Yesterday our assignment in our photo class was to do a portrait of a hero. She gave us lots of latitude in choosing who that would be, tho she got the idea because of Veteran’s Day. I grabbed the only person around, Peter. He is a brave guy in a lot of ways, so I think I made a good choice.
So he graciously allowed me to take his picture, with my camera. In portrait mode I need to have a tripod to get the focus I need. The thing I dislike about the non-SLR cameras is the limit on things like good depth of field. But I did get some nice clear shots.
So after our session, I went in to see what I wanted to use for the class. While fiddling, Peter told me about Levels. Levels can be found in your Photoshop program, whichever version you have. And I am guessing it’s also in PSP, too.
In PSE6, it’s control L. Or as in the instructions I have copied for you below from their helps, Enhance>Adjust Lighting>Levels.
I found this so helpful in getting a better photo, I decided to share it with you all. And besides, I have parked my sore back in front of this computer for a while! May as well do something useful!
First is the photo I took, with no altering.
I like the photo but it’s kinda dull. So I wanted to perk up the color some. This is the change I made, just by sliding the levels around. There are three different sliders at the bottom of the graph thing that comes up (you have to open you program and follow along if you want to know what I mean). The first one on the bottom left is for Adjusting Color. Middle one is for Mid-tones. Right hand one is for Highlight Values. Until and if I truly understand these, for now I will simply fiddle till I find what I like. Ok, now the result:
Now let’s say I didn’t like that change (I did, but let’s say I didn’t). At the top of the graph is a place to change the channel. RGB, RED, GREEN, BLUE.
These are samples of what I did with each of the last three, in that order. I increased the color in all cases.
Then you can just play around and see what you come up with. It’s endless.
All of these are best appreciated if you click to make larger.
Oops! I forgot to add on the thing from Photoshop! Here it is:
FROM PSE6 Help Center
The Levels dialog box is a powerful tonal and color-adjustment tool. You can make levels adjustments in the entire image or a selected portion. (To access the dialog box, choose Enhance > Adjust Lighting > Levels.)
Levels dialog box
A.
Channels to adjust color
B.
Shadow values
C.
Middle tones
D.
Highlight values
You can do any of the following with the Levels dialog box:
Set the shadow and highlight values to make sure that your image uses the full tonal range.
Adjust the brightness of the image’s middle tones without affecting the shadow and highlight values.
Fix a color cast by making grays neutral. You can also enhance an image by adding a slight color cast, for example, by adding a warming effect on a sunset.
Target shadow and highlight RGB values if you are preparing images for commercial printing.
When you work with Levels, you can work directly on the image pixels or through an adjustment layer. Adjustment layers give you flexibility in the following ways:
You can modify an adjustment at any time by double-clicking the adjustment layer to reopen the Levels dialog box.
You can reduce the effect of an adjustment by lowering the adjustment layer’s opacity in the Layers palette.
You can stack adjustment layers to make multiple adjustments without degrading the image because of too many successive adjustments.
You can use the adjustment layer’s layer mask to confine an adjustment to a portion of your image.
vellumx
wow, that's cool..I never know how I get what I get because I don't 'read' the discription, if you know what I mean.
I'm looking how you were able to change the background without it affecting the shirt too much. Is that because the shirt was such a bold color?
serene scrapper
vellumx wrote:
wow, that's cool..I never know how I get what I get because I don't 'read' the discription, if you know what I mean.
I'm looking how you were able to change the background without it affecting the shirt too much. Is that because the shirt was such a bold color?
probably. However, on the last one I selected the shirt to keep from changing it. The changes are somewhat subtle, but still noticable, the idea being to give you a more striking photo without going out and buying an amazing camera (which I would do anyway if i could!)
vellumx
yeah, it's nice have a nice camera, but you know what?? even having my Nikon, I still play around..
Now, looking at those photos Lynn took...wow!!!
~ melodyz ~
wow ~ awesome pics chickie! love your editing
the last one is awesome..my fave! :thumbup:
wilgeshouse
i've enjoyed this thread. i have ps7 and am learning daily different things i can do with it.
serene scrapper
wilgeshouse wrote:
i've enjoyed this thread. i have ps7 and am learning daily different things i can do with it.
Ah! Did you have PSE6 before? Wondering how much diff they are. It's about $150, I think, where 6 was 50 less. Anyway, curious if it's enough improvement to consider ....
yeah, it's nice have a nice camera, but you know what?? even having my Nikon, I still play around..