What is your favourite trick?

david casius · Sep 6, 2004

Julio said:
Easy, realistic skin smoothing:
1. Channel mixer adjustment layer - just click ok without any
changes - set mode to luminosity and reopen the adjustment layer.
2. Clheck monochrome; red 70%, Green 25% Blue 0% (total=95%)
3. On the channel mixer mask use a black brush to remove the effect
from the eyes, lips and any other areas you want .
Conversely... If you want to deliberately coarsen... make the
adjustment in step 2 be Red 0%, Green 35%, Blue 70% (total=105%)

Here's an example - nothing done to raw conversion other than the
steps above and cropping:

--
Dave

N.i.k.o.n D.1.0.0
N.i.k.o.n C.o.o.l.P.i.x 4.3.0.0
O.l.y.m.p.u.s C.5.0.z
C.a.n.o.n A.E.1 P.r.o.g.r.a.m
Mac G4 Dual 1Ghz Digital Dark Room!

Hooligans Imagery · Sep 6, 2004

Select Eyes and place on new layer or duplicate layer and set a mask to reveal eyes only. On new layer, set to screen and adjust opacity to taste.

See my site on this here.

http://stinson.smugmug.com/gallery/211419

View it in journal mode (upper right side dropdown under style).

French connection said:
Hello all!
What is your favourite ttrick to enhance pics in one or two (max
3steps) in PS?

--
Stinson

http://stinson.smugmug.com/
http://www.photosig.com/go/users/view?id=64739
ViewExif at http://ak.no-ip.com/EXIF/

Hooligans Imagery · Sep 6, 2004

Thi Tran said:
In PS7, I use the following steps sometines in order to fix color
cast:
. Select "Curves"
. Select "Options"
. Select "Find Dark & Light Colors", and "Snap Neutral Midtones"
.

The following helps this trick when I am not happy with the results from my standard settings.

If you not happy yet with the Shadows & Highlights, select the

Thi Tran said:
appropriate box then use the color picker or just move the little
circle to where the ideal color for Shadows & Highlights

Thi

French connection said:

Hello all!
What is your favourite ttrick to enhance pics in one or two (max
3steps) in PS?

Click to expand...

--
Stinson

http://stinson.smugmug.com/
http://www.photosig.com/go/users/view?id=64739
ViewExif at http://ak.no-ip.com/EXIF/

Glenn Barber · Sep 6, 2004

Anand Sankaran said:
French connection said:

Hello all!
What is your favourite ttrick to enhance pics in one or two (max
3steps) in PS?

Click to expand...

--
http://www.anands.net/photos

Hooligans Imagery · Sep 6, 2004

that just because adjustment layers are created with masks that start out white and can then be painted like a regular layer mask?

dannyraphael said:
Thanks for asking. If it wasn't quite clear to you, it probably
wasn't for other folks.

Painting B or W on adjustment layers works the same way as it does
on layer masks added to regular layers. In this case no layer masks
are involved...just the adjustment layers themselves, which are
added above the target layer(s).

Try this extreme example:

Add a Hue/Sat adjustment layer above any color Background

Set Saturation to -100 and close the dialog

Set foreground color to black and choose a hard edged brush

Flow = 100%, Opacity = 100%

Where you paint black on the adjustment layer the effect is

suppressed
revealing the color from the BG below

Ctrl + I to invert the mask

Ctrl + I again to put it back the way it was

Switch to white and paint to "undo"

Black and white are the extremes (100% conceal or 100% reveal). By
airbrushing black on a white mask or white on black mask results in
various degrees of gray (somewhere in between B/W) for controlled
applicaiton.

Does this help?
~~Danny~~

Isabel Cutler said:

dannyraphael said:

Great thread. Great idea. I don't believe I read this one among
this collection.

It's not unusual for an image to need color or toning adjustments
in specific areas, not overall. This is my I approach to these
situations:

Add the appropriate adjustment layer (Levels, Curves, Hue/Sat, etc.)

Apply the adjustment to correct/enhance the areas that need it.

(This
usually results in messing up areas that don't need fixing.)

Ctrl + I (to invert the mask and "undo" the effect)

Airbrush with white in desired areas to (again) reveal the

adjustment
layer's effect. Airbrushing allows you to control the degree of
application depending on need. (Paint black to "undo" if you overdo
it.) You can fine tune by tweaking the adjustment layer's opacity
or trying different layer blend modes.

~~Danny~~

Click to expand...

--
http://www.pbase.com/isabel95
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Digipets

Click to expand...

--
Stinson

http://stinson.smugmug.com/
http://www.photosig.com/go/users/view?id=64739
ViewExif at http://ak.no-ip.com/EXIF/

Kent C · Sep 6, 2004

Stinson said:
that just because adjustment layers are created with masks that
start out white and can then be painted like a regular layer mask?

They have an added mask by default, however with a regular layer mask you can click on the layer (not the mask) and use the brush tool in a 'regular' way. Not so with an adjustment layer - all brush strokes are confined to the mask.
--
Kent
http://www.pbase.com/kentc

jfriend00 · Sep 6, 2004

This one works like a charm. I just tried it on a dreary low saturation photo taken on a foggy day and it worked great. Really warmed up the color. Thanks for the tip.

parikh said:
This is to enhance the colors of the image especially taken with
low to mid end digital cameras, generally suffering from poor color
saturation.
Typical adj. layer with hue/saturation would result in ugly
artifacts. This method might be a better alternative.
duplicate background> select the copy> image> adjustment> hue and
saturation> increase the saturation to around 60-70 (image will
look to be absolutely thrashy)> go to filter> noise> median(select
around 6 )> filter> blur> gausssian blur(select around 4)> set the
blend mode to color> dial the opacity as per the liking.
Enriches the colors in otherwise bland images without the
accompanying artifacts.
cheers,
parikh

Marly · Sep 6, 2004

Francis Tapia said:
--
Francis Romulus E. Tapia
http://www.photos.ph/francist
Iligan City, Philippines

--
Marly

Isabel Cutler62850 · Sep 7, 2004

Thank you for sharing this trick. Tell me, did I overdo?
Before your technique:

After:

Isabel

http://www.pbase.com/isabel95
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Digipets

dannyraphael · Sep 7, 2004

parikh said:
This is to enhance the colors of the image especially taken with
low to mid end digital cameras, generally suffering from poor color
saturation.

parikh said:
Typical adj. layer with hue/saturation would result in ugly
artifacts. This method might be a better alternative.

parikh said:
duplicate background
select the copy
image> adjustment> hue and saturation

increase the saturation to around 60-70 (image will look to be absolutely thrashy)
filter > noise > median (select around 6)
filter > blur > gausssian blur (select around 4)
set the blend mode to color
dial the opacity as per the liking.

This enriches the colors in otherwise bland images without the
accompanying artifacts.

Interesting technique...

So you need both Noise > Median & Blur > Gaussian blur?

dannyraphael · Sep 7, 2004

Stinson said:
that just because adjustment layers are created with masks that
start out white and can then be painted like a regular layer mask?

Yep. Sure is.

You're on top of your game as usual.

snapper25 · Sep 7, 2004

Not to question the master, but just going to the "hill" would lose all of the highlight and shadow detail, as in the clouds and the trees? Would it be better to move the center slider so that the detail is kept?

Of course, it depends whether you keep the foothills or not.

DianeR said:
feivel said:

French connection said:

Hello all!
What is your favourite ttrick to enhance pics in one or two (max
3steps) in PS?

Click to expand...

go to levels
bring left and right triangles in until they meet the "hill" of the
histogram

then

go to unsharp mask
amount 15
radius 30
threshold zero

Click to expand...

--
DianeR
FCAS Member
http://www.pbase.com/ramseyd

D Juan Hundred · Sep 7, 2004

Toggle through the blending modes

Hold the shift key down and hit the "+" key
--------------------------------

Color correction for PS CS

Duplicate background
Filter> blur> average
Image> Adjustments> Invert
Change blending mode to "color"
Change opacity to about 50%
Add saturation with Hue/Sat adjustment layer

Henry W · Sep 7, 2004

feivel is correct unless you move the outer sliders up the hill. By definition there are no values at the base line and therefore nothing to lose.
Henry

snapper25 said:
Of course, it depends whether you keep the foothills or not.

DianeR said:

feivel said:

French connection said:

Hello all!
What is your favourite ttrick to enhance pics in one or two (max
3steps) in PS?

Click to expand...

go to levels
bring left and right triangles in until they meet the "hill" of the
histogram

then

go to unsharp mask
amount 15
radius 30
threshold zero

Click to expand...

--
DianeR
FCAS Member
http://www.pbase.com/ramseyd

Click to expand...

feivel · Sep 7, 2004

henry's right
im talking about the type of situation found here
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1006&message=10121996
in a case like this you would lose zero shadow and highlight detail.
of course every situation is different
and there could be some small footlills that are important

you can hold the alt key while you move the triangles and the lost detail areas will be highlighted

feivel

Bernd Taeger · Sep 7, 2004

D Juan Hundred said:
Toggle through the blending modes

Hold the shift key down and hit the "+" key
--------------------------------

Nice one, but caution:

Toggling will fill in history pallette and push other corrections outside the history stack.

--
Bernd Taeger

Bob Quinn · Sep 7, 2004

Bernd,

I have PS7, I don't see it affecting history. But maybe it does in CS.

Bob

-----------------

Bernd Taeger said:
D Juan Hundred said:

Toggle through the blending modes

Hold the shift key down and hit the "+" key
--------------------------------

Click to expand...

Nice one, but caution:

Toggling will fill in history pallette and push other corrections
outside the history stack.

--
Bernd Taeger

D Juan Hundred · Sep 7, 2004

Bob,

Bernd is right (with CS, at least). Since I don't use the history much, I never noticed. And, if you don't know what blend mode to use, as I normally don't, it helps me to decide.

Gary

Bob Quinn said:
I have PS7, I don't see it affecting history. But maybe it does in
CS.

Bob

-----------------

Bernd Taeger said:

D Juan Hundred said:

Toggle through the blending modes

Hold the shift key down and hit the "+" key
--------------------------------

Click to expand...

Nice one, but caution:

Toggling will fill in history pallette and push other corrections
outside the history stack.

--
Bernd Taeger

Click to expand...

--

mandrake · Sep 7, 2004

feivel said:
henry's right
im talking about the type of situation found here
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1006&message=10121996
in a case like this you would lose zero shadow and highlight detail.
of course every situation is different
and there could be some small footlills that are important
you can hold the alt key while you move the triangles and the lost
detail areas will be highlighted

You could just do 'Auto-Contrast' in PhotoShop and this would be exactly the same thing (provided you had clipping set to zero for both the white- and black-points).

http://www.pbase.com/dkusner

feivel · Sep 7, 2004

mandrake said:
You could just do 'Auto-Contrast' in PhotoShop and this would be
exactly the same thing (provided you had clipping set to zero for
both the white- and black-points).

http://www.pbase.com/dkusner

you could
you could also do auto levels
you could also move the ends of the line in curves to the right and left
theres lots of ways to do any one thing in ps

the problem with autocontrast is that you cant watch the picture or the clipping display (when holding the alt key) if there are important pixels before the "hill"

What is your favourite trick?

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