PS/CS shadow/highlight adjustment

rutt

This was shot jpeg, might have worked out better raw, but that wasn't how it happened. Well, I saw potential there, even if it is very dark.



PS/CS has a new feature image->adjustments->shadow/highlight which I've played with a little. Thought I'd give it a try here. I just used the defaults and I got this:



It sure did recover a lot of detail in the shadows but it lost the beautiful black. So, I made a trip into LAB (so to speak) curves to make the black more neutral:



Now how about some sharpening. In my experience with pictures of this particular dog, it's very easy to make her fur look wet or fuzzy or just wrong. It's important to find the right channel to sharpen (where the detail is) and it's important to employ the right sharpening technique.

I ened up using Dan Margulis' trick of oversharpening and then blending in two separate layers, one for darken and one for lighten. The opacity of the lighten layer can be low. The result is nice sharpening without too much white halo effect. I think the white halos are what causes the wet look.



(I also took the opportunity to use the sharpening tool on her eyes and especially on the drool.)

Along the way to this version, I noticed that the red channel was a pretty nice B&W image. I also used the DM 2 layer sharpeing trick on it:



So, I don't think I really understand the highlight/shadow thing yet, but it seems like it has its uses. Seems like it needs to be followed up with some more classical techniques to nail it.

ginger_55

No Green Tennis balls with blk/white dog

rutt wrote:

This was shot jpeg, might have worked out better raw, but that wasn't how it happened. Well, I saw potential there, even if it is very dark.


I like the black and white, at least the tennis ball isn't green, then. I live in Charleston, SC, have been playing tennis here 15 years. Played other places before. Never saw a green tennis ball before last night on this site, too.

ginger

rutt

ginger_55 wrote:

rutt wrote:

This was shot jpeg, might have worked out better raw, but that wasn't how it happened. Well, I saw potential there, even if it is very dark.


I like the black and white, at least the tennis ball isn't green, then. I live in Charleston, SC, have been playing tennis here 15 years. Played other places before. Never saw a green tennis ball before last night on this site, too.

ginger

Tennis, yes, but do you have a lab? You see the balls do start out yellow. But what happens when you mix yellow pigment with mud and dog drool? This is basic color theory, or maybe chemistry, or maybe a little of both.
If you like I can send you some samples. PM my your address and I'll get em right out to you.

wmsnyder

Shadow/Highlight Tool
I had limited success with this tool until I read Artie Morris's Digital pdf file. Here are the default settings he suggest:

Make sure the black and white clip boxes are set to 0.
Shadow amount 10-15
Shadow Tonal 25
Shadow Radius 30

Highlight amount 1
Highlight Tonal 12-15
Highlight Radius 30
You can use the save as default button to make these values the default.

rutt

wmsnyder wrote:

I had limited success with this tool until I read Artie Morris's Digital pdf file. Here are the default settings he suggest:

Make sure the black and white clip boxes are set to 0.
Shadow amount 10-15
Shadow Tonal 25
Shadow Radius 30

Highlight amount 1
Highlight Tonal 12-15
Highlight Radius 30
You can use the save as default button to make these values the default.

Do you have a pointer to this article? I'd really like to know what the thing actually does. I mean I understand what USM does, for example. And before I did I couldn't use it as effectively as I could afterwards.

wmsnyder

Here is his web site. The pdf file cost $20 but I think it is well worth it.

http://www.birdsasart.com/

rutt wrote:

Do you have a pointer to this article? I'd really like to know what the thing actually does. I mean I understand what USM does, for example. And before I did I couldn't use it as effectively as I could afterwards.

pathfinder

wmsnyder wrote:

I had limited success with this tool until I read Artie Morris's Digital pdf file. Here are the default settings he suggest:
Make sure the black and white clip boxes are set to 0.
Shadow amount 10-15
Shadow Tonal 25
Shadow Radius 30
Highlight amount 1
Highlight Tonal 12-15
Highlight Radius 30
You can use the save as default button to make these values the default.

Rutt - I misssd this thread when it was originally posted as I was riding in Colorado. It seems that after you used the Adjust-Shadow/Highlight tool on the image of your black Lab, that you still had a quite a bit of work to get the tonality of the image correct. That was my experince with the Adjust-Shadow/Highlight tool also. I rarely used the Adjust Shadow/Highlight tool because I thought the default values worked poorly - highlights burnt out ande shadows too bright.
I was reading the Sept 2004 issue of PhotoShop User and found a set of recommendations for the settings by Deke McClelland - a know PS guru. On page 49 of the Sept 2004 issue he gives the following settings.

Click on Image - Adjustments - Shadow/Highlight With an image open click on Show More Options

He gives his defaults as

Shadows
Amount 25% this can be changed as needed by the image

Tonal width 70%

Radius 50 pcx

Highlights

Amount 25%

Tonal width 70%

Radius 50 pcx

Adjustments

Color Correction +10

Midtone Contrast 0

Black clip 0.01%
White clip 0.01%


Then click on SAVE AS DEFAULTS

I find these settings much more useful than the standard Adobe defaults, and find that I like the Shadow/Highlight tool quite a bit and find it very useful when the lighting is behind the subject for some reason. Give it a try and let me know your opinion about these alternative settings. And Kudos to Deke McClelland - Guru of Total Training for PSCS.

rutt

But what does it actually do?
The thing is great. But what is it doing, really? Does anyone know? I understand what USM does, for example, or curves. But how does it work. The engineers among us want to know.

pathfinder

rutt wrote:

The thing is great. But what is it doing, really? Does anyone know? I understand what USM does, for example, or curves. But how does it work. The engineers among us want to know.

Sometimes I'm like Ginger - Show me how and I'll figure out why later.

wxwax

pathfinder wrote:

Shadows
Amount 25% this can be changed as needed by the image
Tonal width 70%
Radius 50 pcx

Highlights
Amount 25%
Tonal width 70%
Radius 50 pcx

Adjustments
Color Correction +10
Midtone Contrast 0
Black clip 0.01%
White clip 0.01%

Then click on SAVE AS DEFAULTS

I'll try your settings. I've tended to avoid using the thing because I've found it to be so difficult to make work well.