childrens drawings week 2

[imported_julie]

Greg,
I am going to take more care with my typing. Its not good.
RGB. In some ways this was the easiest of the two. But... the colours went darker as they got stronger and it became hard to find a balance. This was limiting.

Lab. This was difficult as small movements seemed to have big effects. I think I should have made the window bigger. Again it was a balance but the colours did not darken in the same way as RGB. The colours have more vibrancy and depth but I would have liked it a little brighter. I couldn't figure out how to do this without blowing out the reflections

julie
ps I sharpened the finished product

[ggroess]

Greg,
I am going to take more care with my typing. Its not good.
RGB. In some ways this was the easiest of the two. But... the colours went darker as they got stronger and it became hard to find a balance. This was limiting.  

RGB has color tied to brightness that is what makes that particular task harder...You did a fine job with making the image look better overall and that is the goal.

Lab. This was difficult as small movements seemed to have big effects. I think I should have made the window bigger. Again it was a balance but the colours did not darken in the same way as RGB. The colours have more vibrancy and depth but I would have liked it a little brighter. I couldn't figure out how to do this without blowing out the reflections

I think you have the right approach to this image in LAB.  The issue is not so much the highlights...they exist and you have dealt with them fairly well...It is the shadow side of the curve.  If you move the mid-tone parts of the shadow side of the curve up closer to the center you will see better response to the LAB correction. Remember...LAB can be like a sledge hammer when it comes to certain images...It is rarely subtle....

I feel like you and Joann are having trouble with the shadow-Vs-highlight side of the curve.... kinds of things...please continue to ask questions until you get what you need on this...If it is still an issue as we go forward I'll see about a short video that helps explain it...a short video might be worth a few thousand typed words...

Greg

[imported_julie]

Greg
You are right. I don't really know what the shadow vs highlight side of the curve is. I think the shadow is on the left and bottom but not sure. the midline seems to divide both shadow and highlight so I don't get it at all.

Also when you talk about midtones are you talking about what I see in the photo or what is in the histogram in the curve box. Are the midtones the spikes that reach up to the middle of the box in the L channel. and if this is correct is that where I should be aiming to adjust the curve with a control point in your last answer. Also how do I delete a wrong control point.

the incoherence of the questions is reflecting my confusion

Julie


I feel like you and Joann are having trouble with the shadow-Vs-highlight side of the curve.... kinds of things...please continue to ask questions until you get what you need on this...If it is still an issue as we go forward I'll see about a short video that helps explain it...a short video might be worth a few thousand typed words...

Greg

[ggroess]

Julie, From your screen shots you are correct...the shadow side of your curves is the lower left. 

Anything above 64 and less than 192 or so is generally considered the mid-tones.  When I talk about the shadow end of the curve I'm talking about the last 1/4 of the curve from 64 down to 0 on the RGB numbers along the side.

Generally, I keep the highlights on the Left side of the curve.  Yours are on the right so you will have to invert any lightness curve you see from me.  White is highlight and Black is shadow...

I have made some marks in black near the ends of the curves...This is again, generally the usable part of the curve...anything brighter than the black line on the highlight side and darker on the shadow side is usually not a printable color.  It falls into the very extreme areas of the curve.

At first this is confusing stuff but hang in there it gets better and your images will too...
Greg

[mikemeister_admin]

Julie,this is how I learned about control points,image is from Curvemeister example file.When I look at the histogram I see two areas with a lot of activity,so I take a guess and straddle the meaty part of the peaks with points(50,90?128,inRGB)
In the shadow portion I'll frequently follow the angle of the far left side of the histogram a bit,you could also just threshold the shadows.If I the lift the point at 128 I'll create a classic contrast S curve.All these points can be shifted and tested for effect,but be careful in RGB colors can shift.The point at 179RGB,70Lab controls the tiny details on the horizon,lift the point and they disappear.In RGB the flat spot from 128 to 179 is what you don't want and is probable responsible for the flat color and lose of detail on the large flat rock at 4 o"clock.The spike up the right side of the box is the sky and could be lowered but the image is already pretty grey.GregM

[ggroess]

Please remember the histogram is a calculated diagram of the pixels in the image. 

In CM it can be misleading and generally we don't use it too much.  You are much better off using the mouse and the right click  "Mark" function if you are trying to figure out where a specific "tone" is located on the curve grid.

Greg

[imported_julie]

Greg,
I'm a bit confused about how to set up the curve windows. You said you have highlights on left but in all the week 2 materials highlights are on the right. Am I missing something? I just want to make it as easy as I can for myself
Julie

Julie, From your screen shots you are correct...the shadow side of your curves is the lower left. 

Anything above 64 and less than 192 or so is generally considered the mid-tones.  When I talk about the shadow end of the curve I'm talking about the last 1/4 of the curve from 64 down to 0 on the RGB numbers along the side.

Generally, I keep the highlights on the Left side of the curve.  Yours are on the right so you will have to invert any lightness curve you see from me.  White is highlight and Black is shadow...

I have made some marks in black near the ends of the curves...This is again, generally the usable part of the curve...anything brighter than the black line on the highlight side and darker on the shadow side is usually not a printable color.  It falls into the very extreme areas of the curve.

At first this is confusing stuff but hang in there it gets better and your images will too...
Greg

[ggroess]

I'd stay consistent...I have always kept mine in the same orientation. 

If the highlights on the Right works for you, keep it...just understand that not everyone uses the same orientation and you might have to invert the curve to get the same results.  Check that all the color spaces in your CM set up are the same. 

One of the keys to this overall process is being consistent and repeatable.

Greg