gdanmitchell Offline Upload & Sell: Off
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artd wrote:
As far as the "you don't need to lighten shadows so much" discussion...it's an interesting thing to think about from an image processing philosophy. My own opinion is I do find that there are situations where lifting shadows is necessary either for practical or creative reasons. Also, the idea that lifting shadows reduces the dynamic range I don't agree with. That's really more of an issue if you are lifting the black point. It is possible to lift shadow areas via curve functions which leave deep shadows intact. This can also be done on layers so that you can be selective on the areas you are lifting the shadows; similarly the dodge tool can be used to lighten specific areas. ...Show more →
Since one of my mottos for prints (most of the time) is, "More light!," I pay a lot attention to shadows and other dark areas of the frame. In my view, there are perhaps three stages that folks go through when dealing with shadows:
1. Leave 'em black since black seems to dramatic on the screen. While this can work, it often starts to look like there is simply nothing there in the shadows and the effect can start to seem overbearing. The term "blocked shadows" is sometimes used to describe this.
2. Lighten everything in the dark areas so that they begin to look as if they were not in shadow. This, too, can be a good approach in some prints, but it can also create a kind of artificial look that doesn't seem congruent with the qualities we recall from the original subject. Some take this to an extreme, and try to make shadow areas look almost as if they were not in shadow - with predictable results: odd color shifts, various sorts of banding, and possibly noise/grain issues.
3. Lighten some of the brightest elements in the shadows to hint at the presence of other details that are not quite visible. Let's say there is a branch in the shadows. The first choice might let that branch simply disappear into black. The second choice might try to show all the details of the branch as if there was far more light in the shadow than was actually the case. This third option might use judicious curve adjustments, careful dodging, and similar techniques to make the brightest parts of the branch just bright enough to be barely visible and thereby to imply the presence of other details that are not visible. It is often surprising how a subtle bit of detail in what otherwise might solid black can give the shadow areas a sense of depth.
If you have the opportunity to look at beautiful prints by some truly excellent printers, you will often notice how careful they are with the shadows - and I think you might notice that the third option is often used and often very effective.
And, of course, this is irrelevant for anyone whose personal style runs to liking shadows totally black or very bright. :-)
Oh, and this is just my (educated) opinion... ;-)
Dan
Edited on Nov 06, 2013 at 02:30 PM · View previous versions
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