| Author | Message | ||
     John Clifford New member Username: Johnclif Post Number: 1 Registered: 09-2005 |
Hello all, I'm a new user (and registered owner) of PWP 3.5, and I want to pick your brains as to the best way to edit photos. I have a photo I took of an acquaintance and her child, and I'm trying to 'perfect' it via PWP. Here's a small version (600x400) of the unprocessed RAW file (converted to JPEG), and here's the full-sized JPEG image (2 MB). Here's my best effort so far. I created a mask based upon brightness and used it with the Transformation/Grey/Brightness dialog in an attempt to selectively reduce the contrast of the image. After a little judicious sharpening, this is what I have now... first the small version (600x400), and here's the full-sized JPEG (2 MB). It seems to me that the best way to make this image reflect what my eye saw would be to mask the brightest parts of the little girl and her mother, decrease the brightness of those parts slightly to lower the contrast, mask the mother and the little girl (entirely, but separately) then increase the brightness of the mother and girl so that detail is visible, then decrease slightly the brightness of the background. I've tried making masks and, probably because of my ignorance, it is impossibly cumbersome. I would appreciate any shortcuts or tips as to how to do this via some sort of masking generation method that uses brightness or colors or contrast... and a detailed explanation (dialog settings, etc.) would be MOST appreciated. I'm hoping to learn how you experts do this so I don't have to ask this question again. Thanks in advance for your help. | ||
| den Unregistered guest |
When I first started with PWP, I worked mostly with the Levels & Color transform and as my understanding grew moved towards using the Brightness and Color Curves transforms.... So here is one imaging solution using Levels & Color with an 'active' mask.... 1. Click on the original image and open the Mask Tool -Brightness Curve option, form a curve = [0,100], [50,100], [100,0], and APPLY. 2. With the mask still active, click on the original image and open the Levels & Color transform. When it opens, the original image should be the input image with the applied mask and the white slider=100 and the black slider=0. Now adjust the Levels & Color to desired settings. Illustrated are the settings: 'full dynamic range', mid-tones = +35%, white balance = 'paper plate', HSV saturation = +15%  | ||
| den Unregistered guest |
A Variation.... One of the neat things about an 'active' mask is that it can be changed without open/closing the opened transform [Levels & Color]. The mask curve can be changed by clicking on the Mask Tool, click NONE, adjust to a new curve [in this case, move the [50,100] control point to [50,10] SMOOTH CURVE and click APPLY. The Levels & Color PREVIEW should update accordingly. Notice that with this new mask curve that the highlight tones are now white and the shadow tones are black. In the first mask, the shadows were white and the highlights black..... so to use the new mask curve the Levels & Color black and white amount sliders need to be reversed, ie, black=100 & white=0.... Prefering a bit more contrast than the previous version... the 'dynamic range' black point was moved to -10.2%... all other settings were left unchanged....  There are almost an infinite set of variations that can be made with the suggested Levels & Color transform with an 'active' mask. In making your own prefered adjustments, don't overlook changing the mask's black/white slider amounts... The reasoning for the 2nd suggested mask curve is not so intuitive as the first one. The first one more directly isolates the 0->50% image tones with a gradient to white for the 50->100% tones. The 2nd curve does the same thing but is smoother and inversed. Last and not least.... welcome to the message board and the sm and lg image version options are appreciated, especially for modem users [me]. | ||
| David J. Bookbinder New member Username: Dbookbinder Post Number: 173 Registered: 09-2002 |
Den, I'm very impressed with the differences between the original and modified images, but I'm not totally clear on what each mask does, and how it relates to the Levels & Color changes you made. I'd much appreciate your expanding the explanations a bit more, along the lines of, "In the first example, the mask (what it does). When you (what you do with Levels & Colors), the effect is to (lighten this and darken that, whatever this and that is). In the second example, (same sort of thing). I'm almost getting it, but not quite. Thanks, David | ||
| Anonymous |
Dan, there was also a tutorial on 3-zone contrast masking and highlights/midtones/shaddows correction posted somewhere on your website, but I can't find it anymore. I recall that you had a neat way of minimizing the visibility of transitions between the zones. Could you point us out to it again? Thanks. | ||
| John Clifford New member Username: Johnclif Post Number: 2 Registered: 09-2005 |
Thanks, Den! After a little staring and headscratching at your first example, the "Aha!" light went on, and I've been playing with these masks quite a bit. Is there a similar way to 'grab' a region based on color (or !color)? For instance, I'd like to be able to mask the background, perhaps by selecting anything with a Green value of greater than 'X' (where 'X' gives me the grass), and decrease the brightness there uniformly to make the subjects pop out. Or, better yet, a way to grab a region based on edges, so I could roughly surround each subject and then 'do something' that would help the mask shrink to their outlines? I've tried using color-based masks but it's not working for me. Re the small images... I agree... no one wants to wait for 4 Megs of JPEG to load just to read a message. | ||
| John Clifford New member Username: Johnclif Post Number: 3 Registered: 09-2005 |
Never mind... I figured it out myself (actually, I read a tip in Den's 'Tips and Tricks' document about how to use the mouse to select color ranges). Pretty cool! This is an amazingly powerful, and easy to use, piece of software IF you just understand how it works and how to use it. | ||
| den Unregistered guest |
Anonymous… The ‘3Tone Range Adjustment Procedures and Tone Masks’ are located here: http://www.ncplus.net/~birchbay/3tone/3tone.htm DJB…. Mask1 [STRAIGHTLINE CURVE = [0,100], [50,100], [100,0]] takes the original image’s 0->50% tones and shows them as white…. Then the original image’s 51->100% tones starting at 51% are shown as gradually turning from white to black at the 100% tone. This change from white to black of the 51->100% tones of the mask is linear [a straight line with a downward slope of 45 degrees]. The Levels & Color [L&C] transform’s Mid-Tone [50% tone] control brightens [+] or darkens [-]. For the original image, it is desired to reduce contrast while at the same time brightening the mid-tones but it needs to be done where the shadows and lower mid-tones are brighten faster than the upper mid-tones and highlights. Mask1 will do this because the L&C’s mid-tone brightness setting is applied at an amount of 100% through Mask1 for the image’s 0->50% tones and then has a linear decreasing effect for the original image’s 51->100% tones…. Mask2 [SMOOTH CURVE = [0,0], [50,10], [100,100]] is nothing more than an inverted Mask1 where the curve type has been changed to SMOOTH CURVE that takes into account ‘gamma’ [an exponential curve with gradually increasing slope upward]. This provides a more natural transition for the masks’ gradient from black to white…. And since Mask2 is inverted [the original image shadows show now as black and highlights now show as white] the black and white slider amounts in the L&C transform need to be interchanged…. Or simply left ‘as is’ but then click the Mask-Tool INVERT after APPLY. Mask2 serves the same purpose as Mask1 in the L&C transform…. Applying image brightening to the shadows and lower mid-tones at higher amounts then to the image’s upper mid-tones and highlights thus globally brightening and lowering contrast of the original image. In the L&C transform, moving the black point left increases contrast as does moving the white point right but over application below 0% or beyond 100% will produce obvious shadow or highlight clipping… Hope this helps…. | ||
| den Unregistered guest |
Should add to the above.... the color balance or WB neutral grey point and the degree of saturation settings were slected and adjusted to prefereance after the the mid-tone brightness setting... the applied mask does affect these settings as well but the mask was selected mainly to be used to control the mid-tone brightness and contrast changes... | ||
| David J. Bookbinder New member Username: Dbookbinder Post Number: 174 Registered: 09-2002 |
Den, Thanks for the explanation. I think I've got it, now. I appreciate your continuing sharing of your PWP techniques. - David | ||
| John Clifford New member Username: Johnclif Post Number: 4 Registered: 09-2005 |
Here's my final version after: • making a mask based on brightness, • decreasing the brightness/highlights on the little girl via Levels/Brightness • making another mask on brightness that selected mid-tones, • increasing the brightness of midtones to bring out detail on the mother and in some of the shaded areas of the little girl, using Brightness... • making a mask that only included the mother and little girl (by using the ability to make a color mask of the green grass background, inverting it (Transformations/Grey/Negative), and editing/painting it to get rid of everything but the mother and little girl • bringing in the 'dodged/burned' mother and little girl into the original picture via Composite and the use of the last mask Here's the original and the final (both 600 x 400). What do you think? | ||
| Robert W. Coutant New member Username: Couman Post Number: 76 Registered: 01-2005 |
John, That looks nice, but I think I would make just one final tweak. The lighting is a little harsh, especially on the girl. I think I would apply one of the 81 series Wratten filters (scroll down in the filter bank) to warm the image slightly. It's just a matter of personal taste, but I think it helps with the mother's hair as well. If you wanted to go one step further, you might consider using a small soft brush (from the miscellaneous tools) to gently bring out highlights in the mother's hair in the area where she is in the sunlight. On the other hand, you have to stop someplace, but only you can decide where that stopping point is. Welcome to PWP! Bob C. | ||
| den Unregistered guest |
John.... re: 2nd attempt: this is a significant improvement over your 'first attempt'. Just a preference only, I agree with BobC that a warmer overall image tone would be prefered to go along with the 'dappling sunlight'. It is obvious you know your way around an image.... just need to become more familiar with PWP as an image editor... Illustrated is the use of the Color Balance transform to make a mid-tone color balance adjustment, partially removeing the blue color cast from the the 'paper plate'....  |
