High Key photographs have an overall lightness to them and minimal contrast. Skintones are overexposed in a flattering way, and it can make a subject’s eyes really pop. Here are a few easy steps you can take to turn your plain images into interesting high key shots using Photoshop.

1) Open the shot you want to manipulate in Photoshop

2) Create a New Adjustment Layer for Levels and drag the right slider (highlights) to the left to make the image much brighter. Then drag the middle slider way to the left to make the image brighter and kind of washed out. You may want to increase the darkness level to the right a bit, but it will depend on your image.

3) In the Layers palette box on the right, you’ll see that under the word “Layers” will be a drop down menu that says “normal.” In that drop down menu, choose the blending “Screen” option. This will make the image look blown out.

4) In the same Layers palette box, drag the Opacity Slider until you like the look of the shot. I dragged it to 90%.

Your shot may look great at this point. I thought Chloe’s eyes looked a little flat so I used the Dodge and Burn functions to make them pop.

5) Choose the Dodge function on the tools palette (it looks like a map pin). At the top of the screen is a drop down menu that says “Range.” Choose Highlights. Then choose a soft brush and zoom in on the eyes of your subject. Choose a light exposure like 5%. The burn function will lighten the highlights as you draw in the whites of your subject’s eyes. The trick is to build up the lightness as you would when you’re spraypainting a piece of furniture. Keep building the lightness slowly so you don’t get strange streaks of white. If you do too much, your subject will look like a freaky alien (like the Go’auld from Stargate SG-1).

6) To gives the eyes more definition, burn more color and contrast into the eyes using the Burn Tool. Choose the Burn function on the tools palette (right click the Dodge button). Choose a soft brush again and choose “Shadows” from the Range menu. Make sure your exposure is light again. Now draw around the iris of the eye to make the color pop and the contrast deeper.