"Always" and "Never" should always (or never) be avoided. Sorry couldn’t help it.
Adjust to taste. In the end, your eye is your work. White and black points don’t take image composition into account which is critical for achieving great results, IMO.
Peace,
Tony
Amen to that!
If you import in 16 bit, you can play a bit more(actually, 1000’s of bits more! ;-)) with the end points.
If you have CS (PS7 too?) hold down the alt key as you grab the end point sliders. The shadow slider changes all white, and as you adjust the slider, the true black points show up. The white slider goes black, and white points start to pop.
If you have CS (PS7 too?)
Yes, PS7 too. One reason why I don’t just use curves, but levels too.
If you have CS (PS7 too?) hold down the alt key as you grab the end point sliders. The shadow slider changes all white, and as you adjust the slider, the true black points show up. The white slider goes black, and white points start to pop.
Ooh! A new tip! Can’t wait to try this when I get home! THANKS LARRY! 🙂
You are welcome!
That’s two tips from me and how many from you dave?
Still a lot of catching up to do!
and how many from you dave?
erm, 3? 🙂
Scottie,
I assume you mean posterized not pasteurized. What is your output and what are the sources for your files – digital or scans? I’d be really surprised to see posterization on a print that was caused by image manipulation in the file, especially if the image was scanned from film. Even a fairly combed histogram will print perfectly smoothly 99 percent of the time. It’s only when large gaps occur in the same place in all three channels simultaneously that you’ll find problems.
I would strongly suggest learning to use the Curves tool to do your image correction. Start by placing Probes in the areas you want to monitor for black, white and midtones and adjust the individual and master Curves to the numbers and overall look you want. At the same time, you can address tonal and color considerations that levels is incapable of fixing.
Dave and I both missed pasteurized!
I can blame that on a senior moment.
Dave?
I agree with using curves. Scottie, a key to curves is if you anchor a point, say 128, and then push and pull around either the lower or upper half, the opposite side move also. Knowing how to anchor, sometimes multiple anchors, is a powerful technique to master.
Have fun!
Ps. Chuckling with you Scottie! 😉
Thanks, yes is pastur….something.
Curious, what do you guys think about the highlight/shadow tool in CS? Reason I ask, is that I just did shoot, subject in open shade, but there are areas in BG that are blown out. I even stopped down 1/3, and then 2/3, didn’t help. More stop I down, less blown out those highlights are, but darker the subject becomes. Seems to be an unwinnable game.
Never noticed any of this with film (slides), but with digital capture, I get knocked on the head for every imperfection so I need help here.
Dave?
Easy excuse… I was at a Grateful Dead concert last night. XD
what do you guys think about the highlight/shadow tool in CS?
as a non-expert, i’d say it’s the best new feature in CS. Akin to getting the clone tool in 7.
Akin to getting the clone tool in 7.
Don’t you mean cousin of the Healing Brush? <grin>
erm… did i mention i was at a greatful dead concert last night? %D
<haiku>
healing brush. love it.
it is a wonderful thing.
makes my spots go ‘way.
</haiku>
Shadow/Highlight: Magnificient tool!
I just finished a restoration job where the principle need was to bring back faded color in a series of pictures of a 3 year old. Momma was adamant about the color, even providing a print of an unfaded image from the sequence.Well I got the cor back, but the facial features had flattened ou, like the light shadows around a cheek that defined the shape of the cheek.
To finesse a color cast in the highlights, I used the Highlight eyedropper in Levels. Thids immediately caused the contrast to jump. Backing off on RGB in levels started flattening again, so in desperation, I left it high contrast and went to the highlight control in Shadows/Highlight.
Magic!! I mean real Magic! There it was shape back to the cheek, the whiteness in the sneakers was right, not too much, not blown out.
Mamma was thrilled!
Paraphrasing dave’s haiku:
shadow/highlight great.
it is a wonderful thing.
gave my client joy.
In shadow /highlight tool as non destructive as curves? why do you find it a great tool?
Scottie,
ANY tonal manipulation is destructive, some more than others. You have to ask yourself if the improved image quality after the move made the image look better, or would you have preferred the protect the sanctity of the original pixels. It depends on how far you go and what your output is. S/H appears to use Screen and Multiply blending modes as part of the "magic" that it does, and does it in a way that gradually folds it into the existing image in a controlled and non abrupt transitions. It seems to work particularly well on digital images that have little or no noise and no grain.
Scottie,
Shadow/highlight is destructive in the sense that it cannot be applied as an adjustment layer, it modifies the image itself. Therefore, an incompetent hack like me quickly learns to duplicate the layer before using it.
Is it just me or does the S/H adjustment always adjust highlights even when that slider is set to zero?
There probably is something I missed, but what I normally need to use if for is for the darker quarter or third of the brightness range. I’ve been getting around that by using that adjustment on a copy layer and erasing the adjusted highlights.
DS Nelson,
I wouldn’t say your incompetent. By working on duplicate layers, you picked up the ability to go back and fine tune the effect with layer opacity. YOU found a non-destructive way of applying effects/adjustments/filters that allows each to be adjusted after you add another to get them working together to give you the results you want. AND you did it on your own!! You also can, by using copy layers, go back later and re-order the adjustments effects/etc.
Bill, an incompetent non-expert user
So you just duplicate the BG layer as you might when doing an unsharp mask I assume.
If you work in 16 bit for S/H, the destructive qualities are minimized.
Putting S/H on a Layer does not provide quite the same control as I find for other Layer operations. I believe it’s because Shadows and highlights have separate adjustments which will not respond the same way to blending. If I want to have that control, I do Shadows on one Layer, Highlights on another.
It’s misleading to consider Layers as non-destructive. It is only that so long as the Layers exist. Flatten and bang! Destruction all over the place! 🙁
Even if you never flatten, when you go to print, the software flattens for you while printing. So, if you see posterizing in the print but not on the screen that may be the reason why.
Reordering is a very useful tool. Most of the time it screws up my goals, however.
Lawrence:
How do you put shadows/highlights on seperate layers?
What is destructive about flattening? everyone need to flatten. What do you mean by reordering? thanks!
1) Separate Layers:
Go to Layer>Duplicate layer (after making sure the Backround is selected in the Layers Pallet) Go to S/H and set default. You will now have "Standard" setting for shadows, no correction for highlights. Correct the shadows to taste. Click OK.
Now, repeat the opening sequence. When you get to S/H again, set the Shadow sliders to zero and adjust the highlights to taste. Click OK.
You now have a set of Shadow and Highlight Layers.
2)I was simply making the same case, just in case some thought that doing everything in Layers meant you never lose data. As you point out, flattening occurs sometime in the output and data is lost.
3)Reordering.
Open the Layers pallet. Assuming you have layers, grab one layer and move it to a higher or lower position (above Backround, of course). You have just reordered the layer sequence.
