A simple retouch that works well for me

Arjun Roychowdhury said:

This may be something that everyone already knows, but thought Id
bring it up anyway.

Seems to work fairly well for me to add the extra pizzaz to the
picture while at the same time , keeping it realistic looking.
Well, atleast it works well in pictures where there is a good
combination of light and darker areas.

Click to expand...

Arjun Roychowdhury said:

1. Ctrl+Alt+~ [ select brightest areas ]
2. Hit Curves (Ctrl+M) and drag the curve DOWN from the center to
your liking, hit OK
3. Select -> Invert [ select darkest areas ]
4. Hit Curves (Ctrl+M) and drag the curve UP from the center to
your liking, hit OK

This makes lighter areas deeper and darker areas more colorful and
bright adding a good look.

Click to expand...

Arjun Roychowdhury said:

Greetings,

This may be something that everyone already knows, but thought Id
bring it up anyway.

Seems to work fairly well for me to add the extra pizzaz to the
picture while at the same time , keeping it realistic looking.
Well, atleast it works well in pictures where there is a good
combination of light and darker areas.
As an example, I used this in almost all pictures in
http://www.pbase.com/arjunrc/skyline_drive_fall_2003
( I dont have the 'before' right now to show you)

1. Ctrl+Alt+~ [ select brightest areas ]
2. Hit Curves (Ctrl+M) and drag the curve DOWN from the center to
your liking, hit OK
3. Select -> Invert [ select darkest areas ]
4. Hit Curves (Ctrl+M) and drag the curve UP from the center to
your liking, hit OK

This makes lighter areas deeper and darker areas more colorful and
bright adding a good look.

There may be many other ways to do it - I just found this simple,
especially since I dont like spending too much time post-processing.

regds
arjun

--
http://www.pbase.com/arjunrc

Click to expand...

Anthony Game said:

Arjun Roychowdhury said:

This may be something that everyone already knows, but thought Id
bring it up anyway.

Seems to work fairly well for me to add the extra pizzaz to the
picture while at the same time , keeping it realistic looking.
Well, atleast it works well in pictures where there is a good
combination of light and darker areas.

Click to expand...

Anthony Game said:

1. Ctrl+Alt+~ [ select brightest areas ]
2. Hit Curves (Ctrl+M) and drag the curve DOWN from the center to
your liking, hit OK
3. Select -> Invert [ select darkest areas ]
4. Hit Curves (Ctrl+M) and drag the curve UP from the center to
your liking, hit OK

This makes lighter areas deeper and darker areas more colorful and
bright adding a good look.

Click to expand...

That's a useful tip, Arjun, and I haven't seen anything like it
before. What sort of pics do you find that it best suits?

--
Anthony Game

Click to expand...

Wile E. Coyote said:

Arjun Roychowdhury said:

Greetings,

This may be something that everyone already knows, but thought Id
bring it up anyway.

Seems to work fairly well for me to add the extra pizzaz to the
picture while at the same time , keeping it realistic looking.
Well, atleast it works well in pictures where there is a good
combination of light and darker areas.
As an example, I used this in almost all pictures in
http://www.pbase.com/arjunrc/skyline_drive_fall_2003
( I dont have the 'before' right now to show you)

1. Ctrl+Alt+~ [ select brightest areas ]
2. Hit Curves (Ctrl+M) and drag the curve DOWN from the center to
your liking, hit OK
3. Select -> Invert [ select darkest areas ]
4. Hit Curves (Ctrl+M) and drag the curve UP from the center to
your liking, hit OK

This makes lighter areas deeper and darker areas more colorful and
bright adding a good look.

There may be many other ways to do it - I just found this simple,
especially since I dont like spending too much time post-processing.

regds
arjun

--
http://www.pbase.com/arjunrc

Click to expand...

I just tried it on a photo that was a little dark. This method
really added "punch" to the photo.
Thanks
--
Bill...
Acme E-10, Acme LiPo, Acme WCON08B, Acme FL-40, Canon off camera
cord, Acme Brand Stroboframe, Acme Promax Softbox, Acme
GraphireII...other stuff, too...



Thanks Mark

Click to expand...

Arjun Roychowdhury said:

Greetings,

This may be something that everyone already knows, but thought Id
bring it up anyway.

Seems to work fairly well for me to add the extra pizzaz to the
picture while at the same time , keeping it realistic looking.
Well, atleast it works well in pictures where there is a good
combination of light and darker areas.
As an example, I used this in almost all pictures in
http://www.pbase.com/arjunrc/skyline_drive_fall_2003
( I dont have the 'before' right now to show you)

1. Ctrl+Alt+~ [ select brightest areas ]
2. Hit Curves (Ctrl+M) and drag the curve DOWN from the center to
your liking, hit OK
3. Select -> Invert [ select darkest areas ]
4. Hit Curves (Ctrl+M) and drag the curve UP from the center to
your liking, hit OK

This makes lighter areas deeper and darker areas more colorful and
bright adding a good look.

There may be many other ways to do it - I just found this simple,
especially since I dont like spending too much time post-processing.

regds
arjun

--
http://www.pbase.com/arjunrc

Click to expand...

Arjun Roychowdhury said:

Greetings,

This may be something that everyone already knows, but thought Id
bring it up anyway.

Seems to work fairly well for me to add the extra pizzaz to the
picture while at the same time , keeping it realistic looking.
Well, atleast it works well in pictures where there is a good
combination of light and darker areas.
As an example, I used this in almost all pictures in
http://www.pbase.com/arjunrc/skyline_drive_fall_2003
( I dont have the 'before' right now to show you)

1. Ctrl+Alt+~ [ select brightest areas ]
2. Hit Curves (Ctrl+M) and drag the curve DOWN from the center to
your liking, hit OK
3. Select -> Invert [ select darkest areas ]
4. Hit Curves (Ctrl+M) and drag the curve UP from the center to
your liking, hit OK

This makes lighter areas deeper and darker areas more colorful and
bright adding a good look.

There may be many other ways to do it - I just found this simple,
especially since I dont like spending too much time post-processing.

regds
arjun

--
http://www.pbase.com/arjunrc

Click to expand...

Arjun Roychowdhury said:

Greetings,

This may be something that everyone already knows, but thought Id
bring it up anyway.

Seems to work fairly well for me to add the extra pizzaz to the
picture while at the same time , keeping it realistic looking.
Well, atleast it works well in pictures where there is a good
combination of light and darker areas.
As an example, I used this in almost all pictures in
http://www.pbase.com/arjunrc/skyline_drive_fall_2003
( I dont have the 'before' right now to show you)

1. Ctrl+Alt+~ [ select brightest areas ]
2. Hit Curves (Ctrl+M) and drag the curve DOWN from the center to
your liking, hit OK
3. Select -> Invert [ select darkest areas ]
4. Hit Curves (Ctrl+M) and drag the curve UP from the center to
your liking, hit OK

This makes lighter areas deeper and darker areas more colorful and
bright adding a good look.

There may be many other ways to do it - I just found this simple,
especially since I dont like spending too much time post-processing.

regds
arjun

--
http://www.pbase.com/arjunrc

Click to expand...

Bill C said:

Thanks for the tip....
another alternative to this that works for me on many pics where
you have contrasting light/shadows...

do the select CTL+ALT+~

Select Inverse (Shift+Ctl+I)

create a new layer of this selection ... on a PC it is CTL+C (Copy)
then CTL+V (Paste) (or, you can do Edit/Copy Edit/Paste)

Then, you can 'play' with the top layer blend mode and opacity - I
use LINEAR DOGE which seems to work for most pics.

flatten

Regards,
Bill C

Click to expand...

RJR said:

View---> Show---> Selection Edges

Clicking on Selection Edges will show/hide selection edges. This
is quite helpful when selection edges are distracting.

--Rob

RJR said:

1. Ctrl+Alt+~ [ select brightest areas ]

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Anthony Game said:

That's a useful tip, Arjun, and I haven't seen anything like it
before. What sort of pics do you find that it best suits?

--
Anthony Game

Click to expand...

Arjun Roychowdhury said:

Greetings,

This may be something that everyone already knows, but thought Id
bring it up anyway.

Seems to work fairly well for me to add the extra pizzaz to the
picture while at the same time , keeping it realistic looking.
Well, atleast it works well in pictures where there is a good
combination of light and darker areas.
As an example, I used this in almost all pictures in
http://www.pbase.com/arjunrc/skyline_drive_fall_2003
( I dont have the 'before' right now to show you)

1. Ctrl+Alt+~ [ select brightest areas ]
2. Hit Curves (Ctrl+M) and drag the curve DOWN from the center to
your liking, hit OK
3. Select -> Invert [ select darkest areas ]
4. Hit Curves (Ctrl+M) and drag the curve UP from the center to
your liking, hit OK

This makes lighter areas deeper and darker areas more colorful and
bright adding a good look.

There may be many other ways to do it - I just found this simple,
especially since I dont like spending too much time post-processing.

regds
arjun

--
http://www.pbase.com/arjunrc

Click to expand...

Bill C said:

Thanks for the tip....
another alternative to this that works for me on many pics where
you have contrasting light/shadows...

do the select CTL+ALT+~

Select Inverse (Shift+Ctl+I)

create a new layer of this selection ... on a PC it is CTL+C (Copy)
then CTL+V (Paste) (or, you can do Edit/Copy Edit/Paste)

Then, you can 'play' with the top layer blend mode and opacity - I
use LINEAR DOGE which seems to work for most pics.

flatten

Regards,
Bill C

Click to expand...

Vernon D Rainwater said:

Hello Rob, I am using Photoshop 7 and XP Pro. The Selection Edges
is :grayed out" and not available for use when I select-->
View---> Show---> Selection Edges.
However, when using: Ctrl+Alt+~ it works OK.
I tried with RGB and Grayscale images and both were 8 bits per
channel.
Any suggestions what I may be doing wrong.

Click to expand...

Arjun Roychowdhury said:

Greetings,

This may be something that everyone already knows, but thought Id
bring it up anyway.

Seems to work fairly well for me to add the extra pizzaz to the
picture while at the same time , keeping it realistic looking.
Well, atleast it works well in pictures where there is a good
combination of light and darker areas.
As an example, I used this in almost all pictures in
http://www.pbase.com/arjunrc/skyline_drive_fall_2003
( I dont have the 'before' right now to show you)

1. Ctrl+Alt+~ [ select brightest areas ]
2. Hit Curves (Ctrl+M) and drag the curve DOWN from the center to
your liking, hit OK
3. Select -> Invert [ select darkest areas ]
4. Hit Curves (Ctrl+M) and drag the curve UP from the center to
your liking, hit OK

This makes lighter areas deeper and darker areas more colorful and
bright adding a good look.

There may be many other ways to do it - I just found this simple,
especially since I dont like spending too much time post-processing.

regds
arjun

--
http://www.pbase.com/arjunrc

Click to expand...