Digital Light & Color

by Marpel on June 1st, 2012, 11:13 pm
Hello Den,

Have been out of the country for quite awhile, or would have requested your help or posted a reply a bit sooner.

Regarding your offer to assist in a workflow adaption - I have been using a PS workflow that seems to bring out amazing detail (in fact it is called "Freaky Detail" - disclaimer - it is not my workflow, but available on the Net) and have often wondered if it could be duplicated in PWP as it is a pain to constantly move back and forth between the two programs.

...1. Create new layer (Ctrl J).
...2. Invert layer (Ctrl I).
...3 Change Blend Mode to Vivid Light (Alt + Shift + V).
...4. Filter > Blur > Surface Blur (5 and 15 seem to work for my images) > OK.
...5. Create new layer (Ctrl + Shift + Alt + E, I think).
...6. Delete first new layer.
...7. Change Blend Mode to Overlay (Alt + Shift + O).

This produces some noise in some areas, dependent on the image, which may require a mask to deal with.

The difference between the initial image and resultant image is oftentimes amazing, and I would be interested in what you can do with this, so await your response.

Marv

Marv…

The basic PWP workflow process for “Freaky Detail” is really only a variation of a High Pass Filter image of a Starting image that is Composite Soft or Hard Light blended; where a modified High Pass Filter image is the Overlay image and the Starting image is the Input image. An Overlay mask of the modified High Pass Filter image [Mask Tool – Brightness Curve default diagonal curve] can be used to perhaps limit the white half of the sharpening to 1/3 of the black half [mask white = 33.3% and mask black = 100.0%] reducing objectionable white half sharpened edges. Also, the Input image Amount could be decreased from 100% to a preference while monitoring Preview to soften overall noise contributions.

The “Freaky Detail” can be achieved by modifying the initial High Pass Filter image… …perhaps apply USM sharpening to it and then use the “sharpened High Pass Filter image” as the Composite Soft or Hard Light Overlay image.

More options for effects are possible when the modified High Pass Filter image is created by:
...(1) Click on the Starting image and blur using any blurring method: Blur, Blur More, USM, Gaussian, Median 3x3, Median 5x5, or the pixel averaging of the blur portion of Bilateral Sharpen… click OK.
...(2) Open the “Transformation | Gray | Negative” transform and click on Negative.
...(3) Click on the Starting image and open the Composite-Blend transform where the Input = the Starting image and Amount = 100% and the Overlay = the resulting “(2)” image and Amount = 50%. Click OK, creating a High Pass Filter type image that appears predominately 50% gray.
...(4) Modify the resulting “(3)” image if preference by sharpening: Sharpen, Heavy Sharpen, USM, Bilateral Sharpen, or Advanced Sharpen.

The point of the above is that while PWP does not have a specific “Surface Blur” or a “Vivid Light” blend mode, a variety of equivalent effects are available to essentially duplicate them and perhaps offer even more ‘artistic’ options.

See also the discussion here: “Low/High Spatial Frequency Imaging & PWP” [http://www.dl-c.com/board/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=434]

Hopefully, the foregoing is not beyond understanding… …ask if there are questions…

…den…

Illustration 1 (1:1 Zoom Factor):
...where a USM Radius =10 was used on a High Pass Filter image where its Radius =3; then Composite-Hard Light HSV-V blended... Note: "Composite-Hard Light HSV-V blended" just means the mask image generated with the Mask Tool - Brightness Curve default curve was used as the Overlay image in the Composite-Hard Light blend as well as its own Overlay mask. By doing so, color artifacts were greatly reduced and the white/black halves of sharpening could still be adjusted to reduce objectionable white half sharpening.

...den...

Thanks Den for the quick (and full) replies.

I have done a quick read and its' obvious to me that I will have to take some time and go through this much slower than you probably wrote it, just to figure out if I need to ask further questions!!!

Marv

While on this subject, compare with:
http://www.dl-c.com/discus/messages/523 ... 1239927925

and

http://www.dl-c.com/board/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=513

for reducing excessive edge contrast. :)

i.e., hi-pass plus soft or hard light can be useful in either direction

Excellant reminder of possibilities... ...Thank you, BobC...

I have been experimenting with High Pass Filter image modifications that might be good for generating High Pass sharpened images that decreases the light half and increases the dark half of an image's edge contrasts, yet potentially adds significant image detail...

For the following illustration, go CCW starting with the upper left 200x200 pixel, 1:1 image crop of the Starting image...Step(1): Open or select a Starting image [8-bit or 16-bit; Black/White or Color] that is near preferences for: (1) dynamic range; (2) brightness; (3) contrast; (4) color; (5) sharpness; and (6) noise...

Step(2): Open the "Tranformation | Sharpen, Blur, Noise | Blur" transform; OK settings: Amount =100; Method =High Pass; Threshold =100; and Radius =3 or a preference...

Step(3): Open the "Transformation | Gray | Brightness Curve" transform; OK a RGB Broken Line curve =[0,0], [0,25], [50,50], [100,75], [100,100] with Amount =100 on the resulting Step(2) image...Step(4): Open the "Transformation | Composite" transform where the Input Image =the Step(1) Starting image; Overlay =the resulting Step(3) image; Operation =Soft Light [generally the best choice] or Hard Light; and Alignment =none. Initially start with Amount settings for the Input Image and Overlay =100; decrease the Input Image Amount to a preference [perhaps 50 to 70% if Hard Light Operation is selected]... ...click OK, creating the High Pass sharpened image.

The suggested RGB Brightness Curve in text form [PWP6]:

Curve 1.0
npts 3
style linear
histexpand 0
point 0 64 0
point 1 128 128
point 2 255 191
end

Have some fun experimenting... ...try as I might, I could not achieve objectionable light half sharpening edges... ...black specks from existing image noise is a different story... ...but that is where one switches from Hard Light to Soft Light and adjusting the Input Image Amount... ...or perhaps 1:1 cloning or specific image area blending of Hard Light and Soft Light image versions...

...ask if there are questions...

...den..

Interesting variation on a theme, Den

Further experimentation has indicated that using the following Step(3) RGB Brightness Curve will result in less intense black specks and still provides added bias to the dark half and less bias to the light half of sharpening edge contrasts when using High Pass - Soft or Hard Light sharpening methods...In text form [PWP6]:

Curve 1.0
npts 4
style spline
histexpand 0
point 0 0 0
point 1 64 26
point 2 128 128
point 3 255 191
end

Additional HINT: Steps(1-2-3) can easily be retained in History once done for an image during a PWP session... ...and/or saved as an image with associated wfl for furture use.

...den...