Action for Shadow and Highlight Adjustments

[Sheri99]

Especially for PS 7 users. Tested on dull landscapes and backlit people on the beach. No need for masking and so far results compare favorably with the new CS feature.

http://home.comcast.net/~silvermoonwoman/psaction/shadow_highlight_adjustment.zip

Have learned alot from this group and hope this action will be useful to some of you. I haven't done many actions (maybe I should call it beta), but have recorded some fairly complex activity and tried to make it both flexible and tailored to each given image. You just have to adjust to taste the opacity of two layers (doubled screen for the Shadows adjustment and doubled multiply for adjusting Highlights), plus the contrast in an adjustment layer.

Technical detail, this action selects feathered luminosity and feathered inverse luminosity as input to the blended layers.

Enjoy,
Sheri

 

[Goldcoin]

Sheri....

Wow, I tried to wade thru all technical stuff about "the claw & luminosity"....you mean this sweet little action will take care of what was discussed? You are something, many thanks.

GoldCoin
http://www.pbase.com/goldcoin

Especially for PS 7 users. Tested on dull landscapes and backlit
people on the beach. No need for masking and so far results compare
favorably with the new CS feature.

http://home.comcast.net/~silvermoonwoman/psaction/shadow_highlight_adjustment.zip

Have learned alot from this group and hope this action will be
useful to some of you. I haven't done many actions (maybe I should
call it beta), but have recorded some fairly complex activity and
tried to make it both flexible and tailored to each given image.
You just have to adjust to taste the opacity of two layers (doubled
screen for the Shadows adjustment and doubled multiply for
adjusting Highlights), plus the contrast in an adjustment layer.

Technical detail, this action selects feathered luminosity and
feathered inverse luminosity as input to the blended layers.

Enjoy,
Sheri

 

[Rick L]

Sheri,

Thank you! I tried this on an image that has been giving me fits, had tried contrast masks and various other tricks with unsatisfactory results. Problem was hard side lighting on faces. While this didn't completely solve the problem of an admittedly poorly exposed picture, it worked better than anything else I tried. It did reduce contast in the background a bit too much, but that one is easily fixed.

Thanks again for sharing, keep up the nice work. If this is what you can do without having done many actions, our Action Man better watch out for the competition!

Rick L

Especially for PS 7 users. Tested on dull landscapes and backlit
people on the beach. No need for masking and so far results compare
favorably with the new CS feature.

http://home.comcast.net/~silvermoonwoman/psaction/shadow_highlight_adjustment.zip

Have learned alot from this group and hope this action will be
useful to some of you. I haven't done many actions (maybe I should
call it beta), but have recorded some fairly complex activity and
tried to make it both flexible and tailored to each given image.
You just have to adjust to taste the opacity of two layers (doubled
screen for the Shadows adjustment and doubled multiply for
adjusting Highlights), plus the contrast in an adjustment layer.

Technical detail, this action selects feathered luminosity and
feathered inverse luminosity as input to the blended layers.

Enjoy,
Sheri

 

[Vera]

Thank you! I tried this on an image that has been giving me fits,
had tried contrast masks and various other tricks with
unsatisfactory results. Problem was hard side lighting on faces.
While this didn't completely solve the problem of an admittedly
poorly exposed picture, it worked better than anything else I
tried. It did reduce contast in the background a bit too much, but
that one is easily fixed.

Thanks again for sharing, keep up the nice work. If this is what
you can do without having done many actions, our Action Man better
watch out for the competition!

Rick L

Especially for PS 7 users. Tested on dull landscapes and backlit
people on the beach. No need for masking and so far results compare
favorably with the new CS feature.

http://home.comcast.net/~silvermoonwoman/psaction/shadow_highlight_adjustment.zip

Have learned alot from this group and hope this action will be
useful to some of you. I haven't done many actions (maybe I should
call it beta), but have recorded some fairly complex activity and
tried to make it both flexible and tailored to each given image.
You just have to adjust to taste the opacity of two layers (doubled
screen for the Shadows adjustment and doubled multiply for
adjusting Highlights), plus the contrast in an adjustment layer.

Technical detail, this action selects feathered luminosity and
feathered inverse luminosity as input to the blended layers.

Enjoy,
Sheri

--
Vera

 

[Cassandra59044]

Thanks Sheri! Can't wait to try it!

Cassandra
'

Especially for PS 7 users. Tested on dull landscapes and backlit
people on the beach. No need for masking and so far results compare
favorably with the new CS feature.

http://home.comcast.net/~silvermoonwoman/psaction/shadow_highlight_adjustment.zip

Have learned alot from this group and hope this action will be
useful to some of you. I haven't done many actions (maybe I should
call it beta), but have recorded some fairly complex activity and
tried to make it both flexible and tailored to each given image.
You just have to adjust to taste the opacity of two layers (doubled
screen for the Shadows adjustment and doubled multiply for
adjusting Highlights), plus the contrast in an adjustment layer.

Technical detail, this action selects feathered luminosity and
feathered inverse luminosity as input to the blended layers.

Enjoy,
Sheri

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

 

[dannyraphael]

Sheri:

Nice of you to share your handiwork.

Since the action expects (and needs) a background-only image, you might consider modifying it to include Duplicate Image and Flatten Image commands at the beginning. Doing so would eliminate the need for the Stop message at the beginning enabling the action to play uninterrupted.

Just a thought...

Danny

Especially for PS 7 users. Tested on dull landscapes and backlit
people on the beach. No need for masking and so far results compare
favorably with the new CS feature.

http://home.comcast.net/~silvermoonwoman/psaction/shadow_highlight_adjustment.zip

Have learned alot from this group and hope this action will be
useful to some of you. I haven't done many actions (maybe I should
call it beta), but have recorded some fairly complex activity and
tried to make it both flexible and tailored to each given image.
You just have to adjust to taste the opacity of two layers (doubled
screen for the Shadows adjustment and doubled multiply for
adjusting Highlights), plus the contrast in an adjustment layer.

Technical detail, this action selects feathered luminosity and
feathered inverse luminosity as input to the blended layers.

Enjoy,
Sheri

 

[Cassandra59044]

Sherri I tried your action on a group shot that was badly underexposed from using on-camera flash in a large, dark room. I'd done all the tweaking I could to lighten the image without blowing out the highlights (white shirts and such) and it looked okay. But after running your action on those results, the improvement was simply amazing! )) Thanks again.

Cassandra
--
http://www.pbase.com/cassandra

 

[Bill M]

Danny, this action is similar to the technique you asked me to evaluate not long ago as a "dynamic range extender". The only difference is that it used the red channel for the mask instead of the rgb. It also had the problem of greatly reducing contrast in the entire image. But since it was constant and predictable, I recommended adding an automatic fixed contrast increase. I liked it, called it "contrast mask light." I use it frequently.
Nice work, Sheri.
Bill

Nice of you to share your handiwork.

Since the action expects (and needs) a background-only image, you
might consider modifying it to include Duplicate Image and Flatten
Image commands at the beginning. Doing so would eliminate the need
for the Stop message at the beginning enabling the action to play
uninterrupted.

Just a thought...

Danny

Especially for PS 7 users. Tested on dull landscapes and backlit
people on the beach. No need for masking and so far results compare
favorably with the new CS feature.

http://home.comcast.net/~silvermoonwoman/psaction/shadow_highlight_adjustment.zip

Have learned alot from this group and hope this action will be
useful to some of you. I haven't done many actions (maybe I should
call it beta), but have recorded some fairly complex activity and
tried to make it both flexible and tailored to each given image.
You just have to adjust to taste the opacity of two layers (doubled
screen for the Shadows adjustment and doubled multiply for
adjusting Highlights), plus the contrast in an adjustment layer.

Technical detail, this action selects feathered luminosity and
feathered inverse luminosity as input to the blended layers.

Enjoy,
Sheri

 

[Mike Warren]

Sheri,

I took a normal photo then screwed it up by making it darker in curves.

I ran your atn and brought it all the way back to actually better than the original.

Nice Work! (This is a keeper)

Mike
---
http://www.pbase.com/mikew714

 

[Bob..]

Sheri:

Just tried your great action on a dark flash shot and it worked like a charm. This will be a life saver for a lot of point and shooters as well as the more expirenced photoshop users. Thanks for sharing!!

Bob..

Especially for PS 7 users. Tested on dull landscapes and backlit
people on the beach. No need for masking and so far results compare
favorably with the new CS feature.

http://home.comcast.net/~silvermoonwoman/psaction/shadow_highlight_adjustment.zip

Have learned alot from this group and hope this action will be
useful to some of you. I haven't done many actions (maybe I should
call it beta), but have recorded some fairly complex activity and
tried to make it both flexible and tailored to each given image.
You just have to adjust to taste the opacity of two layers (doubled
screen for the Shadows adjustment and doubled multiply for
adjusting Highlights), plus the contrast in an adjustment layer.

Technical detail, this action selects feathered luminosity and
feathered inverse luminosity as input to the blended layers.

Enjoy,
Sheri

 

[Mike Warren]

It really works!

It's like the second picture was taken with a flash...

Mike
---
http://www.pbase.com/mikew714

 

[Sheri99]

Sheri:

Nice of you to share your handiwork.

Since the action expects (and needs) a background-only image, you
might consider modifying it to include Duplicate Image and Flatten
Image commands at the beginning. Doing so would eliminate the need
for the Stop message at the beginning enabling the action to play
uninterrupted.

Just a thought...

Danny

Thanks Danny, I can see now that would be a better way to go. I also now realize the action could have activated the brightness-contrast layer's dialog after creating it. I was a bit surprised that it wouldn't stay activated in the creation step.

I wish that actions had some if-then logical processing capability.

Sheri

 

[Sheri99]

Sheri,

Thank you! I tried this on an image that has been giving me fits,
had tried contrast masks and various other tricks with
unsatisfactory results. Problem was hard side lighting on faces.
While this didn't completely solve the problem of an admittedly
poorly exposed picture, it worked better than anything else I
tried. It did reduce contast in the background a bit too much, but
that one is easily fixed.

Thanks again for sharing, keep up the nice work. If this is what
you can do without having done many actions, our Action Man better
watch out for the competition!

Rick L

Hi Rick, Glad to hear it did the trick for you! I read what you said about the contrast, and realize now that the action could and should activate that dialog for you instead of making you open it in the layer. I may do another version for that and a few other changes.

Regards,
Sheri

 

[Sheri99]

Sherri I tried your action on a group shot that was badly
underexposed from using on-camera flash in a large, dark room. I'd
done all the tweaking I could to lighten the image without blowing
out the highlights (white shirts and such) and it looked okay. But
after running your action on those results, the improvement was
simply amazing! )) Thanks again.

Cassandra
--
http://www.pbase.com/cassandra

Thank you! For letting me know )

Regards,
Sheri

 

[Sheri99]

Hi Mike, that's a good lookin' motorcycle! Thanks for your comments on the action.

The cycle looks great but you are getting some newly blow highlights in the road and car behind it. Maybe it happened in your Brightness-Contrast adjustment layer? I've just been using that layer for slight adjustments to contrast.

Regards,
Sheri

 

[Sheri99]

Sheri:

Just tried your great action on a dark flash shot and it worked
like a charm. This will be a life saver for a lot of point and
shooters as well as the more expirenced photoshop users. Thanks
for sharing!!

Bob..

It also works on overly bright flash pictures. I took this in the middle of the night last night -- my dogs were having a fit; wonder if they chased him up there or just knew he was perching there? Anyway once I got the dogs in the house I grabbed the camera. It was so dark, nothing registered on the LCD. I used manual focus distance setting and full flash. Its not the greatest, but wasn't bad after using the action:

 

[dannyraphael]

I believe I read in the CS specs that "if-then-else" capabilities were implemented in the ImageReady CS version of actions, which I learned recently are not compatible w/PS actions.

Hope for those with VBA or JavaScript-type skills (not me):

If-then constructs, Boolean operators, calculations, comparisions plus access to lots of data fields not available to actions (e.g., file_name, current_date, etc.) and all that stuff are available via PS Scripting that was introduced with PS7.

Heavy sigh...

RE: I was a bit surprised that it wouldn't stay activated in the creation step.

It's just one of those things. The default is to not set the Display Dialog checkbox when steps are recorded, but...

If you have a better memory than I do (which can be said for most people), immediately after you record a step like that you can click the Display Dialog checkbox, setting it "on" w/o having to exit Record Mode.

Opps...gotta run. Another raft of Trick-or-Treaters.

Danny

Sheri:

Nice of you to share your handiwork.

Since the action expects (and needs) a background-only image, you
might consider modifying it to include Duplicate Image and Flatten
Image commands at the beginning. Doing so would eliminate the need
for the Stop message at the beginning enabling the action to play
uninterrupted.

Just a thought...

Danny

Thanks Danny, I can see now that would be a better way to go. I
also now realize the action could have activated the
brightness-contrast layer's dialog after creating it. I was a bit
surprised that it wouldn't stay activated in the creation step.

I wish that actions had some if-then logical processing capability.

Sheri

 

[Vera]

Hi Mike, that's a good lookin' motorcycle! Thanks for your comments
on the action.

The cycle looks great but you are getting some newly blow
highlights in the road and car behind it. Maybe it happened in your
Brightness-Contrast adjustment layer? I've just been using that
layer for slight adjustments to contrast.

Regards,
Sheri

--heres my before and after. i think somewhere along the way i would make a history snapshot so i could paint back in some of the original areas. this has lightened a really poorly exposed photo brilliantly in some areas. this photo was taken by a japanese tourist who obviously focussed on the opera house ( why not) and also i didnt adjust zoom or ev for her.

you have bought me and the kids out of the shadows but maybe the effect is a little too universal. next time I will set the history and make a small adjustment at the end





Vera

 

[Vera]

Hi Mike, that's a good lookin' motorcycle! Thanks for your comments
on the action.

The cycle looks great but you are getting some newly blow
highlights in the road and car behind it. Maybe it happened in your
Brightness-Contrast adjustment layer? I've just been using that
layer for slight adjustments to contrast.

Regards,
Sheri

--heres my before and after. i think somewhere along the way i
would make a history snapshot so i could paint back in some of the
original areas. this has lightened a really poorly exposed photo
brilliantly in some areas. this photo was taken by a japanese
tourist who obviously focussed on the opera house ( why not) and
also i didnt adjust zoom or ev for her.
you have bought me and the kids out of the shadows but maybe the
effect is a little too universal. next time I will set the history
and make a small adjustment at the end





Vera

--does not want to link so its
http://www.pbase.com/image/22848396/large
Vera

 

[Mike Warren]

Hi Mike, that's a good lookin' motorcycle! Thanks for your comments
on the action.

The cycle looks great but you are getting some newly blow
highlights in the road and car behind it. Maybe it happened in your
Brightness-Contrast adjustment layer? I've just been using that
layer for slight adjustments to contrast.

Regards,
Sheri

--heres my before and after. i think somewhere along the way i
would make a history snapshot so i could paint back in some of the
original areas. this has lightened a really poorly exposed photo
brilliantly in some areas. this photo was taken by a japanese
tourist who obviously focussed on the opera house ( why not) and
also i didnt adjust zoom or ev for her.
you have bought me and the kids out of the shadows but maybe the
effect is a little too universal. next time I will set the history
and make a small adjustment at the end





Vera

--
Mike
---
http://www.pbase.com/mikew714