Shadow/Highlight tool (rant)

[Roger]

It seems the latest PS tool to be (ab)used a lot is the shadow highlight tool.  I find this a nice tool, especially for those weird lighting conditions you're sometimes faced with.  But lately I've found that people are over using it.  Even in magazine shots I see images that are featuring auras of light around the main subject (this is not the halo effect of oversharpening, another pet peeve of mine), and where that main subject is almost flat, because there is no contrast left between the light and dark spots on the airplane.  Another added "feature" is the strange colorcast that this tool produces.  All in all, I think the shadow highlight tool produces an unnatural image 9 out of 10 times, especially with our subjects; aircraft.

Now, this is only my humble opinion and maybe I should open a Rant section on our boards, but I feel there should be a discussion about the (mis)use of photoshop tools.  I keep the shadow highlight tool use to a minimum and try to work with levels and curves, because it gives you much more control.  I know it's a little more work, but it gives you a better picture in the end.

Feel free to add your opinion to this thread.

Cheers,
Roger

[Jorgo]

Personally I LOVE the S&H tool, but only if it's not abused.

Generally I tend to increase it to a level where I think it looks nice, and then back it off about a third. This ensures that I haven't overdone it.

I use the same technique with levels, saturation and other fixer-uppers as well. 

If only I could have taken the picture properly in the first place....

[Tonyz]

I don't see anything wrong with the tool.  Look at the cool stuff you can do with it.

[Roger]

 

[tvrphoto]

I couldn't agree more!  The other most misused tool (and probably least understood) is the Brightness/Contrast menu.  I use this feature once every 100 images if that, and always use levels in its place.

The S/H feature certainly takes some getting used to and if I am forced to use it, it's not uncommon for me to spend an hour tweaking the image between levels and S/H.  It's so easy to muck things up and turn an otherwise good image into something that looks like a mistake.

The last real challenge was getting Byron's black CJ to pop out when shot against the sun...talk about contrast!  Whoooweee!  Here's a positive effect of S/H when the proper time can be spent on an image...

[Jorgo]

Tyson, can you post a 'before' shot for comparison please?

[tvrphoto]

I intended to post a split shot and could find it...still looking...sorry.  Use your imagination...think, crappy!

[tvrphoto]

Hey, hey!  Phound itt!  Apparently I overexposed a little on the original which washed it out, at the same turning the sky to mush.  The S/H filter helped bring the detail out of the sky and the levels and saturation helped bring back the plane.

[KING TRIGGER]

WOW  Tyson, that really makes a difference!

I do agree to some amount with Roger, this particular tool used by persons with less PS knowledge ( like myself ) often result in disasters . Especially when used with overall green camo’s and such. Personally i try to avoid these light conditions, and save myself from the hassle

I also hate it when a image is publicized without some basic clean up, resulting in a colorcast coated picture-many home pages are overloaded with them.

It’s quite clear that Tyson had some work with the picture, but it worked out great
Cheers
K.T.
ps on the software part, i'm toying with RawShooter nice and free..

[ckw]

Like all tools H/S is open to abuse - not really the fault of the tool though!  As far as I can make out, although easy to use, its quite a sophisticated little beastie and you can't really replicate it's use with curves and/or levels alone - some clever masking would be required as well.

One thing I've learned is that successful application of this tool demands correctly set black and white points, otherwise the results get adversly affected. I tend to use it (with a very light touch - never more than 10, usually much less on the slider) as a final stage prior to processing if I want  a little tonal tweaking.

Of course the PS tools are not there only for producing high quality images - sometimes there is a need to get whatever can be saved  from an otherwise unusable image (especially in press work) - tools like H/S are very useful in this respect, and while the final result may not stand alone as a quality photo, it may well suffice to illustrate a newspaper story or the like.

Cheers,

Colin

[Dave O'Brien]

I'm one of the guilty abusers of this tool 

Luckily someone took the time to email me privately and point out what I was doing wrong and also what I can do to fix it. 

I think that so many people are now going digital that we don't take the time to learn all there is with photoshop as well. I have photo shop elements 3.0 which is great. But when this person pointed out what I was doing wrong and more importantly how I can fix it, it was really helpful. The manual that came with it is pretty weak and I'm still trying to read books on digital photography.

This by far is the most helpful AVIATION photography forum that I've found and as a newbie to digital I'm not afraid to ask dumb questions or be critiqued on what I'm doing wrong. There is a wealth of wisdom on this forum and most members are willing to share their knowledge.

And I thank all of you for that 

[Larry Grace]

Tyson .. Thanks for the post with the before and after look.
Now Im going to ask a little more from you...
Can you recreate the photo and post the setting you use to get the  look you want with this photo.
At leat this will give some of us a starting point to work with. Are  you using Photoshop CS or CS2 (Mac or PC)
I belevie that you are a PC user

As with any new tool in photoshop the best way to learn is through trial and error... And ask others for help.

Larry

[KevinJackson]

There's no such thing as a dumb question here, we're all learning from this.

[M.M.]

Luckily someone took the time to email me privately and point out what I was doing wrong and also what I can do to fix it. 

Can that same person please e-mail me and explain how to use ALL the features in Elements?   

I second Dave's comments about the value of this forum.  You guys are discussing PS features and issues that I didn't even know existed.  Which is great -- please keep going!

-M.M. (who can just about handle a scan-crop-levels-colour variations-USM-save for web workflow without his head exploding)

[tvrphoto]

Hey Larry,

I would like nothing more than to post all the values for S/H and levels corrections....unfortunately it was trial and error and I had 75 images yet to process.  Didn't really think about recording my history.

There are what seems like hundreds of steps undertaken in the post production process...especially with RAW.  I've never taken a class before to better understand what's happening, I simply learn as I go. 

I was at All Red Star staying in a room with Neil, who's on these boards somewhere, and I candidly asked where the S/H tool was.  He was kind enough to point it out and I've used it a couple times over the past month.  It's definitely been a learning curve.  There have been images that could have used the tool, but after playing with the sliders and not getting the effects I wanted, I simply didn't use it. 

I'm still an old fashioned film guy at heart.  I believe that fine art photos need to be waited for.  If the light is not just right, wait a little longer or come back another time.  If you want a bird on a fencepost...have a little patience.  Don't add one in PS.  It's those small things that seperate the photographer from the computer geek.  The same notion goes with color adjustment and post production techniques.  I already know what I want the image to look like or did look like with my own eyes.  Since the camera isn't as advanced as our vision can be, PS is simply a tool to bridge the gap for the camera's shortcomings.  If you have a vision of what the image should look like, it makes editing that much easier.