When trees and other foliage take on the shades of Autumn they always look great but with the help of Photoshop, they can look even better.

Step 1: Duplicate layer

As we don't want to destroy our original image make sure you duplicate your layer (Layer>Duplicate Layer) before you start.

Step 2: Play with Levels

In the layers palette click on the black & white circle and select Levels. This will create an adjustment layer we can then remove parts of (if needs be) later on. Pull the grey marker, which is in the centre of the graph, towards the left. Around 2 points should be enough. Then pull the black marker to the right to enhance the shadows.

Step 3: Fix the highlights

The Autumnal shades should already be looking brighter but now parts of the shot such as the sky and path are overexposed. To return it to how it was before, make sure the levels layer is selected, pick your Paint Brush tool, and check to see if black is your foreground colour then paint over the areas you want to adjust.

Step 4: Bring more colour out

To enhance the colours even more we are going to create another adjustment layer. This time it will be Hue/Saturation. You can adjust the main (master) hue and saturation bars, raising them until you're happy with the shades. Or you can work on separate colours by changing the Master option to red, yellow etc. If some of the image was changed, such as the grass in ours, you can use your Paint Brush, as before, to paint the detail back in. Then that's it. Your Autumn colours are enhanced.


See the before and after shots here:

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