On Tue, 22 May 2001 12:01 +0100 (BST) Tony Sleep
(TonySleep@halftone.co.uk) wrote:
> A neat way to set levels and achieve colour correction at the same time
> in PS, is to do levels manually, as follows.
> - First adjust the shadow end. I usually do this simply by moving the
> slider to clip the histogram a little so blacks are solid.
> - Then double-click on the highlight eyedropper and set the tone and
> colour which you think a highlight area should be (easiest if you pick
> an area which should be a neutral grey, but not always practical).
> Sample the intended area with the dropper, and you should find
> everything comes more or less right. Because of pixel variations, you
> may need to sample a few points before you get the optimum result.
> - You can repeat with the midtone dropper, but usually the slider is
> better
> - Use colour correction to do any final tweaks to colour balance, as
> the foregoing should have linearised colour inaccuracies.
I have been asked off-list to clarify this, as the writer couldn't see how
to get it to work.
When selecting the tone and colour setting for the highlight dropper, drag
the little circle to where you want it on the big graduated picker panel.
I usually *don't* use the highlight dropper for the brightest highlight,
used this way, but select a bright value which still has some detail in.
By setting it to the tone and colour you want, you let the brightest
highlights look after themselves (usually specular so beyond any detail
anyhow), but PS straightens out a lot of the colour correction.
Regards
Tony Sleep
- Online portfolio & exhibit; + film scanner
info & comparisons
