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Most powerful PS effects


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Color management in general.. of course, if one likes to "play" lot of funny things can be done with selections/masks etc.... but in terms of usefulness the many ways to tune colors are imho the better part of PS; as a specific tool, the clone stamp is very useful when one is a little lazy about sensor cleaning... :(

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In "mode" you choose LAB, then in "window" you open "channels" then you see the LAB colour space. You choose for instance the " a" channel and and restore the colour image by clicking on the compound channel.

Then, for the " a " channel you press control (or option) M and in the curves dialog you can steepen the curve. You can shift the colour balance by shifting the centre point, you can intensify the individual colours by changing the level, etc. Next for the " b" channel. You can adjust the gradation in curves and sharpening in the " l" (luminance) channel. The strength lies in the ability of LAB to separate the colour channels (green-magenta, yellow-cyan) completely from the luminance channel. In RGB they are always intertwined. You might try one of the books by Dan Margulis, guaranteed to give you a headache for two weeks, but highly satisfying.

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How do you color correct with curves in LAB?

I do it in RGB with sample points.

 

You do the same thing in the LAB mode, but the curves are magenta / green (A channel) blue / yellow (B) and Luminosity (L) channel--hence LAB.

 

The curves there are interesting because color is independent from luminosity data. With a few moves in LAB, you can make tremendous colour shifts. Or change the luminosity without changing colour ;)

 

OTH, RGB is very good for balancing colour quickly, since it's immediately obvious when you approach a neutral from the numbers.

 

CMYK is great for other correction moves, especially in creating black levels (and of course for preparing for CMYK output).

 

But you can do more (and more damage) with LAB more quickly than in any other space :)

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You do the same thing in the LAB mode, but the curves are magenta / green (A channel) blue / yellow (B) and Luminosity (L) channel--hence LAB.

 

The curves there are interesting because color is independent from luminosity data. With a few moves in LAB, you can make tremendous colour shifts. Or change the luminosity without changing colour ;)

 

OTH, RGB is very good for balancing colour quickly, since it's immediately obvious when you approach a neutral from the numbers.

 

CMYK is great for other correction moves, especially in creating black levels (and of course for preparing for CMYK output).

 

But you can do more (and more damage) with LAB more quickly than in any other space :)

How true. But still, it is a wonderful tool. (and Scott Kelby and his gang call it non-destructive :rolleyes::eek:!)

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I guess it depends what you are doing. When Photoshop introduced layers back in 3.0 that was revolutionary. I still think it's the most powerful, can you imagine no layer.

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I guess it depends what you are doing. When Photoshop introduced layers back in 3.0 that was revolutionary. I still think it's the most powerful, can you imagine no layer.

Yes, that's no photo at all.

1 layer would equal one photos... haha

 

No, seriously, I agree.

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Henrik - I use adjustment layers a lot. For 'local' contrast adjustments I first use levels to determine my clipping points on the Input dialogue box and note the numbers, then I transfer those numbers to a Curves adjustment layer making sure that the highlight end is locked down before applying any 'S' curve, then paint the mask in the areas of the image I don't want to be effected. It's a great way to accent a specific area of an image.

 

I also use [adjustment layer] Selective Colour a lot for tuning colour images, and B&W images held in a desaturated Colour Space [in the latter case I use the least saturated of several Joseph Holmes Colour Space Profiles which I select as an 'Assigned' Colour Space]. With B&W I like to keep all the file's colour information for as long as possible before throwing it away with Conversion into a B&W [non] 'Colour Space', this is contrary to the usual B&W Converter methods which, to my way of thinking, dump the colour information too early in the post-production chain.

 

Absolutely the best thing about Photoshop is that I no longer have to work in a dark room breathing horrible smelling chemicals for hours on end. The worst thing about Photoshop is that 20 minutes seems to take 2 hours.

 

................... Chris

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Sorry - LAB is essentially non-destructive. Read the books by Dan Marguiles. It is a wonderful and powerful colour and contrast influencing tool.

Sorry but the statement "non-destructive" turns on a flashing red light for me.

When ever I've heard the word it has meant damage.

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