Out of the shaddows.......a bit of fun..

[jon_b]

Our regular CDG members will know that I enjoy playing with CS5 - I am not into manips (exept if necessary to restore damaged or old pics) but I particularly enjoy seeing if pics taken in low light can be made to show additonal details. Now I am no expert - but it is interesting to see what it can do. I was recently asked about the quality of some of the starting pics so here is an extreme example...



Low light pics often are very grainy and the sensor does not record true colors. Is it worth it??? Results are variable - sometimes the most amazing details appear - somtimes not - and for this one probably not - But it is always fun!!

Posted for interest.

 

[Meatpie]

Your skill with CS5 is greatly appreciated here jon, I am impressed how much detail comes up when you brighten an otherwise dark & dull image, brilliant example.

 

[mxboots888]

jon_b I bet you used the levels histogram to correct the shadows, am I right?

 

[jon_b]

jon_b I bet you used the levels histogram to correct the shadows, am I right?

Hey mxboots partly - but with very poor originals I tend to use multiple tools - I started on this one with the shaddows/highlights tool - then curves- then levels - then masks + levels to further tweak shaddows selectively - then a plug-in called pixelgenius with a mask to reduce grain - then variuos colour adjustments to try and bring the color back. With poor originals - my personal observation is that small adjustments with multiple tools gets better results than one tool with big adjustments. I seldom use exposure or brightness or gamma or contrast. But it all depends on the starting point. Someone more expert than me would probably be able to tell us a more 'expert' solution - CS5 is very powerful - but use it in a way that works for you and have fun while you do it

 

[mxboots888]

Nice that's a bit out of my league in tweaking things on my ancient CS

 

[nexcon]

Great work and a very good photo as a result. Thanks!

 

[JackDrago]

I'm a big fan of the histogram tool, can fix a wide variety of lighting problems.

 

[PiercedChest]

Second pic is much better than the first; even if colors seem a little artificial, it does show a lot more details (belly wound for instance). Keep it up!

 

[jon_b]

Second pic is much better than the first; even if colors seem a little artificial, it does show a lot more details (belly wound for instance). Keep it up!