Newbie needs help!

Hey all

I've just bought photoshop, and i've used PS4.x previously and cropped and
resized pictures, but mostly i created text logo's (simple ones) for my
website. Now when it comes to pictures, i'm at a loss. The photo's i take
are either slightly too dark, or slightly over exposed - i need help
specifically with a) brightening dark images (brightness/contrast dont do
anything except make it look worse) and b) how to darken overexposed images.

Thanks for any help you can give!

Kai

Kai Robinson <kai.robinson@tiscali.fr> wrote in
news:BB221744.80BD%kai.robinson@tiscali.fr:

> Hey all
>
> I've just bought photoshop, and i've used PS4.x previously and
> cropped and resized pictures, but mostly i created text logo's
> (simple ones) for my website. Now when it comes to pictures, i'm
> at a loss. The photo's i take are either slightly too dark, or
> slightly over exposed - i need help specifically with a)
> brightening dark images (brightness/contrast dont do anything
> except make it look worse) and b) how to darken overexposed
> images.
>
> Thanks for any help you can give!
>
> Kai


Without going into all the many variables, the first thing you should
do is adjust the Levels Histogram (Image/Adjustments/Levels) of the
image. Use the sliders indicated by the three small triangles to
remove the flat areas (no data) on the left (Black) and right (White)
of the curve that have image data. Basically, if you have a flat area
on the left of your histogram, slide the black triangle to the right
until it’s just underneath the beginning of the area with data. Do the
same thing with the white slider but move it to the left. You can then
use the center gray triangle to make the image slightly brighter or
darker after adjusting the black and white points. Often, on an image
that is close to being well exposed, this will be enough. If your
image needs more work than this, you’ll have to start playing with
Curves and I’d suggest reading up on it in the manual or buy a book
like Katrin Eismanns, Photoshop Restoration and Retouching.


--
Scott

**Remove the NO and SPAM from my e-mail address to reply**

J C <null@nowhere.net> wrote in
news:XXj8PhohmdY=yG1s9mSlp=vWpqwA@4ax.com:

> On Fri, 27 Jun 2003 09:14:01 -0500, Shadowfax
> <shadowNOfaax@hotSPAMmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>>
>>Without going into all the many variables, the first thing you
>>should do is adjust the Levels Histogram
>>(Image/Adjustments/Levels) of the image.
>
> While all that is good, I'd disagree that its the first step.
>
> Rather I think the first step is to make sure the monitor is
> calibrated correctly to display the images.

Ok, “after” you make sure you’ve calibrated your monitor, that would be
my first step (after duplicating the background layer). Point taken.


--
Scott

**Remove the NO and SPAM from my e-mail address to reply**

On Sat, 28 Jun 2003 22:14:58 -0500, Shadowfax
<shadowNOfaax@hotSPAMmail.com> wrote:

>Hecate <hecate@newsguy.com> wrote in
>news:3mhsfvgi1b2io4kblbd3lucmkng1j7pbfu@4ax.com :
>
>> On Fri, 27 Jun 2003 15:56:57 -0500, Shadowfax
>> <shadowNOfaax@hotSPAMmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>
>>>Ok, “after” you make sure you’ve calibrated your monitor, that
>>>would be my first step (after duplicating the background layer).
>>>Point taken.
>>
>>
>> ;-) And before I even did that, I'd make sure that it's not the
>> camera that's the problem ;-)
>>
>> --
>>
>> Hecate
>> Hecate@newsguy.com (Fried computers a specialty)
>>
>
>And before that, I’d make sure it’s not the person behind the camera
>that’s the problem. Then again, how do we know his mother doesn’t have
>a hand in all this?
>
>;^)


LOL!!!

--

Hecate
Hecate@newsguy.com (Fried computers a specialty)

>> Hey all
>>
>> I've just bought photoshop, and i've used PS4.x previously and cropped and
>> resized pictures, but mostly i created text logo's (simple ones) for my
>> website. Now when it comes to pictures, i'm at a loss. The photo's i take
>> are either slightly too dark, or slightly over exposed - i need help
>> specifically with a) brightening dark images (brightness/contrast dont do
>> anything except make it look worse) and b) how to darken overexposed
>images.
>>
>> Thanks for any help you can give!
>>
>> Kai
>>=======================
The very first thing you should do with a photo which wasn't perfectly
lighted and taken with painstaking setting of the camera is to adjust
the levels.(Image -->Adjustments -->Levels) Many times you will find
areas on both the white and black areas of the histogram that are
flat-lined. Simply pulling these end points in to where the actual
histogram begins will do much to improve your image. Then use the
middle slider to refine you correction. A far more adjustable, albeit
much more complicated procedure is to use "curves"
(Image - ->Adjustments -->Curves). With "Curves", you can select
specific areas of the photo for adjustment, while with "Levels". The
entire image is effected. The appropriate use of curves could take a
small book to teach,. Of course, there's much more to all of this then
I've mentioned, and Photoshop has many redundant features. Some prefer
one while others prefer another.

If your image is for printing, rather than the screen, you will note
that what you see is not what you get. This is becasuse you are use
an RGB color system in Photoshop, or with ANY computer monitor (even
when you switch to CMYK, you are still getting RGB output which is
attempting to SIMULATE CMYK). CMYK is the color system that your
printer, home or professional uses. The gamut (range of saturation and
brightness) is greater in RGB than CMYK and so, what you see on the
monitor cannot always be reproduced on paper. Professionals do what
is called, "color correction" so that the colors both look appropriate
and stay within the CMYK gamut. Skin tone is frequently used for a
baseline for color reproduction since it is quite obvious to even the
untrained eye when skin tone is unnatural. Color correction can be
quite involved and is only really mandated in professional work, where
the aim is to please as many of your target audience as possible. For
personal use, as long as you are happy with the output, color
correction may be irrevelant.
Bernie