How do you make your images match and look better when you have to find them from different sources and the quality varies? Like a lot of fanartists I use other people screencaps. Because of this we have to sometimes find pictures that aren’t from the same creator and therefore they look quite different.

Now this tutorial doesn’t have to be followed as it is. You can use your own settings and desired effects. These are just some ways I use to make my images match–skin tones, in particular need to be matched up the most. (Also, the example images are just that–examples. These techniques are useful when you have worse quality pictures. It’s really all about playing with settings).

First, I have these two images: one and two. Below I have placed them on the same canvas:

As you can see, one is much darker than the other. In this case ID am going to select the Drusilla layer and go to Image >> Adjust >> Brightness/Contrast. These are the settings I decided on:

And the result is this:

Now the images match much more. But this was an easy one. What about when there is really a drastic difference? Take these two images:

I have a few techniques for color correction and such. The first is Image >> Adjust >> Color Balance. These are the settings I decided on:

And again, the result:

Still needs some work. Now I am going to apply a little bit of Image >> Adjust >> Curves. My settings:

And I get:

And still….I have another technique to make it even better. This is the sponge tool.

We want the mode on “desaturate” and I have placed the pressure at 20%. And then I notice that it takes out a bit too much color, so I go to Edit >> Fade and set the opacity at about 50%. Now I have this:

The light and colors match pretty well, but now what about the quality. The left picture is far harsher then the smoother right one. What I am going to do is apply a little smart blur with these settings:

And then Edit >> Fade and bring the opacity to about 40% again. Now I have this:

Now I am going to Layer >> Flatten Image. I am going to apply smart blur again with the same settings and then go to Edit >> Fade, bring down the opacity to 80% and change the blend mode to “soft light”. This is the final result: