In this short lesson you will learn how to create an impressive and emotional effect for your photos. After reading this lesson, you can create a beautiful and amazing portrait from a regular photo in 10 minutes or less.
To complete this tutorial, you will need Photoshop version CS5 or higher.
Final result
Source materials:
Step 1
Open the original image with the portrait of a girl in Photoshop. To layer with portrait of girl, add adjustment layer Curves (Curves), for this we go Layer- New Adjustment Layer- Curves (Layer> New Adjustment Layer> Curves), then, change the blending mode for this adjustment layer to Lightening (Screen).
Press the (D) key to set the default colors. Click on the layer mask of the adjustment layer. Curves (curves), and then press the keys (Ctrl + Backspace) to fill the layer mask with black.
Select the brush tool. Using a soft white brush, paint over the girl’s eyes (make sure that the layer mask is active before painting by clicking on it). If the eyes look too bright, reduce the opacity of the layer (for this photo I reduced the opacity of the correction layer to 55%).
Step 2
Add a new adjustment layer Black-white(Black White), let’s go Layer– New corrective layer – black-white(Layer> New Adjustment Layer> Black White). Change the blending mode for this adjustment layer to Multiplication (Multiply).
Step 3
Press the keys (Ctrl + Shift + Alt + E) to create a merged layer of all visible layers. Let’s go Image – Correction – Light / Shadows (Image> Adjustments> Shadows / Highlights) and play with the settings to lighten the image a bit. Slide the option slider Sveta (Highlights) to the end to the left, and the slider options Shadows (Shadow) to the right until the image is a bit lighter than it was.
Step 4
Press the keys (Ctrl + Shift + Alt + E) to create a merged layer of all visible layers. Choose a tool Clarifier 
(Dodge Tool (keep the default settings – Range (Range): Mid tones (Midtones), Exposition (Exposure): 50%). Using this tool, paint the following parts of the image: the eyes, in particular, the iris of the eye, the tip of the nose, the forehead, lips, cheeks, the tip of the chin, neck.
Step 5
Press the keys (Ctrl + Shift + Alt + E) to create a merged layer of all visible layers. Let’s go Filter – Sharpness – Contour Sharpness (Filter> Sharpen> Unsharp Mask). Apply Radius (radius) 1-2px as well Effect (Amount) 50-100% to add sharpness to the image. Try to achieve a moderate degree of sharpness effect. with too much sharpness, the image will look bad. You can also reduce the opacity to reduce the effect.
Step 6
Add a new adjustment layer Hue / Saturation (Hue / Saturation), for this we go Layer – New Adjustment Layer – Hue / Saturation (Layer> New Adjustment Layer> Hue / Saturation). Move the slider to the left until the saturation of the image is reduced to a certain point.
Step 7
Add a new adjustment layer Gradient Map (Gradient Map), for this we go Layer – New Adjustment Layer – Gradient Map (Layer> New Adjustment Layer> Gradient Map), default gradient colors (black and white). Change the blending mode to Soft light (Soft light). This will enhance the contrast.
Step 8
Add a new adjustment layer Curves (Curves), for this we go Layer – New Adjustment Layer – Curves (Layer> New Adjustment Layer> Curves). Slide the slider to the left to enhance the highlights.
Step 9
This step is selective. You can do it only if you want to add a slight artistic effect.
Add a new adjustment layer Gradient Map (Gradient Map), set the gradient shown in the screenshot below. Change the blending mode for this adjustment layer to Soft light (Soft Light), and also reduce the opacity of the layer if the effect is too saturated.
Thank you for being with me during the lesson. Hope you learned something new today. In the screenshots below, you can compare photos before and after adding an effect.
Final result
