camera RAW
Clipping information
Hold down the ‘Alt/Option’ key when adjusting either the ‘Exposure’ or ‘Shadows’ slider to view the
point at which highlight or shadow clipping begins to occur (the point at which pixels lose detail
in one or more channels). In Elements 3 you can check the ‘Shadows’ and ‘Highlights’ boxes
underneath the main image window instead of holding down the Alt or Option key.
Note > If you hold down the ‘Alt’ or ‘Option’ key to view the clipping, the color that appears in
the image window indicates the channel or channels where clipping is occurring (this only
applies to the Alt/Option key technique). Color Saturation as well as overly dark shadows
and overly bright highlights will also infl uence the amount of clipping that occurs. Clipping
in a single channel (indicated by the red, green or blue warning colors) will not always lead
to a loss of detail in the fi nal image. When the secondary colors appear, however (cyan,
magenta and yellow), you need to take note, as loss of information in two channels starts to
get a little more serious. Loss of information in all three channels (indicated by black when
adjusting the shadows and white when adjusting the exposure) should be avoided.
By moving the Exposure and Shadow sliders to the left, information is restored to the blue and red
channels. The image is then made brighter using the Brightness slider.
Note > Large adjustments to the ‘Brightness’, ‘Contrast’ or ‘Saturation’ sliders may
necessitate further ‘tweaking’ of the ‘Exposure’ and ‘Shadows’.