Several years ago I was working on a project where the client was looking for a really dramatic imagery effect for his advertising campaign. The campaign focused on several images portraying men at work in very dirty, manual labor. Here is the effect I came up with. Download the image I’ve worked with for this example if you would like.

Step One

Once you have the image you want to work with open in Photoshop, dupicate the background layer. Choose Filter > High Pass. In the dialog box, enter 7 pixels and click ok. Then change the new layer’s blend mode to Overlay.

Step Two

Now duplicate the original image again and move it to the top of the layer order. Choose Image > Adjustments > Desaturate. Now change the new layer’s blend mode to Hard Light. Then flatten your image.

Step Three

Duplicate your background layer again, and apply the same High Pass filter you used last time. Change the new layer’s blend mode to Overlay and flatten the image again.

Step Four

(Only if your working with portraits or human figures) Make a Curves Adjustment Layer and by placing a point on the top third of the curves diagonal line, more the point to the left by two-thirds. This should brighten your image dramatically. Now, use the layer mask to isolate just the eyes of the image. Meaning set the layer mask to all black and use the brush tool (set to white) to apply the dramatic lightening effect to the eyes. If you would like to add more color to the eyes for a more dramatic effect—make a new layer, select the color you want the eyes to be, paint on the new layer (over the eyes) and set that layer’s blend mode to Color.

Original Image

Click Image to Enlarge

Final Image

Click Image to Enlarge