Photography tips and tricks 

      Portraits often benefit from warm light, as it's flattering to the skin. Cool light has the opposite effect; it can make someone look cold or ill. If you use your camera's auto white balance setting, the camera will try to create a photo with a neutral colour cast. To create a portrait with warm tones, select the cloudy or shade setting instead; either setting will make your portrait look warmer.

    Tips to help you transform your picture:

1) After picking the picture you would like to edit, upload it to Photoshop then crop it where you like it

2) Duplicate your layer by going to Layer>Duplicate layer 

3) Go to Filter>Render>Lens Flare and choose the flare you like

4) Position your lens flare neat your light source. You can make it as bright as you wanted to be. (note: you can always tone it down latter) 

5) Click Ok and select your blending mode from the drop down menu.

6) Set the opacity to your preference 

7) To warm the photo up, choose a Photo Filter 

8) Once there, you can choose a colour to work with or you can choose a filter . 

This is all that it takes, enjoy

    

   Another useful technique to know is smoothing out backgrounds in you photos. (this only works if you have a wrinkled background)

Steps:

1) Open your photo on Photoshop

2) Sample a neutral (not an area of shadow or highlight) colour from your background using the dropper tool

3) Select the background using the selection tool

4) Click " Refine Edge"

5) Make the following changes: Smooth Value should be 3. feather Value 7.5. Contract/Expand value -5. 

6)Click on the paint brush and select medium-sized, soft-edged brush. Change the opacity to approximately 60% an begin brushing over your background.