subscribe 0330 333 1113 I http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk I 7 September 2019 35
ALL
PCTURES©
JAMES
PATERSONTechnique
RaweditinginElements
TheCameraRaweditorin Elementswill
popupautomaticallywhenyouopena
rawphoto.TheBasicPaneltotheright
is theidealplacetobeginmakingtonal
changestoyourimage.Workyourway
downfromthetop,fromwhitebalance,
correctingexposureandaddingcontrast.
Aswithallrawedits,anychangesmade
herearecompletelynon-destructive
andeditable.Thisis oneof thebiggest
benefits.Wearealteringa setof
parametersthataffecthowtheCamera
Rawviewerdisplaystheimage.Changes
areonlyappliedonceweopenthe
imageintoElements,orsavetheimage.
Thisgivesyouthefreedomtotryout
differenttreatmentsandeffects.It also
meansthattonal,contrastandcolour
changescanbeappliedtoseveral
imagesat once– simplyopena setof
raws,clicktheSelectAllbuttonand
makeyouredits.W
hether you want to enhance
contrast, convert to black & white,
fix exposure problems or perform
any number of other image
adjustments, you need an image editor that offers
the right tools. While Photoshop Elements is seen
as lightweight in comparison to Photoshop CC,
it includes many features that match those found
in its big brother, and these tools are presented in
a beginner-friendly way that makes them both
accessible and intuitive.
On these pages here we’ll look at the powerful
range of tonal tools available in the Elements
Camera Raw plug-in, and over the page we’ll
explore some of the most interesting tonal
tools in the Elements Editor. In keeping
with the Elements beginner-friendly
focus, many of the tools are semi-
automated.Thesetakesomeofthe
controloutofyourhands,butthey
canstillbenuancedandeffective.
Infact,thetonaltoolsarelaidout
ina clever,unclutteredstructure
that– froma workflowpointof
view– manywillfindmore
helpfulthanthemore
advancedPhotoshopCC.
4 Whites and blacks
These let you set the point at which pixels will
be either completely black or completely white.
As a rule of thumb, we usually don’t want too
many clipped pixels (areas of full black or white
lacking in detail). We can Alt-drag these sliders
to check for clipping, and drag them to a point
just before it occurs.
5 Clarity
This fun slider works by increasing midtone
contrast. It has the effect of ‘crunching up’ an
image, enhancing detail and texture. As such,
it can be useful for boosting landscapes and
skies, or for giving portraits a grungy look – but
if pushed too far it can leave an image looking
over-processed.6 Vibrance and Saturation
These two sliders let you increase or decrease
colour intensity. The Saturation slider affects all
colours equally. By contrast, the Vibrance slider
is designed to affect the weaker colours more
than the strong ones, so it’s better to use this if
you want to boost the image without pushing
the already dominant colours too far.Begin with a Profile
The Profile Browser within the Elements
Camera Raw plug-in offers a range of
helpful starting points for your image
(you can also open JPEGs as well as
raw). If it’s a raw file you can use the
Adobe Raw profiles. These are geared
to suit different subjects. For instance,
the Adobe Portrait Profile makes tonal
and colour tweaks to enhance skin
tones, while the Adobe Landscape
Profile is designed to affect textures in
landscapes as well as boosting blues in
skies and greens in foliage. With raws
you’ll also see a set of ‘Camera Matching’
profiles. These will match any picture-
style settings that your camera offers.
Below Camera Matching is a set of b&w
profiles and tonal effects. Split into
categories such as Artistic, Modern and
Vintage, these can be applied to raws or
JPEGs, and there’s a strength slider that
lets you control the tonal change.Elements comes with a Raw editor so you can tweak the tone and contrast easily