Photoshop-esque 'Shadows/Highlights' tool

... with Radius & Color-Correction sliders and all.
For us landscape photographers.
Tone Curve doesn't seem to cut it for me... can anyone else corroborate?
Thanks,
Rishi

Of course.
Extensively.
In every permutation/combination imaginable.
I understand the Tone Curve in quite some depth, and here's my issue with using it to dim highlights/boost shadows: *colors become desaturated*.
As we all know, when brighten or darken saturated colors, these saturated colors can lose saturation due to the introduction of colors other than the saturated color (brightening) or decrease of the saturated color's RGB value (darkening).
Which, I assume, is exactly why the 'Shadows/Highlights' tool was developed in Photoshop, with an option for 'Color-Correction'.
True, for the most part I'm pleased with gaining details out of shadows with the 'Fill Light' without too much loss of saturation. However, there is no such equivalent for selectively dimming highlights without loss of saturation.
You don't believe me? See here:
http://web.mac.com/rishisanyal/Lightroom/Highlights_LossOfSaturation.jpg
Better yet, try for yourself with a full-size version of 'The Original', as pictured above, and see if you can coax the colors out of the highlights in the sky using LR. I bet you you won't be able to without some complex HSL edit (which, of course, runs the risk of changing colors *elsewhere* in your image, when your initial goal was just to get the sky more natural looking -- closer to what our eyes, with such a huge dynamic range such that highlights don't become blown-out or white, can see):
http://web.mac.com/rishisanyal/FilmScans/Seattle_FullSize.jpg
I'm beginning to think that fixing skies/highlights, at least from film scans, is completely impossible in LR, and that's very disappointing. For us landscape photographers that still choose to use film, at least.
-Rishi

Similar Messages

Following the recent upgrade to Photoshop Elements 13 the shadows/highlights sliders no longer operate. How do I resolve this issue?

Having installed the recent upgrade to Photoshop Elements 13 the shadows/highlights sliders no longer work. How do I resolve this problem?

Sometimes when problems pop up for no apparent reason it could be that the preferences files had become corrupted. Here are two ways to reset the preferences.
1. The reset process might be built into your PSE version, as shown in this video:
How to Reset Photoshop Elements Preferences - YouTube
2. If your version does not have the reset option, press and hold Alt-Ctrl-Shift (Option-Command-Shift on Mac) immediately while starting PSE. The timing is critical; you may have to try this several times. A dialog box will pop asking if you want to delete the settings file? Click YES.
Let us know if either of these works for you.

Shadow/Highlights filter in Flash like in Photoshop

Is there a way to create Shadow and Highlights filters in Flash like in Photoshop?
Is it possible using ColorMatrixFilter or ConvolutionFilter?
Is there any examples of Shadow and Highlights filters created with Pixel Bender?
Thanks in advance!

My guess is this should be possible in Flash. However, whether it will be possible in Flash using Pixel Bender is another question. I don't know enough about the algorithm to say for sure whether Pixel Bender will be of any help to you in replicating the Shadows/Highlights functionality.

Shadow/Highlight workflow - A Quick Tutorial by Mathias Vejerslev

Here's a tip on using the Shadow / Highlight feature of Photoshop. I'll describe my typical established workflow using this tool, in order to help others using it.
Shadow / Highlight is in a special category of tools, based on light zones in your image. You can use it to increase or decrease contrast, or indeed both in one go.
First of all, I wouldnt recommend using Shadow / Highlight on an 8-bit image. You can do it, and it will give you results in a pinch, but the image quality will be much better if you start out with a 16-bit image in a large color space.
[continued, below...]

[...the dialogue continues...]
Mathias Vejerslev
- 2:34pm Apr 19, 06 PST
I should note that my settings for S / H are a bit more extreme than usual for this particular image. That's because its so dull to start with. With highlights closer to the right of the histogram, much less Amount for highlights suffice.
glen deman
- 6:49pm Apr 19, 06 PST
Thanks Mathias, I'll also give this a whirl, I'm not familiar with S/H at all at this point.
Lawrence Hudetz
- 12:37pm Apr 20, 06 PST
You must be reading my mind, Mathias, as I was just wondering if you might come up with some information on your take with S/H.
My problem is the reverse: Too much contrast, and I work with scanned images, so I am not using raw. So, I have set up default S/H thusly:
As you can see, it's for a greyscale, but for RGB I would be using the same settings, leaving contrast and color set to Adobe defaults. This is my starting point, and for many of my images, all that is necessary. Once in a while, I throttle back with the Fade, but very seldom. If it isn't working, I tweak the controls, usually starting with the radius.
I haven't tried your selection mask yet. looks like a splendid suggestion, (as usual!).
On certain images with backlit clouds, I frequently set the highlight radius well above 100.
The most disturbing effects I have noted is the contrast enhancement around abrupt changes in picture elements, like a mountain against a cloud. The edge of the mountain goes dark and the corresponding edge of the cloud goes light. In analog work, this is known as the Eberhard effect, and is the principle problem with Tech Pan. Trying S/H on those negs is trying indeed!
Mathias Vejerslev
- 2:59pm Apr 20, 06 PST
Hi Larry,
Try the luminosity mask. I think it will help the halos you see around contrasty subjects.
For scanning, you can still use the two develops method; Scan two versions into 16 bit with different exposure and merge them in Photoshop. Layer one version over the other, and use the luminosity mask from one layer as the layer mask on the other. The combination will be a bit flat, and will need some contrast. This is one situation where you can use S / H to add contrast.
There's nothing wrong with using S / H to decrease contrast, I think this is its primary intended use. But you have to live with the halos induced by a radius based contrast modifier. You dont have to live with halos using the combine method.
Using S / H with a luminosity mask is my own humble 'invention', but I see that it works well regarding controlling the halo effect. - to a limit. It also helps against accidentally lifing the shadows to much, exposing your use of S / H. Other masks could be used, I'd be very interested in other options or ideas people here might have.
Lawrence Hudetz
- 11:09pm Apr 20, 06 PST
Hi again Mathias,
You have a real insight here. I gave it a try and the Luminosity mask is a jewel. But using it as you describe is only the beginning.
First off, I decided to look at which to use, straight or inverted. That extends the application several fold, as now we have two ways to apply tools. And by tools, I mean far more than S/H.
The next place I tried it was the procedure you call contrast coating (I call it brightup.) here is another place to get into trouble, and the Luminosity mask again proved it's worth. But wait! There's more! Sharpening! Use the mask when sharpening an image and with the right polarity selected, one can really sharpen a fuzzy image. I was able to apply sharpening on the order of an Amount of 300 and a Radius of 3. That decisively sharpened an image which could not be well sharpened without a huge halo problem.
What is actually affected? To decide this, I used Curves to watch what areas were responding. Inverting showed a completely different outcome for the same adjustment.
Most fun I've had since....:)?
Mathias Vejerslev
- 6:44am Apr 21, 06 PST
"What is actually affected?"
You can create an alpha channel from the mask by hitting the Create Channel from selection icon in the channel palette. You can then not only see what areas are affected, but you can manipulate your alpha channel with curves to get just the selection you want. I like the straight highlight / midtone L mask, though.
[continued, below...]

Shadow/ Highlight question

Hi there
I am trying to find a answer to this in plain english as I have the Photoshop manual and it is confusing!
Looking at the adjustment Shadow/ Highlight, what should the radius be set to?
I have seen various things on the web but I thought that I would come directly to the source:)
My images that I use the tool on are from a digital camera. Do I look at the pixel dimension of the image? Specific parts of the image?
There must be a logic to this adjustment but I can't seem to grasp it.
Thanks for any help!
Jools

Thanks for that.
I think that I need a more technical explanation as to how I obtain the optimum radius.
Someone said to me on another forum that depends on the size of your subject within your image. Does this mean the subject that I want to bring out and use S/H on?
For example, could I:
1) Make a selection round my main subject.
2) Use the measurement log to tell me the pixel size. Or do I look at the mid grey value of pixels?
3) Half this measurment of pixels for my radius?
Or I am talking out of the old proverbial!

Shadows/highlights is really welcome.

Surely, new LR yet looks great. Including shadows/highlights function which is in Photoshop would do some great job and I can explain why.
First of all it is important to see great difference when we apply this operation before special effects or after.
For example, I save a lot of time using new super features of LR3 like Sharpening and Grain adding. Pictures look just great. And what they need often is applying SHH. But if I do this in Photoshop after conversion it will also bring a lot of dirt and noise. I suppose that applying SHH together with sharpening and grain adding in LR could be done with much higher quality than after in PS.
Yes, nobody dies without it, but for now Grain feature looks really useful considering SHH.
I hope my thoughts are clear (sorry for my English)

Surely did, but it is totally different thing.
Recovery and FillLight are good the way they are.
In SHH it is possible to control radius and tonal width even separately of each other plus midtone contrast.
SHH itself maybe is the most important invention for digital photography during last years. It can bring back details hidden in dark and light areas without loosing contrast in those areas where you need it. For this you set radius. Recovery smooths the contrast which also is really important. It does not allow bright areas easily blow out while you can increase brightness. Together those functions are just the killers.
Recovery/Filllight cannot replace SHH.
I can still use it in Photoshop, but I will have to skip using new Grain feature, because SHH together with details also will bring back a lot of noise.

Where do I find the Edge Highlighting Tool

Where do I find the Edge Highlighting tool in Photoshop CC

The Refine Edge Command is generally much better than the old extract filter.
A couple of videos:
http://tv.adobe.com/watch/the-russell-brown-show/masking-basics-in-photoshop-cs5/
http://tv.adobe.com/watch/creative-suite-podcast-photographers/how-to-remove-a-background- from-an-image-in-photoshop-cs5/

How do i adjust layers below a Shadows/Highlights smart object layer

Hi
In Photoshop CC I have created a number of layers for smart tonal adjustments.
I then created a Smart object Shadow/Highlight layer base upon a copy of all layers below.
However my layers below can no longer be altered as the Shadow/Highl;ight layer is a copy of them.
Is there away to allow me to stack the layers so that i can still make adjustments to my layers below after have created a Shadow/Highlight layer.
Seems impossible.

You can stack SOs pretty much for ever. Just right click the SO with the Shadow/Highlight adjustment, and turn it into a Smart Object. Then you can add a layer mask to make parts of the underlying layers visible. But you mainly need to manage your workflow to avoid this situation, or use the SO as a new Background Layer, and carry on working from there. That is how I tend to work.
Incidentally, as you have CC, do consider using Camera RAW as a filter, on a SO layer, in preference to Shadow/Highlight. S/H was always portrayed as Photoshop magic, but in actual fact it produces nasty artefacts and makes an image look unreal and plastic. When the Camera RAW engine was updated with the Process Version 2012 (PV2012) with version 7.#, it took a big step forward, and allowed drastic use of the sliders without the nasty artefacts this would have cause with earlier versions. AFAIK S/H was not updated, and IMO should have a little skull and crossbones next to it in the Image > Adjust menu. Or better still, removed altogether.

CS4 recovery slider vs shadow/highlight

Is it my imagination or does the adjust highlight slider in Photoshop CS2 (image/adjust/shadow-highlight/adjust highlights) do the same thing, give the same results as the recovery slider in CS4 Camera Raw 5.0? If not, does anyone know what the difference is? I'm trying my best to retain the blown out whites.
Thanks,
Airpix

The big difference between them is that you can use Recovery on raw files to bring back detail out of pure white because you still have information there (not always but you usually do) while a pure white in Photoshop doesn't have any information in it whatsoever.
The other difference (and i'm not 100% sure about this one) is that the Recovery slider works only on the luminance values (it darkens the highlights) while the Shadows/Highlights is an edge detection filter which is why you get halos when you have a huge amount and a low radius
The best solution would be to make as many tonal adjustments as you want/need in Camera Raw and then open it in Photoshop as a Smart Object (shift+click on Open Image to turn it into Open Object) and apply the Shadows/Highlights filter if you need it.

Spotlight or Spot Shadow/Highlight

Is it possible to create a spotlight or spot shadow/highlight effect in FCE with the native effects or filters? I am trying to create something that would look like a "spotlight" was used during filming with the camera (small circle highlighting someone's face).
I was thinking either creating a slight dark overlay over the whole screen with a "cutout" of normal contrast/brightness/color and changing the level opacity. Or a small circle with a lighter color/contrast brightness.
Is this possible within FCE natively or do I need an external filter?

I just figured out a way to do this last night (after much experimentation). In fact I was going to post a message here asking if this is the best way, or is there an easier method?
I'm producing a demo DVD for an entertainer friend, and in some of the clips she wants to use, it would be hard to figure out which of several performers on stage is her at the beginning of the clip. So I figured I'd use a spot shadow like I've seen on TV (where all of the frame is dimmed except for an oval around the primary subject). It is necessary that the spot shadow be able to follow the subject for a bit as she moves, and then fade away after a few seconds to leave the original scene.
Here are the steps I performed to achieve the result. Except as noted, all actions were taken in the timeline.
1. I removed the transitions I had already placed at the beginning and end of the clip (they get replaced later).
2. I turned off the linking between the audio and video tracks and then selected just the video portion of the clip.
3. After verifying that the playhead was at the beginning of the clip, I dragged that video clip to the Canvas window and dropped it on the Overlay panel. The result was a duplicate of the video clip (from v1) in track v2, in perfect alignment. Make sure v2 is enabled.
4. I went to the Browser, selected the Effects tab, opened the Video Filters->Matte folder, and dragged the filter Matte Shape onto the v1 copy of the clip.
5. Double clicked the v1 copy of the clip to display it in the Viewer. With the Viewer Video tab selected, I see a mostly black frame with, with some of the frame's video showing through the selected matte shape.
6. Clicked on the Viewer's Filters tab and opened the Mask Shape section to display its controls.
7. With the playhead at the beginning of the clip, the Canvas shows the original video with no shapes showing. That's because the Opacity of the v2 video is still at 100%.
8. Reduced the v2 clip's video opacity to about 50%. I did this by just dragging the opacity line down in the Timeline. Now the Canvas shows a spot shadow with the current shape parameters.
9. Selected the Oval shape with the popup in the Matte Shape parameters (choices are diamond, oval, rectangle, and round rectangle).
10. Used the Horizontal Scale and Vertical Scale parameters to adjust the shape and size of the oval.
11. With the playhead still at the beginning of the clip, I positioned the spot shadow oval over the subject. To position the shape, click on the “+” button of the Center filter parameter; a small red crosshair appears in the middle of the shape; when I move the mouse pointer over the Canvas, it also changes to a crosshair; with the crosshair mouse pointer, I can drag the spot shadow shape until it is over the subject (note that if the mouse button is released, you have to go click that “+” button again to get the crosshair back).
12. I clicked the diamond button (Ins/Del Keyframe) for the Center parameter to designate the first frame as a Center position keyframe.
13. I scrubbed through the clip, watching the Canvas, and repositioned the spot shadow (see step 11) as necessary to keep up with the subject. Apparently, once you've set the first keyframe, each time you adjust that parameter again FCE automatically generates a new keyframe.
12. I determined where in the clip I wanted the spot shadow effect to fade away. I used the pen tool to add two keyframes to the Opacity of the v2 clip by clicking on two points on its Opacity line. I then dragged the second point up to 100%, which produced a transition from 50% to 100% between those frames in the clip. With the v2 video's opacity at 100%, the spot shadow effect is gone, and you're left with just the original video showing.
13. After verifying that the effect worked as needed, I restored the Cube Spin transitions I was using at the beginning and end of the clip. It was really cool that the spot shadow effect followed the Cube Spin just like I hoped it would.
I hope I didn't miss any critical steps (I'm writing this from memory). But it produced a very nice spot shadow effect that could be animated to stay with the subject. It's actually a lot easier to do than to describe, but I'm still wondering if this was the best way to do it.
Good luck!
-Gordon

Shadows/Highlights not functioning properly

Mac Mini, 2010, OS 10.8.2, 8GB ram, Photoshop 13.0.4 x64.
The Image/Adjustments/shadows/highlights controls are, quite suddenly, not working properly. When the control sliders are moved, nothing happens to the on-screen image until the "OK" button is actuated when any changes made to the sliders are suddenly visible. I have done all the usual things, including re-installing, but nothing helps.
Please, someone, help me get "shadows/highlights" back to normal functions.
Thanks, Al

I've banged my head on that one before, usually after many hours of no sleep cramming on a dealine. It's now the first thing I look for.

In Photoshop CS4- using patch tool-

I select an area I want to repair, click source, then drag to the area I want to use to make the repair and release. It looks great in the preview, before I release. As soon as I release it disappears.
For example, after using the automate tool to combine multiple images into a panarama with a transparent background there are a few blank areas. I select one of the blank areas with the patch tool, click source then drag to the area I want to use as the replacement and release. As soon as I release, it goes back to the transparent background. The transparent button is NOT selected.
This is a Windows Vista system, with NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT video, If I try to do updates to CS4 is sas it is using the latest driver. Which it lists as version 11.0.2.
Any idea how to fix this?

In photoshop cs4 the patch tool doesn't work on transparent areas.
In other words the area has to be opaque (not transparent)
If they are small areas you might try the Healing Brush Tool.
Or use the healing brush tool and/or clone stamp tool and then patch the area with the patch tool.

The highlighting tool is not working

The highlighting tool is not working

Hi,
Could you please share the relevant PDF with us at [email protected] so we could investigate the issue?
Thanks,
Gaurav

Why isn't the highlighter tool working?

I have searched on line tried a forum, tried adobe help, tech support refers to forum, wasted over half an hour on this adobe....
The test is searchable, I've closed and reopened the pdf file. Still the highlighter tools is not working.

It does not say secured in the title bar.
When I go Edit/Protection/Security Properties/ in the Document Properties pop up Security tab,
under Document Security it shows
Security Method: No Security,
Canbe Opened by: All versions of Acrobat,
and under Document Restrictions Summary,
everything is allowed except Document Assembly; Signing; and Creation of Template Pages.
I just copied and pasted the whole document and everything seems to have pasted to WordPad, including quotes, apostrophes, hyphens, colons, commas, brackets, @, and periods, except 3 logos and underlining. The text lines were not all in the same place, as if someone hit return after a sentences. Everything on the pdf page can be highlighted with the cursor, but nothing seems to make the highlighter tool active.

Since the 12/9/14 update of Adobe Acrobat XI Standard to 11.0.10 I have lost the basic colors of the highlighting tool. How do I fix this?

Adobe Acrobat XI Standard to 11.0.10 I have lost the basic colors of the highlighting tool. How do I fix this?

Hi,
It appears that this was a bug that was introduced in the latest update. Others have been able to resolve this issue by using the Acrobat Cleaner tool to uninstall and then reinstall Acrobat. You might try this if you have a few spare moments.
And can you please share the problem PDF which was working correctly in the earlier version.
Thank you

Photoshop-esque 'Shadows/Highlights' tool

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