Too dark? Fix it...

[iCe]

So... lets say that you have an image that is a little dark because it's backlit. Try this quick little trick to fix it.

Image 1. Nothing but a crop of the original



Image 2. Ctrl-J (create a new layer). Change mode to screen mode. There's a drop down box for it on the layers palette. Much brighter yes? Still sucks though. At this point you can play with opacity and kind of sort of help but it's easier to apply a layer mask. See the square with the white circle icon down at the bottom of the layers palette? Before you click it make sure the new layer selected by clicking on it. Click the icon and a white window will appear to the right of the layer image. Yippee!! Now what? Well I'll tell ya...



Image 3. Layer mask is applied followed by using the Select--> Color Range tool to select the bright background. Check the Invert check box. Once selected slide the fuzziness around so that the elements that are too bright are selected. Click ok and you get this.



You can also paint over the areas that get missed with a soft black brush to lower the intensity of specific areas.

Image 4. The end. BTW- the end has a lot going on but it's outside the scope of this thread.

[Lexie]

I see, I see! Definitely can tell the difference! BTW, nice arbor........I like.

[CaptainTom]

or,,,, in CS open image - image adjustments - shadows/higlights - save--post

[iCe]

How is that going to introduce the concept of using a layer mask to change sections of an image

But yep... that's another good way to go about it...

[katiexjo]

Thanks for the help, I love tutorials

~KJ

[CaptainTom]

Originally Posted by iCe

How is that going to introduce the concept of using a layer mask to change sections of an image

But yep... that's another good way to go about it...

Layer mask? What's a layer mask ??? more than one way to skin this cat.

[iCe]

Originally Posted by katiexjo

Thanks for the help, I love tutorials

~KJ

One thing to remember about this one (other than a total photochop rookie did it) is that it's about using layer masks, not brightening an image. Captain Tom's method is less time consuming for that and it works as well or better. I've been using the heck out of layer masks for a couple of weeks now.

I use them to:

Selectively remove noise:
I create a layer. I max out my noise reduction software settings so that I get the maximum noise removal / blur, run it on the new layer, create a mask, and then paint over the subject or item that I don't want to be softened with a soft black brush. If you hold down the ALT key and click on the mask you can see where you have painted. It surprised me how much I missed. When I'm done I hit Shift-CTRL-E to merge the two layers.

Selectively sharpen areas:
Create a layer. Zoom in on the item that you want to sharpen. In wildlife this is typically the eye. Humans too I guess. I use 2-pass Smart sharpening with settings that I found in a book called Layers by Matt Kloskowski. Yep... that's where most of these ideas come from. I got started using layer masks on a recommendation from someone on another forum. He told me about removing background noise without softening the subject. The settings for Smart Sharpening are:

Pass 1: Amount = 50% for low res and 75% - 85% for higher res (150 ppi or larger) and Radius 1 pixel

Now duplicate the sharpened layer. No mask yet.

Pass 2: Amount = 50% for low res and 75% - 85% for higher res (150 ppi or larger) and Radius 1 pixel

I deviate a little from Matt's steps occasionally. Sometimes the second step is way too much. Not often. It usually happens when I have a lower res image than I thought I had. Rather than redo it, which by the way it's simply a matter of going to history and selecting the first Smart Sharpen pass to get back to where you were, I'll slide the opacity slider down until I like what I see.

Hold the ALT key down and click the Create Layer Mask icon. That will create a black mask. If you forget and create a white mask just hold the alt key down and click the white area and it will change to black. Now paint white over what you want to selectively sharpen.

This is getting too long. Layer masks are the bomb. I know less than 1/10th of 1% of what I want to know about what I can do with them. Onward through the fog.

BTW- Quick masks kick butt for selecting specific areas.