Adobe Photoshop CS5 One-on-One

PeaRl Of WISDOm

It’s a good idea to keep an eye on the histogram as you adjust the various
exposure and brightness values. Unlike its counterparts in Photoshop, this
histogram comprises three overlapping graphs, one for each color channel.
As you move the sliders, the histogram lets you predict how your colors will
develop when the image is rendered in Photoshop. As usual, shadows are on
the left and highlights are on the right. Spikes on the extreme ends of the
graph tell you that you’ve clipped the shadows or highlights.

For our image, let’s do the following:

• Begin by lowering the Exposure value to –1. You’ll im-
  mediately see that you’ve recovered the highlight detail
  throughout the image.


• Raise the Recovery value to 20. This lightens the highlights
  of the image without further changing the overall exposure.


• Skip the Fill Light value for the moment and set the Blacks
  slider value to 10 to bring out the shadow detail.


• Change the Fill Light value to 10 to bring back some of the
  details that were lost in the shadows, restoring some of the
  shape detail in her black-stockinged legs.


• Darken the midtones by reduc-
  ing the Brightness value fairly
  precipitously to –15. This is an
  unusually drastic modification,
  but the image is very bright. Re-
  ducing the Brightness has the
  effect of making the image too
  dark overall, so return to the
  Exposure setting and increase
  it to 20. (When using these slid-
  ers in Camera Raw, you’ll want
  to go back to previous settings
  and reconsider them in light of
  the overall effect.)


• Decrease the Contrast value
  to +20.
  The final settings appear in
  Figure 9-13.

Figure 9-13.

Luminance, Crop, and Color 309