essential skills: digital photography in available light
Step 2 - Contrast
An ‘S’ curve in the Curves dialog box raises the contrast
when using the full version of Photoshop. The fastest and
least destructive way to increase contrast globally when
using Elements is to create an adjustment layer and set the
blending mode of this adjustment layer to Soft Light (if you
are editing in 16 Bits/Channel in Elements you will need to
drop the Bit Depth to 8 Bits/Channel - Image > Mode > 8 Bits/
Channel). There is no requirement to make any adjustment
in the adjustment layer dialog box, as the blend mode of the
layer is all that is needed to increase the contrast. Lower the
opacity of the adjustment layer to lower the contrast until you
strike the correct visual effect you are looking for.
Step 3 - Saturation
Raising the level of contrast globally via a Curves layer or Soft Light layer will also increase
the overall level of color saturation. A second Hue/Saturation adjustment layer can fi ne-tune the
precise level of saturation you are looking for. If you are working in camera RAW the saturation
can be adjusted in this interface but not to the degree of control that can be achieved in the main
editing space. If you are looking to modify just a single color in the main editing space then this can
be selected via the edit menu and the saturation of a limited range of colors can be adjusted to your
liking. In the example above the intensity of the yellow fl owers in the fi eld is raised independently
of the blues and reds.
Note > The range of colors adjusted can be further modifi ed by dragging the sliders between
the two color ramps, e.g. dragging the right two sliders to the left when editing the Yellows
will further limit the effect of the increased saturation to prevent the greens from being
adjusted.