Chapter Eleven

Digital Darkroom Expert Techniques

Sharpening

All digital images benefit from some degree of sharpening

Increase contrast of pixels at “edges”—adjacent pixels with big differences in contrast, brightness, or color

Sharpening is destructive! Apply sharpening towards the end of editing

Unsharp Mask

Amount: amount of increase in contrast at edges

Radius: width of “sharp edge” Threshold: 0-255, minimal tonal difference

for sharpening Images with higher resolution can normally

benefit from more sharpening

Blurring the Background

Often used to create soft focus in digital images

Steps Select the background and save the selection Open the alpha channel and soften its edge with

Gaussian Blur Return to the image and load the selection Copy and paste the selection into a new layer Soften the new layer with Gaussian Blur

Dodging with adjustment layer

Lighten the image with a Levels or Curves adjustment layer

Invert the white layer mask to black (Ctrl-I) Use Paintbrush to whiten (50% opacity) those

areas of the layer mask for dodging To reduce dodging effect later, use

paintbrush with black color (50% opacity) to paint over the layer mask

Burning with adjustment layer

Darken the image with a Levels or Curves adjustment layer

Invert the white layer mask to black (Ctrl-I) Use Paintbrush to whiten (20% opacity) those

areas of the layer mask for burning To reduce burning effect later, use paintbrush

with black color (20% opacity) to paint over the layer mask

Burning with a layer mask

Select the center portion with an elliptical selection

Invert the selection Add a Levels adjustment layer and darken

the image Apply Gaussian Blur to the layer mask

Using a gradient mask

For images that need progressive burning/dodging, e.g. an image with a bright sky and a dark foreground

Steps Add a Levels/Curves adjustment layer and lighten

the image Use the Gradient Tool to give the layer mask a

gradient

Converting Color to Black and White

Standard Grayscale Conversion Image -> Mode -> Grayscale Red: 30%, Green: 59%, Blue: 11%

Channel Mixer Add a Channel Mixer adjustment layer Adjust the Red, Green, Blue percentages

Toning with a Hue/Saturation Layer

Add a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer Check Colorize to add a color tint Move the Hue slider to adjust the color of the

tint Move the Saturation slider to adjust the

“richness” of the tint