Ctrl-L takes You to Levels (PE 3.0 for Windows), but with curves it seems to
be rather tough.
Haven't used PS on Mac later than ver. 3.0, alas!
Using menus it is under Enhance/Adjust lighting
Peeter
PS: There is also that Shadows/Highlights thing, that is even much more fun
than Brightness/contrast
----- Original Message -----
From: "Emily L. Ferguson" <elf@xxxxxxxx>
To: "List for Photo/Imaging Educators - Professionals - Students"
<photoforum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, October 17, 2005 4:44 PM
Subject: Re: Dark Images
In PE I think it's still possible to use the Curves dialog. It's just
much harder to locate than the brightness/contrast one. Try Help. Or try
Cmd-C and see if it comes up. I suppose on a PC it's Ctr-C. Keep
experimenting.
Curves is much more controllable than b/c. You can pin any place along it
to hold that factor steady while you adjust others. With b/c you're
pretty much stuck with crude adjustments.
If you can't find Curves, Levels will also give you somewhat more control.
As a final resort try dodging and burning, especially for complicated
places like eye sockets. But that's the final step.
The biggest problem with these adjustments in PS/PE is that they always
leave your histogram with big combing - places where data is just lost.
That's another wonderful thing about RAW. When you do all those
adjustments in the RAW dialog, you don't end up with a combed histogram.
As for clipping the ends of the histogram, be careful. It may make the
picture look snappier, but it may take something out that you want. For
instance, last night I was shooting the moonrise over a harbor, and it was
pretty foggy. The wind has been howling here for a week and the surf has
been blown all over everything making lots of moisture in the air, not to
mention the deluges we've had falling out of the sky.
Clipping the dark end of the histogram cleared all that out. But it was
no longer the foggy moonrise over the harbor. It was now a clear moonrise
over the harbor.
Useful when you've gotten mist on the lens but not necessarily what you
saw or wanted to record.
--
Emily L. Ferguson
mailto:elf@xxxxxxxx
508-563-6822
New England landscapes, wooden boats and races, press photography
http://www.vsu.cape.com/~elf/
