alanhill
03-04-2005, 4:35 PM
Obliviou$ asked for tips about getting rid of distractingly bright leaves in a recent thread here (http://aquatic-photography.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2759).
I had to do the same recently with a photo of mine, which also had overexposed Vallisneria leaves due to reflections from flash.
I used a 2 step process which I am demonstrating here. I have overdone the treatments a little to show things more clearly: my normal rule with Photoshop is to do a little less than I think the image needs - but here I given a bit more.
I start with cropped resized scan, which has been adjusted for levels, given a little unsharp masking and then saved it as Exhibit A.
Then I selected Image~Adjust~Hue/Saturation and choose Greens. I reduced Saturation and Lightness by 36 each. This gives Exhibit B.
Finally I selected the Burn Tool (it's in the same box as the Dodge and Sponge Tools). I used a brush size 65 (a little wider than the leaves) and in the Range box I selected Highlights and an Exposure of 12%. Then I painted along the leaves to tone down the highlights. Using a low setting for Exposure allows you to add density gradually step-by-step until the effect is what you want. Finally I reduced the brush size to 27 and darkened the smaller areas to the right of the dorsal fin and under the body. I saved the image as Exhbit C.
A
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v322/alanhill/Examples/PencilA.jpg
B
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v322/alanhill/Examples/PencilB.jpg
C
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v322/alanhill/Examples/PencilC.jpg
That's all there is to it.
Alan
I had to do the same recently with a photo of mine, which also had overexposed Vallisneria leaves due to reflections from flash.
I used a 2 step process which I am demonstrating here. I have overdone the treatments a little to show things more clearly: my normal rule with Photoshop is to do a little less than I think the image needs - but here I given a bit more.
I start with cropped resized scan, which has been adjusted for levels, given a little unsharp masking and then saved it as Exhibit A.
Then I selected Image~Adjust~Hue/Saturation and choose Greens. I reduced Saturation and Lightness by 36 each. This gives Exhibit B.
Finally I selected the Burn Tool (it's in the same box as the Dodge and Sponge Tools). I used a brush size 65 (a little wider than the leaves) and in the Range box I selected Highlights and an Exposure of 12%. Then I painted along the leaves to tone down the highlights. Using a low setting for Exposure allows you to add density gradually step-by-step until the effect is what you want. Finally I reduced the brush size to 27 and darkened the smaller areas to the right of the dorsal fin and under the body. I saved the image as Exhbit C.
A
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v322/alanhill/Examples/PencilA.jpg
B
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v322/alanhill/Examples/PencilB.jpg
C
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v322/alanhill/Examples/PencilC.jpg
That's all there is to it.
Alan