve found the image you want to edit, the first thing you want to do is add a curves layer to it. The curves layer represents the tonal range throughout the image. The left-hand side controls the shadows, and the right-hand side controls the highlights.
Step 2: Lift the shadows and mid-tones with the curves tool
For this edit, we want to lighten the image so we’re just going to lift everything from the shadows to the mid-tones. This brings it more in line with a high-key style which is seen as more upbeat and effervescent; that’s exactly what we want for that dreamy, summer look.
Step 3: Add a levels layerÌý
We want to go through a similar process but with the levels. This tool allows us to move and stretch the brightness of an image.
Step 4: Set overall output to 10
The first thing you want to do with this tool to set the overall output to 10. You can play around with the value to suit your taste. What this will do is lift the blacks in your image so that they’re more like a hazy grey.
Step 5: Set output for red tones to 20
Next, we want to start bringing in a warm glow to the image so we’re going to enhance the natural reds in the image by setting the red channel output to 20 – again, it’s good to play around with these values to suit your style and image.
You can also play around with the output value for the greens and blues to find the right mix of colour for your image or suit to tastes.
Bring in warm tones to the image
Step 6: Add a solid colour adjustment layer
We’ve already started this process in step 5, but we want to take it further with the solid colour adjustment layer. Add a new adjustment layer and select the solid colour option. We’ve gone with an orange-brown (#caa046) but play around with the right colour for your needs.
Step 7: Change the blend option and decrease the opacity
You then need to change the blend mode to soft light for a more subtle look, and then decrease the opacity to suit.
Step 8: Add a gradient map adjustment layer
We’re going to add another adjustment layer but this time, use the gradient map option.
Step 9: Select your colours, set blend mode and adjust opacity
Now we’re going to select our colours. I’ve gone for complementary orange and purple. Then set the blend mode to soft light and adjust the opacity to suit.
And here’s the difference between the original and the final edited version. I’ve gone for a lots of small edits rather so that the effect is more subtle and realistic. But even so, the change is quite dramatic.
And that’s it! You should end up with four new layers on top of your image but they’re all quick and simple steps. This is a really easy way to enhance the look and feel of an image to achieve that dreamy, wistful summer look that will help you stand out from the crowd.