Trick Photoshop

This is a very simple tutorial which can even be done in Photoshop7 and even by newbies. All you need is a free stock image or one of your own. You need to make a couple of layers, desaturate one and add a dash of color.

Step 1 : I will be using this free stock image. You will find it here

It belongs to 

Step 2 : Press CTRL+J to duplicate the Background Layer. 

Step 3 : Press CTRL+SHIFT+U to desaturate the image.

Step 4 : Click the Foreground Color to bring up the Color Picker.

Step 5 : Click on a light shade. You can choose any color you wish by moving the small slider at the bottom of the Spectrum in the middle. If you want to use the shade I am using type f59494 in the highlighted box in the bottom. Click OK.

The Foreground Color changes to the color picked.

Step 6 : Click the New Layer icon and a new Layer 2 forms.

Step 7 : Click the Rectangular Marquee Tool.

Step 8 : Drag out a selection.

Step 9 : Go to Select>Modify>Feather.

Step 10 : Set the Feather Radius to 100.

Step 11 : Press ALT+BACKSPACE to fill with the Foreground Color which in this case is this pink shade. Press CTRL+D to deselect.

Step 12 : Change the Blend Mode to Overlay. You can also choose Soft Light, Screen or Hard Light to get a different effect.

This is how the image looks with the Blend Mode set to Overlay.

Step 13 : Click on the Add New Fill or Adjustment layer button.

Step 14 : Click on Curves from the pop out.

Step 15 : In the Curves dialogue you will find a diagonal in the middle. Click a point near the bottom and drag gently down to darken the shadows, click on near the top of the diagonal and drag gently up to increase the light. 

The image looks like this.

Step 16 : Click on Layer 2 and decrease the Opacity to around 50%.

The finished image. You can use any shade, but see that it is light. You can also experiment with the Blend Modes as I have said.

Other photoshop tutorials are here