168 PART 3 HOW THE DIGITAL DARKROOM WORKS
How Darkroom Software
Brings Pictures Back to Life
Color photos are subject to the same slings and arrows of outrageous shoe boxes that torment
black-and-white pictures—the dirt, the creases, the spills, the humidity, and of course
the fatal reactions that occur when the still-active chemicals of one photo-
graph are crammed up against those of another picture for a
decade or so. But the chemicals in color photos are still
more volatile and more susceptible to turning the only
picture of beloved Uncle Ernie into what looks like an
extraterrestrial blob of protoplasm. Luckily for all the myr-
iad misfortunes that can affect photos, we have an arsenal
of E.R. weaponry to bring them back from the brink. There
are so many tools in the digital darkroom, there’s no space
to cover them all in detail, but here are some of the most
common devices available in programs such as Photoshop,
Elements, and Paint Shop Pro to bring color—the right color—
back to the cheeks of fading ancestors.BurnandDodgeduplicate
the techniques of the old
chemical darkroom so the
retoucher can darken and
lighten specific portions of
the photo.Levels(histograms) is the most versatile of several
methods to isolate and tame discolorations that have
taken over the photograph.
Selection toolisolates
the mother and baby so
that they can be worked
on without affecting the
background. The selection
can also be reversed to
work on the background
without worrying that
touch-ups will spill over
into the mother and child.Healing brushrepairs
numerous dust spots,
scratches, and assorted and
unexplained flaws by dupli-
cating the pixels surrounding
the damage so they cover the
defects seamlessly.