Hey everyone!
In this tutorial you will learn the basic steps to create a High Key Photo Effect.
This effect can be achieved using the camera settings and no post processing, but in this tutorial you will be learning to achieve the effect post processing using Gimp. The effect is acutely very easy to achieve and is composed of three to four steps. Along the way you will be learning tips and tricks to using curves, levels, and layer masks. The whole process takes a little bit of knowlage of Gimp and some of its workings. I will try my best to get you pointed in the right direction.
My friend Darth_Gimp one night asked me to decode, so to speak, a Photoshop action that created the high key effect. This go my head going. I liked the effect and it was easy enough to do in Gimp. So i looked into the effect more. I have read several tutorials about the High Key effect. Almost all of them are for Photoshop which i do not mind much, but i have found only one tutorial that was for gimp. In the one Gimp tutorial over all effect was nice but it was outdated and not just focused on the High Key Effect. This is my method i developed from those tutorials and the “decoded” Photoshop action. At the end of this tutorial i will provide links to the high key tutorials that I read.
Many of the tutorials have you convert the stock image to greyscale, but High Key images can be both greyscale and color. In this tutorial we will be working in greyscale as I personally like the outcome more. If you would like to take a look at some excellent high key images check out Flickers High Key Society or High Key Images posted to deviantART. This should give you a good idea of what the effect looks like in both greyscale and color.
Introduction
First off what is High Key. To answer that question one needs to just look at the name. It means that the image’s key tone is high. Pretty simple huh..
Ok fine let me explain a little more. I am not going into great detail so if you want to learn more about High Key photography or the High Key effect google is your friend.
The mid-tones are usually Key tones, so by placing them high we are making them lighter/brighter. This has two crucial side-effects. The high-tones – those which are usually nearly white – will be white. Areas that register with dark tones become much brighter. The dark tones become somewhat washed out.
The secrete to high-key is actually in the control of the dark tones. If you get them to dark than you get a high contrast image and not High Key. Wash them out to much and you get an over exposed looking image which may look like high key but it isn’t.
Starting out
First thing you need is a Stock Image to work with. You can get stock images from a few different sites. Some are free to use and require no permission to use. Some require you to ask permission to use the image and give credit. Some require you to pay for the image. Take some time and read the rules about using the stock image. Be respectful to the owner of the image and respect their wises.
When looking for a stock image look for one with softer and lighter tones. These images work the best, but you can get dark images to work, but it takes a lot more tweeking.
For this tutorial i will be using this image
Step 01: Cropping and Scaling Stock Image
Crop Tool: Rule of Thirds grid.
To do this just set the crop tool option in the dropdown box at the bottom, right after the Hilight option. By default it is set to golden sections. Change the option to Rule of Thirds
Click the left mouse and drag the box around the area you are cropping. Using the rule of thirds grid you can center the image. Once you have the area in the box press enter to crop the image.
For the stock image I choose to scale it down 25%. I did this using a step-scale to retain detail.
Image Cropped and Scaled
High Key: Step 01 - Cropped and Scaled
Step 02: Greyscaling
Now that the image is sized and cropped to your likings. We are going to remove the color but not by desaturating it.
A lot of High Key tutorials will tell you to just desaturate the stock image, but I highly disagree with doing this. Over all you get a better effect by using the channel mixer than you get just desaturating the stock image. As an added bonus using the channel mixer will allow you to add coloring and create a fantastic effect out side just high key effect, but that is for a different tutorial.
Using the channel mixer Colors >Components > Channel Mixer. We are going to make our RGB image greyscaleRGB.
This is pretty simple just check the Monochrome option. The settings are pretty simple and you have room to play and experiment here. According to gimp docs using the settings of R: 21 G: 72 B: 7 will give you a greyscale image that is similar to using Image>Mode>Greyscale. I like to use this as a base than adjust the values as needed. For this image i ended up using R: 30 G:80 B:10.
 High Key 02: Channel Mixer Settings |
 High Key 02: Greyscale |
Step 03: Curve and Level
The method i am using applies a cure to boost the Key Tones (midtones). I will also be using it to soften the contrasting and smooth the lighting.
If you have never used the Curves tool than i suggest reading Gimp Doc: Curves. That will give the basic Idea of how to use the curve tool. Curves are not hard to understand or use. In fact I suggest getting used to using them. You can add some dramatic effects to your work just by adjusting the curve.
Basic idea of curve settings.
Than a level to wash out and soften the contrasting