Photoshop

for Photographers

Thomas Niemann
Table of Contents

Table of Contents ........................................................................................................ 2

Photoshop for Photographers ........................................................................................ 3
Workflow.................................................................................................................... 4
Prelude ...................................................................................................................... 4
Lens Distortion......................................................................................................... 4
Noise Reduction ....................................................................................................... 5
Rough Crop ............................................................................................................. 8
Color Correction .......................................................................................................... 9
Calibration .............................................................................................................. 9
Color Theory.......................................................................................................... 10
Levels................................................................................................................... 12
Auto Levels ........................................................................................................... 13
Auto Color and Auto Contrast ................................................................................... 14
Curves.................................................................................................................. 15
Brightness/Contrast ................................................................................................ 17
Eyedroppers .......................................................................................................... 19
Color Correction Summary....................................................................................... 21
Exporting Files .......................................................................................................... 22
Cropping and Resizing............................................................................................. 22
Unsharp Mask ........................................................................................................ 24
JPEG Files ............................................................................................................. 25
Selections ................................................................................................................ 25
Brushes ................................................................................................................ 25
Making Selections................................................................................................... 28
Layer Masks .......................................................................................................... 29
Dodging & Burning .................................................................................................... 30
Dodge/Burn Tools................................................................................................... 30
Introduction to Blends............................................................................................. 30
Dodge/Burn With Blends & Curves ............................................................................ 32
Black & White ........................................................................................................... 35
Black & White Filters ............................................................................................... 35
Toning .................................................................................................................. 36
Classic Tones ......................................................................................................... 38
Camera.................................................................................................................... 40
Depth of Field, Part I .............................................................................................. 40
Depth of Field, Part II ............................................................................................. 44
Soft Focus ............................................................................................................. 47

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Photoshop for Photographers
by Thomas Niemann

This is a collection of tutorials on Photoshop for photographers. Included are the following
topics:

Prelude. Before Photoshop, learn how to remove distortion with PTLens, and minimize
digital noise with Neat Image. Learn how to crop an image and correct for parallax
distortion.

Color Correction. Learn how to calibrate your monitor and printer. Learn about color
theory, Levels, Curves, Auto Levels, and Auto Color. Learn how to use Eyedroppers, and
why you shouldn't use the Brightness/Contrast adjustments.

Exporting Files. Learn how to resize images for the web and printed output. Learn about
the Unsharp Mask, and how to optimize JPEG files.

Selections. Learn how to use Brushes to make selections in Layer Masks.

Dodging & Burning. Learn how to dodge and burn with Blends and Curves.

Black & White. Learn how to simulate classic darkroom techniques such as black & white
filters and toning. Learn how to make your own tones. Included are downloadable tones
for sepia, platinum, and silver gelatin.

Camera. Learn how simulate camera techniques such as depth of field and soft focus
effects.

Much of this material you'll find elsewhere. There are a few topics I suspect are original. At
least I have yet to see them in print.

• Duotones mimicked using Curves.

• Blends described using Curves.

Curves, an important feature in Photoshop, have many applications.

To view contents offline, download this PDF file (700k). It's intended for printed output, so
you'll have to go online in order to click on links and properly view the images.

Thomas Niemann
Portland, Oregon
epaperpress.com

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Workflow
Under Edit > Color Settings you can specify a workspace. This is the color space that you use
while editing images. Later, when you export the image, you can reprofile the image to a
different color space (Image > Mode > Convert to Profile). For example, if you plan to export
images for the web, they should be in sRGB color space — the web standard. If you export
images created in Adobe RGB (a very wide color space) to the web without reprofiling, they
will have muted colors when viewed within a browser.

You should use a large color space, such as Adobe RGB, to ensure that values are not
truncated if you do extensive edits. Also, if you're targeting the press and need CMYK colors,
Adobe RGB is a good choice since it encompasses both the CMYK and sRGB colors. If you have
a digital camera that supports PIM, consider importing under PIM and do an automatic profile
conversion to the workspace of your choice.

In my case, I do not do extensive color shifts, and do not target the press. I do target the web
and photographic printers at Ofoto and EzPrints. In both instances I see no difference between
working in sRGB and Adobe RGB. Consequently, I've chosen sRGB as my color workspace.
This makes my workflow very simple as I don't need to do profile-to-profile conversions.

Edit digital images in the following sequence:

• Correct for lens pincushion/barrel distortion.

• Reduce noise in areas of low contrast.
• Rough crop and correct for parallax distortion.
• Use Levels and Curves to adjust density and color balance.
• Retouch the image with the Rubber Stamp or Healing Brush tools.
• Save an archival copy of the image in PSD or TIFF format.
• Final crop and resize the image as needed.
• Sharpen the image with the Unsharp Mask.
• Save as a JPEG for the web, or print on your printer.

If you use PTLens to correct for lens distortion, this should be the first step as PTLens requires
EXIF information. Then run Neat Image to reduce noise levels. Finally, load the image into
Photoshop and correct for parallax distortion.

Apply Levels and Curves to bring out blemishes and artifacts, then retouch with the Rubber
Stamp tool. Resizing, after retouching, helps smooth out retouching imperfections. Sharpening
should be the last step, as sharpening parameters depend on target resolution.

Prelude
Lens Distortion
Pincushion and barrel distortion are due to lens imperfections. Frequently barrel distortion
manifests on images taken with a wide-angle lens, and pincushion distortion on images taken
with a telephoto lens.

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Photoshop

Use the Spherize filter to correct distortion in Photoshop (Filters > Distort > Spherize). Set the
Mode to Normal and adjust the amount of distortion correction. The Spherize filter is really
meant for special effects, and its limitations are painfully obvious when you attempt to correct
lens distortions. Better methods are available.

LensDoc

LensDoc, by Andromeda, is a Photoshop plugin that simplifies distortion correction. Just place
markers on distorted features and LensDoc will remap the image to eliminate distortion.
LensDoc works best if the distorted features run the length of the image and are positioned
near the edge.

Distortion correction coefficients can be saved in a file for later use. In this way you can pre-
calibrate your lens and simply re-apply a calibrated setting to correct distortion. For zoom
lenses you'll need to calibrate at several zoom settings, as distortion varies with focal length.
The LensDoc distribution includes profiles for several camera/lens combinations.

Panorama Tools

You can also correct pincushion/barrel distortion in Panorama Tools. For details, visit my
tutorial on Panorama Tools, and click on Calibration > Lens Distortion for details.

PTLens

The interface to Panorama Tools is not exactly intuitive, so I wrote PTLens, a software add-on
to Panorama Tools that automates distortion correction. PTLens is a separate application that
runs under Windows. Select the images you wish corrected, and press the Correct button.
PTLens includes profiles for several camera/lens combinations.

Noise Reduction
Sensors in digital cameras are divided into tiny light-sensitive cells. Each cell contributes to
the contents of a single pixel. For example, some cameras have cells sensitive to red, green,
and blue light. The output from these cells are combined to produce a single RGB pixel.

The cells are so small that random noise becomes a significant factor. The smaller the cell, the
more obvious the noise. This is why professional DSLR cameras, with large sensors, have less
noise then consumer cameras with small sensors. Sensitivity also affects noise levels. As you

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increase ISO from 100 to 400, for example, you are effectively turning up the volume and
noise levels increase.

To minimize noise, try turning down in-camera sharpening and sharpen as the last step in
your workflow. Be sure to specify a non-zero Threshold. Otherwise you'll re-instantiate that
noise that you worked so hard to hide!

Neat Image

For more thorough noise reduction you could try Photoshop filters, but better results may be
obtained using a 3rd party solution. One that I highly recommend is Neat Image. The Pro+
version includes a Photoshop plugin. This is nice, but if you're on a budget consider version
2.21, the Neat Image Demo, that's freeware for non-commercial use. The Demo is a stand-
alone Windows program that inputs the image, removes noise, and outputs the image under a
new file name. The remainder of this paper describes the Demo version. You'll also find a
tutorial at the Neat Image web site.

To simplify workflow, calibrate the noise levels of your camera. Calibration takes less than an
hour, and involves photographing a test target supplied by Neat Image. I suggest you
photograph the target while it's displayed on your monitor. Open the image in Photoshop and
resize it so it fills the screen. Set your camera on a tripod and use a slow shutter speed (1/15
will do) and focus at infinity to blur the image and hide scan lines. Photograph the image at
each ISO value supported by your camera. As you save the images to your hard disk, give
them descriptive names, such as Sony707_ISO100.jpg.

Some cameras have a noise reduction mechanism that kicks-in at slow shutter speeds. If this
is the case, calibrate twice: with and without builtin noise reduction. You may also wish to
calibrate for long exposures (greater than one second) as noise levels tend to increase in this
case.

In Neat Image choose the Input Image tab and click on Open Input Image. Select one of the
test images. For convenience you can click on the Zoom up-down arrows (upper-right of the
screen) to zoom the image. To navigate, press the Space Bar and drag the image.

Choose the Device Noise tab. The Working Space should be YCrCb JPEG. Click the EXIF -->
Profile button to copy EXIF information to the profile. This serves as documentation for the
profile you're about to create. Navigate to the center large neutral gray patch and drag to
draw a large rectangle. Run the Rough Noise Analyzer (blue ruler).

6
The Noise Profile Equalizer resembles frequency sliders on a stereo system. Although Neat
Image documentation states that the sliders control noise at different frequencies, they
actually control the amount of correction at different density levels. Noise correction for dark
tones is controlled by the sliders on the left, and correction for light tones by the sliders on the
right. The sliders add or subtract from baseline established by the Rough Noise Analyzer.

Beneath the sliders you'll note a red-green-blue bar. The figure above shows that the rough
noise calibration calibrated for midrange color densities. The slider for this position is set to its
midpoint, and all other sliders are set to match. If you do nothing else, then Neat Image will
assume that all images have this much noise at all density levels. However, different density
levels often have different levels of noise. For example, very dark patches may have more
noise, while light tones often have less noise. To fine-tune your noise settings, drag and draw
a rectangle in the black patch in the upper-left corner. As you do this you'll notice small color
bars displaying near the left end of the graph.

Click on the Fine-Tune button to calibrate the black patch. Continue to calibrate the remaining
patches. When all patches have been calibrated, click on Auto Complete. The Frequencies
should now be filled similar to the following figure.

7
The Frequencies are all full, indicating that we've calibrated Neat Image for the entire density
range. Originally we did a rough calibration with the large center patch. This established a
baseline. Later we calibrated the smaller patches. Adjustments for the smaller patches,
relative to the baseline, are indicated by the sliders. Save the profile (small blue icon under
Device Noise Profile). Be sure to include camera make/model and ISO as part of the file name.

Using Neat Image Profiles

To utilize the calibrated profile you should apply Neat Image before color correction or
cropping.

• Choose the Input Tab in Neat Image, and click on Open Input Image. Zoom to 100%
and note the ISO value in the EXIF information.
• Choose the Device Noise Profile tab. Open the Device Noise Profile that you calibrated
for this ISO value.
• Choose the Noise Filter Settings tab.
• Drag a selection rectangle to preview the final results. If you find that noise reduction
is a bit strong and leaves a plastic look to your images, reduce the Y parameter under
Noise Reduction Amounts.
• Choose the Output Image tab and click on Apply.

After the image is corrected you can zoom and click on the image to see the difference
between the original and corrected results. Finally, output the image. Neat Image
automatically appends a "_filtered" suffix. You can change this suffix under View > Options >
Job Defaults.

Rough Crop
After correcting for lens distortion and reducing noise, do a rough crop and correct for parallax
distortion. By rough crop I mean cropping the image with minimal resampling. Include
sufficient detail so that you can accomodate different image target sizes. For example, you
may decide to print both 5"x7" and 8"x10" pictures. The ratio (width/height) is different for
these two sizes. The goal at this stage is to simply remove excess details that will not
participate in either print. Later you'll resize and crop again for the specific target.

8
A rough crop not only helps you focus on the image, but you can also correct for rotational
and parallax distortion. Furthermore the Auto tools, such as Auto Levels, Auto Color, and Auto
Contrast, function better when extraneous detail is eliminated.

After selecting the Crop tool, press Clear in the Options bar. This clears Width, Height, and
Resolution from the Crop tool options and will minimize resampling.

Basic Cropping

Drag the Crop tool over the image. Make sure that Perspective is not enabled in the Crop tool
Options. Further drag the edges and corners to frame the image, keeping as much detail as
possible to accomodate different frame sizes. Press ENTER when done.

Rotational Correction

There are two ways to compensate for a tilted camera.

• While cropping place the Crop tool just outside the image. The Crop tool changes to a
double-headed circular arrow. Drag to rotate the crop. Press ENTER when done.
• For more precise alignment, first click on the Measure tool (it's under the Eyedropper)
and carefully measure along a known horizontal or vertical feature. Then choose
Image > Rotate Canvas > Arbitrary. Press OK and the image will rotate so that the
feature is properly aligned.

Perspective Distortion Correction

To correct for perspective distortion drag the Crop tool over the image. Enable Perspective in
the Crop tool options. With Perspective enabled, each corner of the crop can be dragged
independently. Find vertical or horizontal features in the image and drag the corners to align
with those features. Then drag each side, by the center of the side, to the edge of the image.
Press ENTER when done.

Color Correction
Calibration
Monitor Calibration

Did you find the rollover, on the previous page, too dark or too light? Maybe you need to
calibrate your monitor. Photoshop includes Adobe Gamma, a utility to calibrate your monitor.
You may have more accurate results using an alternative procedure.

Printer Calibration

Here's a way you can calibrate your printer for free. As you might suspect, results are not as
good as you could obtain by investing in some hardware/software to facilitate the process. For
my setup, however, it made a significant difference.

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You should be able to see all the patches in the following grayscale. And, if you print the scale
on your printer, you should still see all the patches and all the patches should be a shade of
gray. Give it a try. Right-click on this link to download a TIFF version of the grayscale, load it
into Photoshop, and print the image.

If you have color casts in some of the patches you can use Curves to make corrections. After
determining the settings required, save the parameters in a file (the Save button in the Curves
dialog). Next time you print an image, load the same curves just prior to printing. For
convenience you may want to make this an action.

So how do you determine the points in the Curve dialog? Although the TIFF file consists of a
grayscale image, it's in RGB format so you can adjust colors with Curves. Find the patch with
the most error. Open a Curves adjustment layer and guess at a correction for that patch. In
my case the center of the grayscale had a brownish tint. This indicated too much red was
present. At the appropriate point I subtracted 10 units of red and added 5 units of green and
blue to keep the same density value.

Print the result after correcting the patch. Continue this procedure until satisfied. That is,
choose the patch that needs the most attention, correct that patch, and print the results. Drag
the cursor in the image while the Curves dialog box is open to determine where each patch
lies on the curve. To step through each point in the Curves dialog box, left-click on the graph
to give it focus, then Ctrl-Tab to cycle through the points. Use the arrow keys to move points,
or enter exact values in the text boxes at the bottom of the graph. I corrected the grayscale
within 30 minutes in 6 iterations. The final version had 3 points/channel, at input values of 64,
128, and 192.

Since color-calibrating the printer my black & white prints are black & white, and my color
prints more closely resemble what I see in my monitor. That being said, I must confess — I no
longer print my own images. Decided that ink was too messy and expensive. Much easier to
click a few buttons and have photographic-quality images printed at a lab. Very nice results
may be obtained at Ofoto and EzPrints.

Color Theory
Colors are represented on computers using binary bits. Each bit can contain a "0" or "1". Eight
bits are in a byte, the basic unit for representing a character. With one byte you can count
from 00000000 to 11111111 in binary, or from 0 to 255 in decimal. You can represent up to
256 different numbers, including zero, in one byte. An alternative numbering system,
hexadecimal, may be used to designate the value in each byte. Hexadecimal is a base-16
numbering system whose digits are 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, A, B, C, D, E, and F. In
hexadecimal the value of a byte can range from 00 to FF.

For 24-bit color each color is represented by three 8-bit bytes. Each byte represents one of the
primary additive colors: red, green, or blue (RGB). Colors are displayed on your monitor with
RGB phosphors. Some sample colors, and their hexadecimal equivalents, are shown below.
The primary colors — red, green, and blue — are shown in the first row. The second row

10
contains black, white, and gray. You can make 256 shades of gray by using equal
contributions from each of the primary colors.

(1)

(2)

You can mix colors with black or white paint to create shades of color. To add black paint,
reduce the color values of all channels so they tend toward 00. To add white paint, increase
the color values of all channels so they tend toward FF. This is illustrated in the third row.

(3)

(4)

In Photoshop use the Lightness slider in the Hue/Saturation dialog box (Ctrl-U) to add paint.
Move the Lightness slider to the left to add black paint, and to the right to add white paint.
Gray paint has been added to the last swatch in row three. With the addition of gray, colors
become less saturated and tend toward 7F. Increasing Saturation in the Hue/Saturation dialog
box increases the difference between color channels. Decreasing Saturation reduces the
difference between color channels, colors values are averaged, and the image resembles a
grayscale at the extreme.

The primary colors are combined in row four. These are commonly known as CMY colors
(Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow), and form the basis of the subtractive color system. CMYK inks
used in the press, where K stands for black. Black is added to ensure rich dark tones on
printed output. If you're targeting the press, you need to be familiar with these colors. If
you're targeting the web, or your inkjet printer, work with RGB colors. Even though inkjet
printers use CMYK inks, most printer drivers expect RGB.

You can use the Info panel to measure colors. After opening the Info panel, move your cursor
to measure colors within Photoshop. If you want to measure colors outside Photoshop use
DotColor, a Windows-based application. The eyedropper for DotColor resides in your toolbar

11
and can be used to measure colors at any point on your screen. DotColor is freely available
from Inetis.

Levels
The Levels dialog box, shown below, can be used to control brightness and contrast of an
image. In the center is a histogram that indicates the relative distribution of pixels by tonal
value. Dark values are represented on the left side of the diagram, and light values on the
right side. Neutral gray is in the center. A peak in the histogram means that there are many
pixels in that density range.

Lighten/Darken Adjustments

The gray input slider, also known as the gamma slider, defines neutral gray (127,127,127) for
the input image. You can read gamma values at the top of the dialog box. When you move the
gamma slider to the left, more pixels map to the right of the slider. This means there are more
light-colored pixels in the image and the image lightens. When you move the gray slider to the
right, more pixels map to the left of the slider and the image darkens.

When you move the black and white input sliders toward the center, you expand a small
portion of tonal range in the image to the full-scale output. The result is an increase in
contrast. Values to the left of the black input slider, and to the right of the white input slider,
are truncated.

Contrast Adjustments

When you move the output sliders toward the center, you compress the tonal range selected
by the input sliders to be less than full-scale. The result is a decrease in contast. The final
image will not contain any tonal values to the left of the black output slider, and to the right of
the white output slider. Hold down the Alt key while moving the input sliders to preview
truncated pixels.

12
Auto Levels
With Auto Levels you can easily restore dynamic range and remove color casts from most
pictures. Choose Images > Adjustment > Auto Levels, or click on the Auto button in the Levels
or Curves dialog box.

Auto Levels automatically adjusts the black and white input sliders in the Levels dialog box.
The slider for each color channel is adjusted independently. The sliders are moved toward the
center, truncating tonal values with few pixels. The following histograms illustrate the action
taken by Auto Levels on a typical image.

The image had a strong color cast that can be seen in the histogram for the blue channel.
Truncating void values expands the channel to full range. The assumption being made is that
scene illumination, or something in the digital transfer, caused this channel to be compressed.
Expanding the channel to full range is simply undoing the damage.

This technique can do an amazingly good job of removing color casts and restoring dynamic
range. All that is needed for the process to work properly is a very dark shadow and a very
bright highlight. They will be restored to (00,00,00) and (FF,FF,FF), respectively. Results are
unsatisfactory when this technique is applied to high-key fashion shots that lack dark tones, or
sepia-colored photographs with an intentional color shift. The following histograms illustrate
the RGB values before and after applying Auto Levels.

Comparing the Before and After histograms, we see that the tonal values now run full scale.
However, a lot of static is present. The spikes result when two values map into one value.
There are also some empty slots — a result of expanding the blue channel. Although the final
histogram looks a mess, the image looks great and has no hint of a color cast.

13
Image quality degrades each time you apply Auto Levels, Levels, or Curves. For this reason
it's best to use an adjustment layer. With an adjustment layer you can revisit and modify
settings at a later date without compromising image quality.

Auto Color and Auto Contrast

By default, pressing Auto in the Levels or Curves dialog box does an Auto Levels correction.
You can specify options that control the behavior of Auto Levels, or bind the Auto button to
other algorithms.

Algorithms

By default, Enhance Per Channel Contrast is selected. This is the same as specifying Image >
Adjustments > Auto Levels. Other algorithms under Image Adjustments include Auto Color
and Auto Contrast. Each adjustment has a different effect.

Auto Contrast. Enhance Monochromatic Contrast.

Same as choosing the RGB channel in Levels and moving the black/white input sliders
toward middle. Expands contrast for all channels equally. Improves contrast without
altering colors.

Auto Levels. Enhance Per Channel Contrast.

Same as moving the black/white input sliders in Levels toward the middle for each channel
individually. Removes color cast in images that have at least a few pure black and white
areas.

Auto Color. Find Dark and Light Colors.

Similar to Auto Levels, but works well with images that do not contain pure black/white
areas.

14
Choose Snap Neutral Midtones and Photoshop will adjust gamma to make nearly neutral colors
neutral. The three color patches control black, gray, and white points. These points are used
by the Auto commands and the Eyedroppers in the Levels and Curves dialog boxes. For black
and white points you can specify Clip percentage. This is the percentage of black or white
pixels that will be clipped when Auto algorithms are applied. Finally, if you enable the Save as
Defaults checkbox, any settings you make become the new default, and will be applied when
you click the Auto button in Levels or Curves. This way you can bind the Auto button to invoke
Auto Color instead of Auto Levels.

Target Colors

For target color, specify (128,128,128) for midtones. Black and white points depend on the
intended target. For details, see Eyedroppers.

Clipping percentages control the amount of pixels that are clipped when Auto commands are
invoked. This avoids stray noise pixels influencing results. Small changes in clipping level can
have a dramatic effect on image quality. Default clipping level is 0.5% and may be a bit high.
Noise levels have declined in recent years. Experiment with values around 0.1%.

Although you can set defaults, each image has its own requirements. One tactic that works
well is to avoid the Auto button in the Levels and Curves dialog box and go straight to Options.
There you can easily choose the three different Auto commands and adjust clipping.

Curves
The Curves dialog box, shown below, offers more flexible control over tonal quality than
Levels. The graph shows a mapping of tonal values from input to output. Input values are
represented on the bottom of the graph, and output values are on the left side of the graph.
The curve shown represents a simple linear mapping.

15
Each value in the input maps to an identical value on the output. The slope of the straight-line
portion of the curve is known as gamma. A gamma of one, illustrated above, indicates no
change in contrast. Gamma values greater than one, or an increase in slope, indicate an
increase in contrast. Gamma values less than one, or a decrease in slope, indicate a decrease
in contrast. To change the curve, click on the curve to add a point. Drag the point to alter the
shape of the curve. To delete a point, drag the point off the graph.

Lighten/Darken Adjustments

To lighten an image, drag the center point to the left. This causes more pixels to be mapped
to the upper half of the output, and results in a lighter image. This adjustment corresponds to
moving the gray slider to the left in Levels. Shadows have increased contrast (gamma > 1),
and highlights have decreased contrast (gamma < 1).

To darken an image, drag the center point to the right. This causes more pixels to be mapped
to the lower half of the output, and results in a darker image. This adjustment corresponds to
moving the gray slider to the right in Levels. Shadows have decreased contrast (gamma < 1),
and highlights have increased contrast (gamma > 1).

Contrast Adjustments

To increase the contrast of an image, drag the endpoints of the curve horizontally toward the
center. This causes a small range of tonal values maps to the output range, and results in an
increase of contrast. This adjustment increases the slope of the curve (gamma), and
corresponds to moving the black and white input sliders toward the center in Levels.

To decrease the contrast of an image, drag the endpoints of the curve vertically toward the
center. This causes the input tonal values to map to a smaller output range, and results in a
decrease of contrast. This adjustment decreases the slope of the curve (gamma), and
corresponds to moving the black and white output sliders toward the center in Levels.

16
With Curves you can also change the contrast of midtones to increase contrast. Place and drag
two points to make the S-shaped curve shown below. Midtones exhibit increased contrast,
while shadow and highlight areas show reduced contrast. The net result is a perceived
increase in contrast, while retaining detail in the shadows and highlights. This adjustment is
usually preferable to a simple straight line, where shadow and highlight detail is lost.

Linear S-Shaped Curve

Increase Contrast

You can decrease contrast in a similar manner. Again, place and drag two points to make the
S-shaped curve shown below. Midtones exhibit decreased contrast, while shadow and highlight
areas show increased contrast. The net result is a perceived decrease in contrast, without
losing rich blacks or bright highlights in the output image. This adjustment is usually
preferable to a simple straight line, where deep blacks and highlights are lost.

Linear S-shaped Curve

Decrease Contrast

Brightness/Contrast
Without a doubt, the Brightness/Contrast dialog box (Image > Adjust > Brightness/Contrast)
is the easiest way to make tonal adjustments. These controls work just like the adjustments
on your television. Notice that no shortcut is provided to this feature in Photoshop. You'll see
why in a minute.

17
You can duplicate the effect of the Contrast slider in the Curves dialog box. An increase in
contrast moves the endpoints of the curve horizontally toward the center, and a decrease in
contrast moves the endpoints of the curve vertically toward the center.

Increase Decrease
Contrast

This results in a loss of detail in shadow and highlight areas. These adjustments are similar to
adjustments of the input and output sliders in Levels. With Levels, however, you have a
histogram to view pixel distribution and can intelligently select cut-off points. With the
Contrast slider, you're operating in the dark.

Increasing and decreasing brightness adds the specified value to all pixels. This effectively
moves the transfer curve up or down as indicated below.

Increase Decrease
Brightness

Again we have a loss of detail in shadow and highlight areas. The gamma slider in Levels, or
shifting the midpoint in Curves, yields better results without loss of detail. The following dark
image has been lightened using the Levels and the Brightness control. Judge for yourself.

18
Eyedroppers
Eyedroppers, found in the Levels and Curves dialog boxes, can also be used to restore
dynamic range and remove color casts. It's usually easier to use the eyedroppers in the Levels
dialog box as you can Alt-drag the input sliders to help determine extreme light and dark
areas. The following eyedroppers are available:

White eyedropper. Click on the white eyedropper and select a pixel that you want to be
white in the image. From the Levels dialog box, Alt-drag the black input slider to help
identify dark areas in the image.

Black eyedropper. Click on the black eyedropper and select a pixel that you want to be
black in the image. From the Levels dialog box, Alt-drag the white input slider to help
identify white areas in the image.

Gray eyedropper. Click on the gray eyedropper and select a pixel that you want to be
gray. This eyedropper removes color casts in midtones. It's not looking for an exact gray
(128,128,128), but an initial value of 92 to 160 for each channel is reasonable. It then
balances the three RGB components so they have the same value (a shade of gray), and
proportionally applies the correction to the rest of the image.

Double-click on any eyedropper to specify the associated color. Typically you'll want to leave
the gray eyedropper at (128,128,128). However, the black and white points need adjusting
depending on the intended target.

Targeting a monitor. Choose (0,0,0) and (255,255,255) for black and white points to
exploit the full gamut of colors.

Targeting a printer. If you're targeting an inkjet or photographic printer, choose (0,0,0)

and (255,255,255) for black and white points to exploit the full gamut of colors.

Halftone publishing. Consult your printer to determine dot gain. When a drop of ink hits
the paper it is absorbed and spreads into the paper. The amount of spreading is known as
dot gain. Cheap uncoated paper, such as newspaper, has a large dot gain. Expensive
coated brochures have a small dot gain. To limit the amount of ink and avoid excessive
spreading, avoid absolute blacks in the image. Pure white is also avoided so white areas
on the image can be distinguished from surrounding paper stock.

When targeting the press, a dot gain of 92% indicates that darkest blacks should be 20 (255 -
0.92x255), and the black point should be set at (20,20,20). For the white point a value of 6%
indicates that whitest whites should be 240 (255 - 0.06x255), and the white point should be
set at (240,240,240). The following curve illustrates the effect of defining these two points.

19
In The Photoshop Book for Digital Photographers, Scott Kelby recommends setting the black
eyedropper to (20,20,20) and the white eyedropper to (240,240,240).

In Photoshop Restoration & Retouching, Katrin Eismann recommends setting the black
eyedropper to (12,12,12) and the white eyedropper to (245,245,245).

These settings are appropriate for prepress, but should not be used when targeting the web,
inkjet, or photographic printers.

Both authors explain that their settings will retain shadow and highlight detail. This works
great if you select areas that have detail. For example, if you specify (20,20,20) as a black
point, and click on a dark shadow that you want to be (20,20,20) in the final print, all is fine.
However, if you select something that you want to be absolute black (0,0,0), then it will be
(20,20,20) in the final print.

Furthermore, specifying values other than (0,0,0) and (255,255,255) for black and white
points will cause unexpected results when using the Auto commands such as Auto Levels, Auto
Contrast, and Auto Color. For example, if you specify (20,20,20) as the black point, then no
pixels will have a value below (20,20,20) when you do Auto Levels.

For years companies such as Kodak, Agfa, and Ilford strived to make photographic printing
papers that exhibited the blackest blacks (high DMAX) and whitest whites. These papers were
the first choice of skilled darkroom technicians for high quality reproduction. Changing black to
(20,20,20), and white to (240,240,240), means that you do not want the blackest blacks or
whitest whites, and prefer the wimpy results obtained from photographic papers from the
50's.

Do it the easy way. Specify (0,0,0) for black and (255,255,255) for white. Then click pure
black and white values with the eyedropper. As with most rules, it's meant to be broken.

20
Color Correction Summary
You have seen four ways to control tonality: Brightness/Contrast, Eyedroppers, Levels, and
Curves. Each method was more complex than the previous one, but offered more control.
Brightness/Contrast controls are coarse adjustments that truncate shadows and highlights and
give no feedback for the damage done. With eyedroppers you can expand dynamic range and
correct color casts, but brightness adjustments are not possible. Levels displays a histogram,
allowing you to intelligently adjust brightness and contrast. Finally, with Curves you have the
most freedom. You can do anything Levels does, and more. You can specify any transfer curve
you wish in order to obtain optimum image quality and retain shadow and highlight detail.

The best strategy is to avoid the Brightness/Contrast controls altogether. You can achieve
much better results, and avoid truncated shadows and highlights, using Levels and Curves.

To correct an image, first remove color casts and restore dynamic range. Try one of the
following:

Auto Levels, Auto Color, Auto Contrast. Frequently one of these automatic
adjustments will result in a remarkable improvement in image quality. Click on the Options
button in Curves or Levels, and experiment with the different options. This may be the
only step required.

Auto Levels, manual method. Sometimes, due to a few stray pixels, you must simulate
Auto Levels by manually moving the sliders in the Levels dialog box. Adjust each color
channel independently, bringing the input sliders toward the center to truncate unused
areas.

Eyedroppers. Use the black and white eyedroppers in Levels to set black and white
points. Use the gray eyedropper to remove color casts.

After restoring dynamic range, use one of the following methods to adjust brightness:

Levels. Fine-tune brightness with the gray slider.

Curves. Make adjustments to modify brightness.

After you gain experience with Curves, you can specify Auto Levels from the Curves dialog box
and fine-tune each color channels individually. This is the technique used for the example in
this tutorial.

The following steps were taken to color-correct the example. To follow along, right-click on the
image and download it to your computer. Then, as you read, make corresponding adjustments
in Photoshop. First, apply Auto Levels to the image. This corrects many deficiencies. However,
there is still a reddish cast to the grass.

To remove the reddish cast, gamma was decreased in the Levels red channel. This made the
grass green, but also removed the rosy-red coloring from the young lady's cheeks! It was
noted that the grassy area was considerably darker than facial features. If we use Curves
instead Levels, we can adjust the red channel to decrease its contribution in dark areas. An S-
shaped curve was drawn in the red channel, decreasing gamma at the extremes, and
increasing gamma for midtones. This had the effect of eliminating the color cast in the grass,
and accentuating those rosy red cheeks. The picture, modified with Curves, is now as I

21
remember it — taken near sunset at a park in Germany, showing the healthy glow of a young
child at play.

Using Levels and Curves will soon become second nature. These tools will add quality to your
images, and allow you to do things that darkroom technicians can only dream about. Effects
that were once the provenance of studio photographers are easy to do in Photoshop. For
example, a light-red filter is often added to give warmth to a photograph. You can do the
same thing by increasing red channel gamma. Not only that, but you can vary the effect,
watch it change, and click "OK" when it's perfect!

After you've corrected the dynamic range and removed color casts, it's time to print the image
or export it for the Web. Before proceeding, save your work. The file format you choose is
important. JPEG files utilize lossy compression. Every time you save an image, data is
compressed and information is lost. Simply opening, saving, and re-opening a JPEG file
several time degrades image quality.

For archiving purposes, save your images in a non-lossy format. You can save an image in
Photoshop's native PSD file format, or export the image to a TIFF file. Saving it in PSD format
retains all layers and adjustments. When you export to a TIFF file, the file is smaller but you
lose layer and adjustment information.

Exporting Files
Cropping and Resizing
After archiving your work, crop and resize for final output. If you're just resizing, then choose
the Image Size dialog box and make adjustments. If you also need to make minor crop
adjustments for correct proportions, then the Crop tool is the easiest way.

Terminology

Before resizing, let's examine some of the terminology you'll find in the resizing dialog boxes.

Pixel Dimensions. The size of every digital image can be expressed in pixel dimensions.
For example, an 800x640 image has a width of 800 pixels and a height of 640 pixels.
When you view an image at 100% magnification on the monitor, each pixel is represented
by a single dot on the monitor screen.

Resolution. Encoded in JPEG and TIFF file headers is the resolution in pixels/inch (ppi).
This has no effect when you view the image on a monitor. However, this value is used to
determine output print size when you send the image to a printer. To determine print size,
divide pixel dimensions by the resolution in pixels/inch. For our example, a 2000x2500
image with 250ppi, will produce an 8"x10" print.

Resampling. If you change pixel dimensions, then you must resample the image. For
example, if you had a 2000x2500 image with 250ppi, and you wish to print a 4"x5" image,
there are two choices. You could increase resolution from 250 to 500ppi. This changes the
resolution in the file header, and no resampling is involved. Alternatively, you can leave
resolution at 250ppi, and drop image dimensions to 500x625. If you change image
dimensions, adjacent pixels are sampled to determine each new pixel.

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Digital camera owners often find their images, out of camera, have a resolution of 72ppi.
Remember, this is just a value stored in the header. It's the number of pixels, or pixel
dimensions, that really count. You'll probably want to change one or both of these parameters
before saving the final file. Final pixel dimensions and resolution needed are based on whether
you're targeting a monitor or plan to print the image.

Targeting a monitor. For display on a monitor (or the web), pixel dimensions determine
image size, and resolution is ignored. Images are always displayed at 100% resolution,
with one pixel mapped to one dot on the screen. Ideally, you want the image to display
without scroll bars. If different dimensions are required, resample the image. If you have a
2000x2500 image, you'll want to resize to a smaller size so that the user can view the
entire image without scrolling.

Targeting a printer. For good quality images resolution should be at least 250 ppi, and
pixel dimensions should be adjusted for proper print size. If you have a 1600x2000 image,
then 250ppi will produce an 6.4"x8" print. For an 8"x10" print, you'll have to resample
image size to 2000x2500.

Simple Resizing

Choose Image > Image Size to resize an image. The choices under Pixel Dimensions allow you
to change the number of pixels in an image. The choices under Document Size control the
printed size of an image. There are two checkboxes in the Image Size dialog box:

Constrain Proportions. When checked you will see a link symbol appear between the
Width and Height attributes. This indicates that the ratio of width to height will remain
constant. If you change the Width, for example, Height changes proportionally. For simple
resizing, check this box.

Resample Image. When checked you can change the number of pixels in an image.
When unchecked, the Pixel Dimensions section of the dialog box is grayed-out, indicating
the number of pixels remains constant. Choose Bicubic to resize photographic images.

23
Use the following procedure to resize images.

Targeting a monitor. Change Pixel Dimensions and press OK. Since Width and Height
are linked (Constrain Proportions enabled), you only need to change one parameter.

Targeting a printer. Change Document Size and press OK. Resolution should be at least
250ppi.

If you also need to slightly crop the image to accomodate a different print size proportion
(5"x7" instead of 8"x10"), then the Crop tool is easier to use.

Cropping and Resizing

Suppose you had a 2000x2500 image, and wanted to order a 5"x7" print from Ofoto or
EzPrints. You could crop to pixel dimensions so that they were proportional to 5:7 (1785x2499
will do), then resize for at least 250ppi. Alternatively do the entire operation with the Crop
tool.

Choose the Crop tool, specify "5 in" and "7 in" for image height and width, and 250
pixels/inch. Drag the crop tool to outline the image. Press ENTER when done.

Unsharp Mask
To sharpen an image, use the Unsharp Mask (Filter > Sharpen > Unsharp Mask). This strange
terminology stems from a darkroom procedure used to sharpen images. To sharpen an image
in the darkroom, contact print the negative onto masking film to create a low-contast thin
positive. To make an enlargement, tape the positive and negative together, and register
(align) the two images. Both negative and positive masks should face the same way. When
enlarging, focus on the negative image. This creates a positive unsharp mask, as the film base
separates the two layers of emulsion.

Since the positive is very thin, its contribution is minimal. However, on contrasting edges the
unsharp positive creates opposing tonal values by allowing light, or lack of light, to influence
the edge. This increases edge contrast and gives the illusion of a sharper image. In Photoshop
the same effect is simulated in software by comparing adjacent pixel values and enhancing the
difference. The following figure is a magnified view that illustrates the unsharp mask in action.

24
The following options are available in the Unsharp Mask:

Amount. This is the volume control of the USM. Increase Amount to increase contrast of
adjacent pixels. Amounts ranging from 50 to 150 are typical.

Radius. Specify the radius, from an edge, that the USM sharpens. Use a radius equal to
resolution divided by 150. For a screen resolution of 72 ppi, use 0.5. If you're targeting an
inkjet printer with a 300ppi image, a radius of 2.0 is appropriate.

Threshold. Control sharpening in smooth areas that lack contrast. Two adjacent pixels
are eligible for sharpening if the difference in brightness is greater than the Threshold. Use
zero for all pixels to participate, and a higher value to suppress sharpening in smooth
areas. For detailed landscapes, use a low Threshold of 0 for maximum detail. For images
taken with a digital camera, use a Threshold of 1 or 5 to minimize noise. For close-up
portraits, use Thresholds up to 5 or more to suppress sharpening of skin pores.

The degree of sharpening will depend on target resolution. Consequently, sharpening should
be done at the end of your workflow. If you use a digital camera, turn off in-camera
sharpening and leave all sharpening for Photoshop. This gives you more control over the
process, and utilizes Photoshop's sophisticated sharpening algorithms. The following image
illustrates the effects of sharpening. Excessive sharpening produces edge artifacts.

JPEG Files
If you are exporting for the Web, the JPEG file format is a logical choice for photographic
images. It's compact and is capable of displaying the full gamut of colors. You can decrease
the size of a JPEG file by lowering the Quality factor when saving a file. Images in this
document were saved with a Quality factor of 60. Artifacts start to appear when Quality is too
low.

Selections
Brushes
In the coming sections we'll be using brushes for selections, dodging, and burning. You don't
have to be an artist to use brushes — but a basic understanding is important.

Photoshop ships with a set of predefined brushes. To view parameters for brush presets,
choose Window > Brushes to open the Brushes Palette. Click on Brush Tip Shape and select a
brush.

25
 Brushes Palette

Diameter controls the size of the brush in pixels. Soft-tipped brushes have zero Hardness, and
hard-tipped brushes have Hardness set to 100%. Although you can custom-define your own
brushes, the predefined brushes that ship with Photoshop are usually sufficient.

If you're not going to add a new brush, or change brush parameters, it's more convenient to
use the Brush pop-up palette to select a preset brush.

26
 Brush Pop-up Palette

Click on the palette menu and try different display options ranging from Text Only to Display
Thumbnail. For Display Thumbnail, leave your cursor over a brush and tool tips will display the
brush's name.

The hard round and soft round brushes suffice for most editing tasks. In practice you can use
shortcut keys instead of the Brush palette or Brush Pop-up palette:

• press [ to decrease diameter

• press ] to increase diameter
• press Shift-[ to decrease hardness
• press Shift-] to increase hardness

I suggest you spend a few minutes and experiment with various brush shortcuts and settings.
In Photoshop choose File > New and open a document with a white background. Press "D" for
default colors, choose the Brush tool ("B"), select a brush in the Brush pop-up palette, and
paint. Experiment with hard and soft brushes and different brush sizes. Press "X" to eXchange
colors and paint with white. Press "X" again to swap back to black. Decrease Opacity to 20%
in the options bar. Drag to color an area. Click and drag again over the same area. Using this
painterly technique you can buildup an area to the desired density.

These few simple techniques will suffice for most purposes in our digital darkroom.

27
Making Selections
Selection Tools

The Photoshop Help menus provide an excellent description of the selection tools. A short
summary follows:

Marquee Tool. The Rectangular and Eliptical Marquee tools select rectangles, squares,
elipses and circles.

Lasso Tool. Just click and drag to outline irregular shapes.

Polygon Lasso Tool. Select any shape with straight edges. Press the Alt key while
drawing to switch to the Lasso.

Magnetic Lasso Tool. A good tool to use when tracing distinct boundaries. Press the Alt
key while drawing to lay down extra points.

Magic Wand Tool. Select related colors. Increase Tolerance for a wider range of colors,
and disable Contiguous if the entire image should participate in the selection.

For all the selection tools, press Shift to add to a selection, and Alt to subtract from a
selection, before dragging. To preclude sharp boundaries you'll want to feather your selection.
Before selection specify feathering in the Options bar. After selection choose Select > Feather
to increase feathering.

Quick Mask Mode

In Quick Mask mode you can make selections with a brush. Enter and exit Quick Mask mode
with shortcut toggle "Q". In Quick Mask mode areas that are not selected appear to be ruby
red, while areas that are selected appear normal. You can also toggle Quick Mask mode using
the Quick Mask buttons on the tool bar. Double-click on these buttons and you can specify
mask color and behavior.

Press "Q" while viewing an image and nothing happens. That's because nothing has been
selected, so everything appears normal. Exit Quick Mask mode, make a rough selection with
the Marquee tool, then enter Quick Mask mode again. After adjusting brush size, softness, and
opacity, proceed to paint your selection. Slowly buildup the selection around the edges for
proper feathering. When done press "Q" again to view your selection.

Extract

For tricky selections, try the Photoshop Extract command (Filter > Extract).

Knockout

For even trickier selections, try Corel's Knockout. A Photoshop plugin, it does a fantastic job
selecting complex patterns from plain backgrounds. Hair against a blue sky is a classic
example where Knockout excels (unless the hair is blue). For complex backgrounds you'll need
to fine-tune the results.

28
Layer Masks
You can use Layer Masks to make selections. When you apply a layer mask to a layer, you are
controlling the opacity of the layer. If the layer mask is white, the layer is opaque. If the layer
mask is black, the layer is transparent. A gray layer mask allows part of the layer to show
through.

Consider the following figure. First double-click on the background layer to convert it to a
regular layer. The click on the Add Layer Mask button at the bottom of the Layers palette to
add a Layer Mask. After adding a Layer Mask, click on the Layer Mask in the Layers palette,
and paint. If we add a gradient to the layer mask, the top layer becomes transparent in areas
where the mask is black, and remains opaque in areas where the mask is white.

Alt-Shift-click on the Layer Mask in the Layers palette to view dark portions of the mask as a
translucent ruby-red layer. At this point you can paint to refine the mask. Alt-Shift-click again
to toggle back to a normal view. Alt-Click on the mask view the mask by itself, and Alt-click
again to toggle back to a normal view. Usually it's easier to simply click on the mask and start
painting in normal view.

When painting a layer mask, choose an appropriate brush and reduce opacity of the brush for
fine work. Although you can use colors in the mask, they're instantly converted to grayscale
and the value of each grayscale pixel determines opacity for that pixel.

How do you use Layer Masks in real-life situations? In a portrait, for example, you could
duplicate a layer and apply a gaussian blur to the duplicated layer for a soft focus effect. Add a
Layer Mask to the blurred layer. In the mask darken the areas around the eyes, mouth, and
hair. This creates transparent areas that allow the original sharp image to show through. Now
the portrait appears sharp while the skin retains a creamy appearance. See the section on Soft
Focus for an example.

You can also use layer masks to selectively apply Levels and Curves. Whenever you add a
Curves Adjustment layer, you automatically get a Layer Mask. If you only wish to brighten the
eyes in a portrait, fill the layer mask with black, then paint the mask white in the area around
the eyes. Now any adjustments you make in Curves will only apply to the lips. Remember, a
black mask means the layer is transparent or has no effect. A white mask means the layer is
visible or has an effect.

Layer Mask and Selections

If you make a selection, then add an adjustment layer, the Layer Mask associated with the
adjustment layer is automatically shaded to include the selection. For example, make a
selection and add a Curves adjustment layer. The selection is converted to a Layer Mask for
the Curves layer, so the Curves adjustments only apply to the selection. After adding the
adjustment layer you can fine-tune the selection by painting on the layer mask.

To apply more than one adjustment layer to the same selection, first make a selection and
add the first adjustment layer. This creates a layer with the appropriate layer mask
designating the selection. Ctrl-click on the layer containing the Layer Mask. The selection is
restored in the original image and you can add the second adjustment layer.

If both layers already exist and you want to copy a mask from layer-A to layer-B, first delete
the Layer Mask from Layer-B. Then Ctrl-click on Layer-A to restore the selection in the original
image, click on Layer-B, and click on the Add Layer Mask button in the Layers palette.
29
Dodging & Burning
Dodge/Burn Tools
The most obvious tools for dodging and burning are the Dodge and Burn tools. Choose Dodge
to lighten and Burn to darken. Options include Range and Exposure.

Range. Choose Shadows, Midtones, or Highlights. Dodging and burning will emphasize
these tones.

Exposure. Determines the strength of the dodge/burn tools. Default is 50%.

You can retrace to build up dodge/burn effects in a painterly fashion. The default exposure of
50% works well in this regard. Excessive dodging or burning can be undone with Ctrl-Z (undo)
or backing up to a previous version in the History palette.

The Dodge and Burn tools change image pixels. This makes it difficult to undo or make
changes at a later date. Although you can control range and exposure, the controls are
somewhat primitive. You cannot, for example, increase or decrease contrast. The following
sections explore alternative methods that work on layers. Not only is the original image left
intact, but they afford more control when dodging and burning.

Introduction to Blends
Before reading this section, be sure to read the material on Curves.

Create blends with two layers: a top blend layer and a bottom image layer. Select blend mode
in the Layers palette, or as an option with the Clone and Pattern Stamp tools.

All blends operate on each color channel individually. For example, the Lighten blend chooses
the lightest color between the blend and image layers. This is done by examining pixel values
for each channel, and choosing the lightest value for the red, green, and blue channels. For
example, if you blend pixel (96,128,192) with image pixel (190,128,96), the final result will be
(190,128,192). Blending modes are grouped by functionality in the drop-down menu.

A Catalog of Blends

Blends are grouped in the Photoshop drop-down menu by category.

Type Blend Effect

Darken
Multiply Blend values less than 255 darken. White or
Darken
Color Burn transparent blends have no effect.
Linear Burn
Lighten
Screen
Blend values greater than 0 lighten. Black or
Lighten Color Dodge
transparent blends have no effect.
Linear
Dodge

30
 Overlay
Soft Light Blend values less than 128 darken. Blend
Hard Light values greater than 128 lighten. Gray
Darken & Lighten
Vivid Light (128,128,128) or transparent blends have no
Linear Light effect.
Pin Light

The following section examines several blends in detail.

Effect of Blends on an Image

Lighten
For each pixel, both layers are examined and the pixel with the lightest value is chosen.
Lighten is a good choice when retouching blemishes in a portrait. After selecting the Clone
tool, choose a Lighten blend in the Options bar so that the stamp will lighten darker areas
around the blemish and leave lighter areas untouched.

Darken
For each pixel, both layers are examined and the pixel with the darkest value is chosen.

Multiply
Multiply darkens an image. A white or transparent blend has no effect. Paint the blend with
shades of gray or black to darken the image. A black blend produces pure black in the final
image. Most of the effect is confined to high values that are mapped, in a linear fashion, to
lower values. For example, a blend filled with tonal value 192 will depress the right side of the
curve to 192. Blend an image with itself for a nonlinear decrease in brightness. Although tonal
values are compressed, they are not truncated so detail loss is minimal. Multiply, with
equivalent curves adjustments, is illustrated below.

Screen
Screen lightens an image. A black or transparent blend has no effect. Paint the blend with
shades of gray or white to lighten the image. A white blend produces pure white in the final
image. Most of the effect is confined to low values that are mapped, in a linear fashion, to
higher values. For example, a blend with tonal value 64 will raise the left side of the curve to
64. Blend an image with itself for a nonlinear increase in brightness. Although tonal values are
compressed, they are not truncated so detail loss is minimal. Screen, with equivalent curves
adjustments, is illustrated below.

Hard Light

Hard Light combines both Multiply and Screen. A gray (128,128,128) or transparent blend has
no effect. Paint with white to lighten and black to darken. Dark values result in a double-
strength Multiply blend, and light values result in a double-strength Screen blend. For
example, a blend with a tonal value of 96 (128 - 32) will lower the right side of the curve to
192 (256 - 2x32). A blend with a tonal value of 160 (128 + 32) will raise the left side of the
curve to 64 (2 x 32). Although tonal values are compressed and expanded, they are not
truncated so detail loss is minimal. Hard Light, with equivalent curves adjustments, is
illustrated below.

Overlay
Overlay lightens or darkens an image. A gray (128,128,128) or transparent blend has no
effect. Paint with white to lighten and black to darken. The name "Overlay" is derived from the

31
fact that an Overlay with a white blend can be also be done by Screening an image with itself.
Similarly, an Overlay with a black blend can be duplicated by Multplying an image with itself.

Blend an image with itself and light tones Screen or lighten light tones, and dark tones
Multiply or darken dark tones. The result is a classic S-shaped curve for increasing contrast.
Although tonal values are compressed and expanded, they are not truncated so detail loss is
minimal. Overlay, with equivalent curves adjustments, is illustrated below.

Soft Light
Soft Light is a low-strength version of Overlay.

Linear Light
Values that deviate from neutral gray are added/subtracted from image values. A blend with a
tonal value of 96 (128 - 32) subtracts 64 (2x32) from pixel values. A blend with a tonal value
of 160 (128 + 32) adds 64 (2 x 32) to pixel values. Linear Light results in changes that are
identical to modifying Brightness (Image > Adjustments > Brightness). Detail loss occurs for
truncated values.

Dodge/Burn With Blends & Curves

Before reading this section, be sure to read the Introduction to Blends.

Seldom do photographers do "straight" prints. Ansel Adams, for example, extensively

manipulated his images in the darkroom. Dodging or withholding light in areas to lighten
features, and burning or adding exposure in areas to darken features. Although special tools
are available that you can use to mask the light from the enlarger, simply using your hands is
often most convenient.

It was a tedious process. First you guess at how much time is required to dodge or burn,
expose the paper, then wait 3 minutes while the image develops. Usually it takes several
iterations before you get it right. In Photoshop feedback is instantaneous.

Black Vignette

Multiply is the best choice for a black vignette. Click on the New Layer icon in the Layers
palette to create a new layer. Set blend mode to Multiply. Choose a White-to-Black radial
gradient. Click on the center of the image and drag to the corner of the image. Choose Edit >
Fade Gradient to adjust the gradient. Alternatively, click on the Gradient bar in Options and
move the sliders to define a custom gradient. The same effect can be achieved using a Curves
adjustment layer and placing a gradient in the Curves Layer Mask.

The Curve for Multiply (following figure) was used to simulate the Multiply blend for the flower.
In areas where the Layer Mask is white the Curve takes full effect and the resulting image is
black. In areas where the Layer Mask is black the Curves layer has no effect and the original
image shows through. Also depicted is the transfer curve when a Layer Mask pixel is a shade
of gray, and the curve's shape identical to the results obtained using the Multiply blend.

32
 Curve for Multiply Gray Layer Mask

White Vignette

Screen is the best choice for a white vignette. Click on the New Layer icon in the Layers
palette to create a new layer. Set the blend mode to Screen. Choose a Black-to-White radial
gradient. Click on the center of the image and drag to the corner of the image. Choose Edit >
Fade Gradient to adjust the gradient. Alternatively, click on the Gradient bar in Options and
move the sliders to define a custom gradient. The same effect can be achieved using a Curves
adjustment layer and placing a gradient in the Curves Layer Mask.

The Curve for Screen (following figure) was used to simulate the Screen blend for the flower.
In areas where the Layer Mask is white the Curve takes full effect and the resulting image is
white. In areas where the Layer Mask is black the Curves layer has no effect and the original
image shows through. Also depicted is the transfer curve when a Layer Mask pixel is a shade
of gray, and the curve's shape identical to the results obtained using the Screen blend.

Curve for Screen Gray Layer Mask

Lighten/Darken

Using Blends
Logical choices to lighten/darken an image include the Overlay and Linear Light blends. Soft
33
Light, a lower-strength version of Overlay, is too weak. It's best to have a blend that's
relatively strong, so you can reduce opacity and use several strokes to buildup a selection.

Click on the New Layer icon in the Layers palette to create a new layer. Press "D" to set
foreground/background colors to default black & white. Choose a soft brush and reduce
opacity to 15-20%. Paint with white to lighten and black to darken. Use shortcut key "X" to
switch between black and white paint. Buildup areas slowly until the desired results are
obtained. You can also adjust strength with the Opacity slider in the Layers palette.

Overlay Linear Light

The above curves illustrate the action of Overlay and Linear Light. Overlay will lighten an
image without truncating tonal values, while Linear Light is effectively a Brightness control
that may truncate tonal values. Overlay works well in most instances, but often there is an
apparent increase in contrast. Typically you lighten a dark area, or darken a light area. As you
can see from the Overlay curve above, dark areas increase in contrast when they are
lightened. The same effect happens when you darken a light object. If the increase in contrast
is objectionable, try Linear Light.

Using Curves
Make a rough selection, create a Curves adjustment layer, and adjust the curve as desired.
You can change any part of the curve to any shape and fine-tune your selection in the Layer
Mask. In my opinion this is better than using blends as you have more control over tonal
values.

Increase Contrast

Using Blends
Duplicate a layer (Ctrl-J) and use a Hard Light, Overlay, or Soft Light blend. All three of these
blends lighten pixels when the pixel's blend is light, and darken pixels when the pixel's blend is
dark. The net result is an increase in contrast. Hard Light is the strongest, Soft Light weakest,
and Overlay is right in the middle. Reduce opacity to fine-tune results.

To increase contrast for a portion of the image use selection tools, such as the Lasso, to select
the area that requires a contrast boost. Copy the selection to a new layer (Ctrl-J). Set
blending mode to and reduce opacity until the desired results are obtained.

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Using Curves
Make a rough selection, create a Curves adjustment layer, and adjust the curve as desired.
You can change any part of the curve to any shape and fine-tune your selection in the Layer
Mask. In my opinion this is better than using blends as you have more control over tonal
values.

Screen a Curves Layer

Katrin Eismann, in Photoshop Restoration & Retouching, suggests that you lighten dark images
by adding a Curves adjustment layer and changing Blending Mode to Screen. Without
adjusting the curve, the image will appear brighter.

The above figure illustrates an equivalent Curves layer (Normal blend). Recall that black areas
on a Screen blend have no effect and white areas produce pure white in the final image. When
applied to a Curves adjustment layer, black areas have no effect and white areas increase the
strength of Curves. Since the effect is multiplicative, the above curve results. By the way,
Eismann's book is excellent.

Black & White

Black & White Filters
Photographers often utilize filters to enhance their black & white photography. It's easy to
simulate filters in Photoshop. First, we must convert the RGB image to grayscale. There are
several methods:

• Image > Mode > Grayscale.

• Hue/Saturation, and set Saturation to zero.
• Enable Monochrome in the Channel Mixer.

The last method, using the Channel Mixer, affords the most control. Consider the following
picture of the Ickworth House.

Grayscale is the Photoshop Image > Mode > Grayscale command. Other effects were done in
the Channel Mixer, with Monochrome enabled, using the following settings. For Dreamy
Infrared, first use the Channel Mixer to convert to Infrared, then duplicate the layer (Ctrl-J).

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 Choose the Channels palette, select the green channel, and apply a Gaussian Blur. Choose the
Layers palette and select Luminosity for a blending mode.

Filter R/G/B
none 43/33/30
yellow 60/28/15
orange 78/22/0
green 10/70/20
infrared 40/140/-80
high contrast 40/34/60

For some insight in the workings of the Channel Mixer, let's examine each color channel
individually.

Red Green Blue

The red channel is sensitive to red light. Most noticeable are white roses and a dark sky. The
green channel lightens shrubbery and grass, while the blue channel lightens the sky. You can
obtain a similar effect using black & white film and shooting through colored filters.

When you convert to grayscale, Photoshop combines the color channels to produce a black
and white image. However, you can use the Channel Mixer for more flexability. If you design
your own settings, mix at least two channels to avoid excessive noise.

Toning
In the darkroom toning is done after development. Typically it's a smelly process (rotton eggs
come to mind), and involves the use of hazardous chemicals. In Photoshop it's ever so easy!
Ever see a toned image on the web and wonder how they did it? Here's a simple procedure
that will enable you to reproduce toning, be it duotone, tritone, quadtone, or whatever, in five
minutes.

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Pass your cursor over the above image to see the subtle improvement toning provides.
Duotones, tritones, and quadtones utilize Pantone colors and Curves to blend Pantone inks. If
you're targeting the press, and they've got these inks installed on a printer, then this is the
way to do it.

However, if you're targeting an inkjet printer, or any other type of photographic printer, that's
the hard way. There's no need to use Pantone colors — your printer doesn't have them! It's
much easier to switch to RGB mode and use the standard Curves dialog box. If you have a
toned image that you wish to mimick, here's a step-by-step procedure for determining points
on the curve:

• select the image (Ctrl-A)

• copy the image (Ctrl-C)
• open a new document (Ctrl-N)
• paste into the new document (Ctrl-V)
• convert to grayscale (Image > Mode > Grayscale)
• convert to RGB (Image > Mode > RGB)
• add a Curves adjustment layer
• past again

If you did everything right, the layers should look something like this:

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Now toggle the top two layers off so only the B&W image shows. Choose the Color Sampler
tool (it's under the Eyedropper), and specify Point Sample. Zoom-in so you can see individual
pixels and lay down points at densities of approximately 64, 128, and 192. Check the Info
palette for values and use the Space Bar to navigate. Record the exact grayscale value at each
point.

Now enable the top color layer to find out what the RGB values are at each point. Record
these values. You now know the RGB values for three different places on the curve. Open the
Curves adjustment layer and enter these values in the RGB channels. For example, if you
measure an RGB value of 62/58/65 when the grayscale value is 64, then your Curves
input/output points should be 64/62 for red, 64/58 for green, and 64/65 for blue. You'll find it
convenient to use shortcut keys Ctrl-Tab and Shift-Ctrl-Tab to navigate between points in the
Curves dialog box.

Repeat the process for grayscale values 128 and 192. When done check your results by
toggling the top color layer on and off. If you need more points for an accurate rendering, try
intermediate grayscale values such as 96 and 160. Save the results with the Save button in
the Curves dialog box. Next time you want to apply this tone to a color image, convert the
image from RGB to Grayscale to eliminate color, convert it back to RGB again, and load the
calibrated toning curves.

Examine the curves for your favorite toning effect to see if you can find a pattern. For
example, brown tones are often accomplished by increasing the contribution red, and
decreasing the contribution of blue. Armed with this knowledge, you can make your own
toning curves.

Classic Tones
Below is a collection of classic photographic tones often produced in the darkroom. Download
these curves to reproduce these tones in Photoshop. To use the curves, open the Curves
dialog, click on Load, and load one of the files.

Photographic tones are easily mimicked in Photoshop. Just snoop on the internet until you find
an image you like and determine the Curves necessary to reproduce the effect. Incidently, if
you like the following image, here's a larger version of the picture in a gallery frame.

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Sepia #1 Sepia #2 Sepia #3

Silver Black & White Cyanotype

Platinum Palladium Silver Gelatin

I often modify the RGB curve with an S-shaped curve for a more dramatic high-contrast effect.
If you're targeting a printer consider placing another Curves layer just below the toning curve
so that pure whites, and paper stock, will appear toned.

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Camera
Depth of Field, Part I
Shallow depth of field can be achieved using a large f-stop (small f-stop number) and is
especially pronounced in large-format cameras. The photographer can focus on the subject
while the background appears blurred and plays a less important role. Pass your cursor over
the following image to see the effect.

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In this picture shallow depth of field, or selective focus, was simulated in Photoshop. There are
three methods you can use to achieve this effect.

Method 1

Select the background and blur the selection (Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur). If you make a
mistake, then undo the blur, modify the selection, and redo the blur. You may find easier to
select the subject and invert the selection — or use the Quick Mask (Q) mode.

To minimize edge effects around the selection, modify the procedure as follows. After making
the selection, right-click on the layer and choose Layer via Copy (Ctrl-J). Then Lock
Transparent Pixels (the small button near the top of the Layers palette) prior to blurring to
prevent blurred pixels in the background from altering the subject.

In a variation, try duplicating the background layer, then apply the blur to the duplicated
layer. You may wish to over-blur since you can control the amount of blur later by reducing
opacity of the duplicated layer.

This method uses a two-step process: make a selection, then blur the selection. Wouldn't it be
nice if you could use a brush to apply a blur and view the image while painting? The remaining
methods have this advantage.

Method 2

Duplicate the layer, blur the duplicated layer (Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur). You may wish to
over-blur the layer since you can control the amount of blur later by reducing opacity of the
layer. Then erase portions of the blurred image so that the original sharp image shows
through.

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The Layers palette for our image is shown above. Erasing the blurred layer to transparency
allows the sharp layer to show through.

+ =

Mask Original Final Image

If you make a mistake and erase too much, you can undo (Edit > Undo) and try again.
However, you must undo to the point of the error, and this may erase a substantial portion of
your work. Also, if you save the file and rework it at a later date, the erased portions of the
blurred image are lost. If you want erased sections restored you'll have to start again from the
beginning.

Method 3

Use the History palette to save snapshots of a sharp and blurred image, then use the History
Brush and paint sharp or blurred areas.

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Sharp Brush Blur Brush Scroll Problem

Click on the camera icon at the bottom of the History palette to take a snapshot of the image.
Then blur the image and take another snapshot. Enable the sharp or blurred brush, as shown,
and edit the image. With this method you can arbitrarily change any portion of the image at
any time. There's no need to undo — just repaint with the correct brush.

After applying the History Brush a few times the snapshots scroll out of sight. This means that
you must scroll to the beginning in order to access the correct brush. Also, snapshots are lost
when you save a file. Later, if you decide to rework the image, the sharp/blurred base images
are no longer present.

Method 4

Use a Layer Mask to control the blurred effect. Duplicate the layer and blur the duplicated
layer (Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur). You may wish to over-blur the layer since you can
control the amount of blur later by reducing opacity of the layer. Then click the Layer Mask
icon at the bottom of the Layers palette.

Press "d" for default black and white colors, and press "x" to swap colors. Select a soft brush
and use shortcut keys "[" and "]" to control brush size. Left-click on the Mask and and start

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painting. Paint with black/white to hide/reveal the blurred image. You can Alt-click on the
mask to view the black and white mask by itself. Alt-click again to restore the image.

+ =

Blur Mask Blurred Layer

You can redo any portion of the image at any time. Just choose a color (black/white) and
repaint the mask. All layers and masks are saved when you save the image as a Photoshop
file — facilitating edits at a later date. This method incorporates immediate feedback as you
paint and the ability to re-edit the image at a later date.

Depth of Field, Part II

Pass your cursor over the image below to observe the depth of field simulated in Photoshop.
This illustrates a more complex technique that often achieves realistic results.

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There are several points to note in the rollover image.

• The subject is brighter than the background. This calls more attention to the subject.
• The background is sharp near the camera, but blurred away from the camera.
• The subject remain sharp from head-to-toe.

Although you could use the techniques described in the preceeding section (Focus I), manually
selecting the subject in this example is a monumental job! A third-party plugin, KnockOut by
Procreate, greatly simplifies the task. Make a selection in KnockOut and save the image mask
(File > Save Image Mask) from within KnockOut. Then exit KnockOut without applying the
mask. For our purposes it's easier to work with the mask as a file.

In this example I'll assume the original is on Layer 0. Right-click on the layer and Duplicate
Layer to make Layer 1. Open the Knockout mask as a separate file, give focus to Layer 1 in
the image, and Select > Load Selection. Right-click on Layer 1 and choose Layer Via Cut. The
Layers palette should resemble the following:

Layer 1 contains the background and Layer 2 contains the subject. To prevent blurred edges
when doing a gaussian blur, click on Layer 1 and Lock Transparent Pixels (the small button
near the top left of the Layers palette), and do an inverse selection (Shift-Ctrl-I). Now do a
gaussian blur. You may want to over-blur as you can later change opacity of Layer 1 to dial-in
the amount of blur.

One more minor adjustment. Currently the feet are sharp, but the background they're
standing on is blurred! We need to make the background sharp at the bottom of the picture.
That means we need to make Layer 1 transparent at the bottom to let the sharp background,
Layer 0, show through. Add a Layer Mask (small button at the bottom of the Layers palette) to
Layer 1 and draw a black-white gradient to control the sharpness of the background. The
Layers palette should resemble the following:

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To independently adjust brightness/contrast for background and subject we'll add Curves
above the appropriate layers.

Unfortunately, the Curves for Layer 2 will affect both Layer 2 and Layer 1. To localize the
effect of Curves 2 we'll link Curves 2 and Layer 2 together, open the Layers palette menu, and
specify New Set from Linked. Change mode from Pass Through to Normal. The Layers palette
should resemble the following.

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Now you can independently adjust Curves to control background and subject. Note that Layer
0 still contains the original unedited image, should you need to redo any selections at a later
date.

Soft Focus
Glamour photographs and portraits of women are often done in soft focus. In a studio the
effect may be achieved with a special lens or soft focus filter that slightly blurs highlights in
the image. You can come close to this effect with the Gaussian Blur in Photoshop.

The above portrait was retouched as follows:

Red lips. To give a healthy glow to the model's lips, add a Curves adjustment layer.
Initially the mask adjacent to the Curves icon in the Layers panel is all white and Curves
apply to the entire image. Invert the mask (Ctrl-I) so the mask is black and nothing is
selected. Paint the lips with a soft-tipped white brush to select the lips. For more feedback,
Ctrl-Shift-LeftClick on the mask to toggle a ruby mask. Use shortcut keys "[" and "]" to
control brush size. After making the selection, increase the contribution of red and blue in
Curves for more vivid lip color.

Gaussian blur. Duplicate the original layer and apply a substantial gaussian blur — about
twice as much as you think you'll need. Reduce opacity of the blurred layer to 30-50%.

Sharpen eyes/lips/hair. Apply a layer mask (small button at the bottom of the layers
palette) to the blur. With a black soft-tipped brush, paint the eyes, lips, and hair in the
mask. This makes the blur transparent and allows the sharp base image to show through.

A strong blur with a large radius that is reduced in strength will yield a more satisfactory effect
than just blurring the image directly. Note that you can also reduce blurring in the Edit > Fade
menu immediately after applying the blur. However, using layers and varying opacity
facilitates changes at a later date.

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