Found Photoshop Fix for Dark Pictures

[kd6lor]

I am sure that many of you will have already found this info, but I recently did and it saved a handfull of pics, and improved a bunch others.

So here it is in a nutshell

Duplicate layer with dark image
Set newly created image mode to screen
Create adjustment and/or curves layer and play around till you get it to your satisfaction.

Try it and compare to your favorite technique.

Post here if you have a better or more favored technique.


found technique here: http://the-internet-eye.com/HOWTO/2000a/underexp_tut/default.htm


PJ

[Roger_Cavanagh]

kd6lor wrote:

Post here if you have a better or more favored technique.


found technique here: http://the-internet-eye.com/HOWTO/2000a/underexp_tut/default.htm


PJ




PJ I haven't done a comparison with your method, but here's an alternative I use that doesn't seem so fiddly:

http://www.rogercavanagh.com/tips/t01_contrast_mask.htm

I found this originally on The Luminous Landscape site.

Regards,

Roger

[kd6lor]

Roger, thanks for the reply. I played around with both the technique I found, and the one you found.

I was testing the techniques on a night time shot that was very dark with some highlights around a swimming pool and reflection in the water.

I find the techniques very similar in effect with the image I used to test them. The screen mode technique seems to be able to bring more detail out of deep shadows although the image will look like a "police" photo ( thanks Don) afterwards. Without overdoing it for the deeper shadows, the screen mode seems very similar to the shadow mask technique which did less lightening but had richer colors in the areas lightened.

The only thing I don't like about the shadow mask technique is the use of the blur which spreads out the degree of lightening possibly into areas that are already light. Also, once the blur is acomplished, it cannot be adjusted like an adjustment layer in the screen mode technique that I found on the WWW.

Good info, and I will need to try it on some images that have slightly less dynamic range than my original test image.

Thanks lots for the info. Photoshop continues to amaze me with it's capabilities blending artistic effort with technical precision.

Loads of fun, and almost a hobby in itself.

Paul

[nitwit3]

Paul,

Thanks...I'll give it a go. It seems like I get more darker images using RAW than I get nearly perfect after conversions...Maybe this will bail a few out...I hope so.
Thanks again.
Cheers,
The Nitwit