Photoshop Seminar- Levels Adjustments

[Travis]

This is class #2.

I'll show you how to do a levels adjustment in Photoshop. Of all the things you can do to enhance your images- and enhance may be the wrong word since you're really just bringing out the information that was already there- this is the most beneficial of all, and can be the easiest to do.

Now, most of the time the "auto levels" feature works fine. But often, the control you get from a manual levels adjustment can make a big difference. So if you want to do it the easy way, in Photoshop go to image-->adjustments-->auto levels. But if you want to get the most from your images, or the auto levels didn't turn out quite right, here's how to do it yourself.

Before I go into the detailed instructions, here are some before and after pics.

Before:



After:

[Travis]

Okay, first thing you want to do is open your image in Photoshop. I'm using PS8, but any version should be able to do this.





Now, go to image-->adjustments-->levels. You'll see this histogram pop up.



The histogram is a "map" of your image's light and dark areas. The arrows underneath represent the viewable range. We want to modify that range. On the left is the "darkness" of the photo, on the right, the "light" areas. The area in the middle represents the midtones. If I've just jumped over your head, don;t sweat it. Follow these instructions and it'll all make sense.

Now, what we want to do is get rid of those "dead zones" to the left and right of the black (for lack of a better word) "hump." In the image below, I've drawn two blue lines.



Move the arrow farthest to the left up to the first blue line. Move the arrow farthest to the right to the second blue line.
Just like this:




Now, move the middle arrow slightly back and forth and watch your image change. This midtone adjustment makes a big difference, and it's really up to you and how much contrast you like in your images.

Now, click "OK" when you're happy. Here's the result.



Now that was easy, wasn't it? No? Then go try it a few times. You'll get the hang of it in no time... promise. Just move those arrows to cut out the dead space and watch your image change. Experiment and have fun, dammit, this is a hobby!

Travis

[Travis]

OK, I realized my example pic wasn't the best before-after to show the difference. Here are a couple more:

(nothing else was done to these images)

Before


After




Before


After

[Reef Geek]

Originally posted by Travis
Experiment and have fun, dammit, this is a hobby!

Thats great!!

And great Photoshop hints as well.
Are there any books you would suggest for the beginner Photoshopper.

[Travis]

Lots of great books out there reef geek. I would go to the book store and browse them until you find one that suits you.

T

[sharks]

You are the man T

What other pro would offer to help us folks new to photography?
Most would keep it a secret to keep competition low
I owe you a great deal. I wish I were local to you so I could pay you to take your class.
But I’m getting it little by little here on RS.
And to be honest that is about all I can take.
I need time for it to sink in and experiment with it.
Having these threads here gives me that advantage
Karma is coming! And keep teaching sensei

[jks1]

thanks T, photography can be very frustrating and youve helped me out alot.

[EdgeKrusher]

Thanks Travis! I love these little seminars you hold, they help out alot!

EK

[swissgaurd]

Hi travis and thanks
is there anything like this in the roxio photosuite5

i dont have photo shop

thanks
vic

[mwrager]

Thanks Travis, keep up the good work. I have used a few of your tips and they work great. Again Thanks

[middletonmark]

Travis -
Do you used the white and black point a lot?
At work doing large scanning I use them almost exclusively ... although we have white paper and black ink [along with all the color/etc] ... or can tape on white paper to set that.

I've used it some to good success in Photoshop - just wondering how that relates to this [about the same?] ... though I'm thinking it would `stretch' the histogram more to fit [maybe the same effect] or not?

Thanks in advance ... and thanks for all these primers

[Craig Manoukian]

Awesome stuff and as already said we appreciate you sharing your passion!

[Cougra]

Travis:

Could you take one of those before shots and use the autoadjust feature on them please? I would like to see the difference between adjusting the photo yourself and how the comp does it for you? Also could you add the before and after histogram?

What about manually adjusting each channel? Does that make for an even better overall photo or is it best just sticking with the RGB channel?

BTW, thanks for these lessons! They are very helpful and enlightening!

[Dracunculus]

Cougra,

Manually adjusting the channels is good for tweaking the color...i.e. if the color is too blue, then by using the blue histogram you can adjust that without affecting the red or the green. For general editing, the RGB channel is best.

As far as the autoadjust, it might be just as good...although I couldn't say since I haven't used it for tank pics. IME, the autoadjust is really optimized for regular "dry land" photos. I do know that it does weird things to microscopic photos. It might do the same for tnak pics as well.

[Travis]

Cougra, not sure how often you use auto levels but once in a while it will really screw a pic up. When this happens, instead of clicking "cancel" you can hold down the "alt" button and one of the options in the box will change to "reset." (just saves having to go back to levels). Then manually adjust.

The other thing this knowledge will help with is tweaking what auto levels does, for example moving the middle slider for a bit more/less contrast.

As far as adjusting each channel, sometimes it works but more often than not for me, trying to do all three leads to an unbalanced photo. Good for tweaking once again, though.

HTH

T