Amateur Photographer - UK (2019-09-13)

36 7 September 2019I http://www.amateurphotographer.co.ukI subscribe 0330 333 1113

Technique CONTRAST AND TONE

InstantfixintheOrganiser

FoundwithintheElementsOrganiseralong

thebottomof theinterface,theInstantFix

commandgivesyouquickaccesstosimple

tonalcontrols(includingthehelpfulSmartfix)

andotherusefuleditingtoolssuchas

croppingsoyoucanmakefastadjustments.

Assuch,youmaynotevenneedtoopen

yourimageintotheElementsEditorat all

if youonlyneedtoperformsimpletonal

tweaks.What’smore,theInstantFixtools

canbeappliedtomultipleimagesat once,

soyoucanselecta setof photosin the

Organiserandthenmakebatcheditstothe

lot.Thisis veryhelpfulif youneedtomake

colourtweaks,fix overexposure or convert

them all to monochrome.

Thepowerof

AdjustmentLayers
AdjustmentLayersaretonalandcolourtools
thatarerepresentedbya separatelayer,affecting
allbelowthemin thestack.Combineseveral
tocreatea finelytunedtonaleffect,anduse
featuressuchasmasks,blendmodesand
opacity.Includedin thelistof adjustmentsis
Levels.Levelsgivesyouthreeslidersbelowthe
histogramthataffectsdifferentpartsof thetonal
range.Youcansettheblack& whitepoints,and
alterthebrightnessof themidtones.Totheside
of thesettings,threeeyedroppersallowyouto
pickpointsin theimageforwhiteandblack,while
themidpointeyedropperallowsyoutoremap
colours(clickona neutralpointtocorrectcolour
casts).Becausetheseeditsaremadein a
separatelayer,youhavetheoptiontochangethe
settingsoruselayercontrolssuchasmasksand
blendmodestochangehow the layer works with
the rest of the image.

Quickadjustments
TheQuickworkspacein Elementsis usually
thoughtof asa placeforbeginnerstolearn
beforeprogressingontotheExpertmode.
However,whenit comestoadjustingtones,
contrastandcolour,Quickmodeallowsyou
to do so in a way that is more intuitive than

anywhereelse.Click‘Adjustments’at bottom

rightandyou’llseea seriesof simple

submenus– AutoSmartfix, Exposure,Lighting,

Color,Balance,Sharpen– thatoffercontrols

foradjustingeach,eitherusingthesliderora

seriesof nineincrementalboxes.Hoverover

any box and you’ll see a preview of the change

overyourimage.It’susuallybesttoclick

ontheboxthatworksbestforyou,thenif

necessarygoontofine-tunetheadjustment

usingtheslider.Thecommandoffersan

effective,intuitivewaytoenhancetonesfor

bothbeginnersandexperts.Thisis a great

place to start with your image.

BEFORE AFTER

TheQuick

workspacein

Elementsis fast

and easy to use