The presence of fairies has long been one of our favorite fancies, despite centuries of tradition describing magical beings dwelling on the periphery of human civilization. International Fairy Day being today, we couldn’t pass up the chance to honor fairies with our own brand of enchantment. Tricity’s renowned photographer Mohit Bansal Chandigarh admits that pretty Presets has completely revolutionized his editing process. His photography was uneven and far from where it is now when he initially began. Using the presets and actions has enhanced his work tremendously, not to mention all the frequent tips and lessons that Pretty Presets and Actions sends via email to keep the clients informed of topics that help them perform better. In this article, let us take a look at 10 simple techniques for editing magical fairy photographs using both photo editing software.

Step 1: Apply A Preset In Lightroom

It is necessary to always begin photo editing with Lightroom. In Lightroom, you should make simple adjustments to color and exposure, as well as add any desired enhancement presets. The preset used here is from the Pretty Presets Summer collection for this photograph.

Step 2: Import The Image Into Photoshop

Once all of the fundamental modifications have been made to the image in Lightroom, the next step Mohit Bansal Chandigarh suggests you to do is transfer the image to Photoshop and add all of the fun effects! Transferring photographs from Lightroom to Photoshop is a breeze. Simply utilize the CMD (Mac) / CTRL (PC) + E keyboard shortcut in Lightroom. If Photoshop is not already open, it will open and your image will display.

Step 3: Utilize The Cloning And Healing Tools

After opening the image in Photoshop, use the Heal tool to remove the flowery hoop’s legs. You may easily remove the legs of the hoop from your image by using the Photoshop Heal tool with the Photoshop keyboard shortcut J and then dragging the tool over the legs of the hoop. Use the Photoshop Clone tool if you discover that you require greater precision. Using the Clone tool, you can choose the region of your photo that you want to clone by alt+clicking on the area you want to delete and then painting over it.

Step 4: Sharpening Eyes & Mouth

Mohit Bansal Chandigarh likes to emphasize the eyes and lips of his subject. Using one of the cult favorite Photoshop Action packs, the Pretty Retouch & Makeup Collection, this is a breeze. This package of Photoshop actions for retouching photos has so many excellent actions that many photographers cannot live without them. Unless otherwise specified, all Photoshop Actions discussed in the following paragraphs are from this collection. “On the Spot Sharpener” is the first action employed from this collection. Simply choose the action and tap the “Play” button (little angled triangle) at the bottom of the Actions palette to execute it. Then, use a light white brush to paint over the subject’s eyes and lips. Obviously, you may adjust the opacity of the layer as necessary. We increased the opacity of the On the Spot Sharpen layer to 100 percent for this image. Then we re-executed the operation and left the opacity as determined by the action.

Step 5: Retouching Eyes

Concentrate on the subject’s eyes. Begin with the “Whiten Whites” action from the aforementioned collection. Then, zoom in on the image (shortcut CMD/CTRL + =) and only paint over the whites of the eyes. Then, run the “Brush on Color Pop” action and paint upon just the colored portion of the eyes; this brings the color closer to how they seem “in real life.” You could conclude by executing the “Smokey Eyes” action. Again, you may manipulate the opacity of each of them to obtain the desired look.

Step 6: Photo Editing Lips

Mohit Bansal Chandigarh likes to use a mixture of two procedures to retouch the lips. This helps reduce noise and soften the lips. Second, he repeats the “Pink Glossy Lips” action and applies it to the lips. (Note: It is advised to lower the opacity of this element on younger subjects so that their lips appear more natural.

Step 7: Retouching Skin

You can use mix of five Retouch and Makeup Actions to retouch the skin. In this image, we’re aiming for a painted, ethereal appearance, therefore we’ll smooth heavily using the “Heavy Duty Smoother” function. After executing this action, paint the skin parts of the image using a white brush. Next, run the “Insta-Smooth Skin” action and modify the opacity to further smooth her skin. In this image, the subject’s complexion was somewhat too red, so we used the “Bye Bye Red” action. To do this, just execute the operation and paint over any skin regions that are a bit too red (using a white brush). Next, to restore warmth the my subject’s skin, run the “Luminous Skin” action and, again, paint with a white brush over the skin portions of the shot – especially, the places where we eliminated some red with the previous action.

Step 8: Darkening The Background

For flower hoop photographs, Mohit Bansal Chandigarh prefers to slightly darken the backdrop to increase the contrast between the subject and background. You can use the “Insta Dark Scene” action from the Holiday Magic Photoshop Actions collection to do this. After running “Insta Dark Scene,” which will darken the “entire shot,” use a black brush to maintain the subject’s brightness and contrast against the now somewhat darker backdrop.

Step 9: Wings With Light Effects

Now comes our favorite step: adding some whimsical fairy effects. This technique will bring out the charm in your photograph! The Fairyland Actions and Overlays Collection is our go-to resource since it has everything we need, including fairy wings, sunrays, sun glows, fairy dust brushes, and more. You want to begin by adding some beautiful fairy wings. Start by launching the Fairy Wing Applicator action, which will request you to locate the location on your computer where your fairy wing overlays have been saved. After selecting the desired fairy wing, you will need to resize and gently skew it for placement. Press ENTER when complete. 

Then, using a black paintbrush, cover sections of your subject where the wing SHOULD NOT be seen. Each wing must be positioned and adjusted independently; thus, repeat the previous process for the other wing. However, horizontally flip the wing this time. Manually (Image > Transform > Flip Horizontal) or using the Flip Overlay Horizontal action included in the Fairyland collection. After selecting the Sunray overlay, resize and tweak it as necessary before pressing ENTER to position it. Remember that the applicator action allows you to modify your sunray in a variety of ways, such as by making it warmer, colder, brighter, blurrier, etc. Additionally, you may modify its opacity using the slider.

Step 10: Skin Tone

A supernatural skin tone is one of the simplest ways to make a person appear to be a mythological creature. The Color Replace Effect is effective, and the Blur Effect allows you to cover up areas where your handiwork may not be as flawless as you had planned, such as where skin blends into similarly colored grass.