What does gradation means?

[amit190]

Ive seen a video of photo editing , pushing gradation down low and then adding exposure and get really nice photo. It looks like the gradation is like the opposite of contrast?

Another one ,

What is unsharp mask? Is it a sharpning tool?

Thanks

 

[Tom Axford]

...

What is unsharp mask? Is it a sharpning tool?

It is used for both sharpening and local contrast enhancement.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unsharp_masking

https://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/sharpness.htm

 

[D Cox]

Gradation is the smoothness of transition from one tone or colour to another. It is most obvious in skies, but can be important in portraits.

Note the gradation from top to horizon in the sky. This is an 8 bit image (a JPG). Gradation is generally better in 16 bit images.



You could turn down gradation by increasing contrast or reducing the number of bits.

 

[amit190]

Gradation is the smoothness of transition from one tone or colour to another. It is most obvious in skies, but can be important in portraits.

Note the gradation from top to horizon in the sky. This is an 8 bit image (a JPG). Gradation is generally better in 16 bit images.



You could turn down gradation by increasing contrast or reducing the number of bits.

Do you mean the rate of change from dark blue to baby blue sky in this photo?

So If i will choose to low the gradation on it i will see more color differences?

 

[D Cox]

Gradation is the smoothness of transition from one tone or colour to another. It is most obvious in skies, but can be important in portraits.

Note the gradation from top to horizon in the sky. This is an 8 bit image (a JPG). Gradation is generally better in 16 bit images.



You could turn down gradation by increasing contrast or reducing the number of bits.

Do you mean the rate of change from dark blue to baby blue sky in this photo?

So If i will choose to low the gradation on it i will see more color differences?

You will see coarser steps. Here is an exaggerated example, where the image is reduced to 4 bits per channel.

However, it may be that the video you saw is using the term "gradation" wrongly and really means something else.

++++++++++++++

An unsharp mask is a blurred negative which you can combine with the original positive image. If it was sharp, it would exactly cancel out the positive, leaving a flat grey image with nothing in it. A blurred mask doesn't cancel the sharper details, so by balancing the two you can make the sharp details stand out more than the overall contrast.

 

[dincz]

The term "gradation" is not unique to photography. I'd recommend a dictionary.