Okay i took these steps when editing my flight entry, and now I am not sure if it was okay..Help?!? In photo shop I went to image...Adjustments....Selective color.. and then messed around with the colors a bit, then i whent to Hue/Saturation and worked with that a bit. Was that okay to do or not?
Generally speaking, as long as you do it the whole image, it's probably legal. Editing is a pretty tender issue here, but I can say that it has improved my photography.
BTW: using selective color is an editing technique that I use a lot. I often add black to the blacks to increase the darker tones and help define darker areas without lightening the lighter areas. If I use Brightness/Contrast, I get the darks, but I also get lighter lights.
..... but I can say that it has improved my photography.
You are absolutely right. I now take all my pictures as best I can to minimize editing and it's helped a lot. I've even forgotten about some of the features in photoshop that are considered illegal.
BTW: using selective color is an editing technique that I use a lot. I often add black to the blacks to increase the darker tones and help define darker areas without lightening the lighter areas. If I use Brightness/Contrast, I get the darks, but I also get lighter lights.
Try using Tone Curves instead of Brightness/Contrast or Levels for maximal control over the tonal range.
"I often add black to the blacks to increase the darker tones and help define darker areas without lightening the lighter areas."
I'm sure you don't mean you do this to your entries here do you? Or maybe it IS legal here. I'm confused now.
Originally posted by dsidwell:
Generally speaking, as long as you do it the whole image, it's probably legal. Editing is a pretty tender issue here, but I can say that it has improved my photography.
BTW: using selective color is an editing technique that I use a lot. I often add black to the blacks to increase the darker tones and help define darker areas without lightening the lighter areas. If I use Brightness/Contrast, I get the darks, but I also get lighter lights.
Try using Tone Curves instead of Brightness/Contrast or Levels for maximal control over the tonal range.
I might just not be up on the proper naming, but what are Tone Curves? I know about (and sometimes struggle with) curves, but haven't seen the term Tone Curves, and don't see any reference in the dialog to "Tones".
Sorry, just what I call them out of long habit. I do mean Photoshop's Curves command. I use them to adjust the tonal values.
BTW: The lack of the Curves control is really the only significant disadvantage I find with Photoshop Elements compared to the full version of Photoshop. Levels performs a similar function but with less precision.
:) I thought that might be the case, but I've always got the feeling I'm missing something that will suddenly make using curves intuitive to me. A mild sort of paranoia!
:) I thought that might be the case, but I've always got the feeling I'm missing something that will suddenly make using curves intuitive to me. A mild sort of paranoia!
I use Curves because they are intuitive. The key is that the steep part of the curve represents rapid change in tone values, hence greater detail.
Cruise around your photo and look at the values in the Info Window. Find the parts of the photo for which you want to bring out detail and note the range of values (e.g. 31% - 68%). You then take those points on the curve and extend the range of values within the range, by making the dark part darker and the light part lighter (e.g. 31% = 24%; 68% = 76%).
You will get a curve shaped like an elongated "S," and should see more contrast and detail in the intended area. The very dark/light parts will have their tones compressed (e.g. all tones which were above 68% are now between 76% - 100%).
The tones on the steep part of the curve has had its range extended; what used to be represented by a range of 37 (68-31) now has 52 values to use (76-24), hence a larger palette of tones and more detail.
The above is the "typical" adjustment. You can also apply separate curves to each channel as well as the composite. If the detail is NOT in the middle part of the range, you want to make different parts of the curve steeper.
You can also use curves to create all kinds of color effects if you're into "digital art" and not just photorealism. Here's an example I made when I first got my camera.
CD-Spiderplant
