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03-18-2016, 07:18 AM   #1
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Selective saturation in the shadows

Hi,
for a series of reasons (among which a different degree of push between shadows and highlights in hi-DR scenes) I was musing if it wasn't actually a good idea to have a separate saturation control for shadows and highlights (and middle-tones etc.) in a RAW development software.

As of now, I've found a workaround consisting in using a saturation adjustment level, with a contrast mask that is the B/W inverted version of the image (so that saturation adjustment is applied mostly to shadow, and tapered towards the highlights), and I've already made an Action for this, but the sistem is convoluted, and it's not practical to change the range of shadows to which apply the effect, and the degree of "tapering" (it entails copying the mask to a new level, applying a curve of my choice whithout being able to see the actual impact on the image, then copying it back to the mask of the adjustment level).

Any opinions on this?

03-18-2016, 08:11 AM - 1 Like   #2
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Agree wholeheartedly. Paintshop Pro has an adjustment like this, Adobe, on the other hand, forces you to do things the hard way sometimes; simple things.

Actually you've found a great workaround, I'm going to have to start using it. As far as making it more efficient, I think you're only a step away. Here is what I did...

  1. I started off by adding a channel mixer layer to my color image. Then I checked the "monochrome" box in the channel mixer adjustment. This gives you a B&W image with no luminance shifts as opposed to some other methods.
  2. Then I went to the layers channels panel, and selected the green channel (doesn't really matter which one as they are all the same now, just not RGB), duplicated it, inverted it, control clicked it, and I had my selection. [edit: it's now safe to turn off or delete the channel mixer layer, it was just a temporary method of creating a grayscale channel]
  3. Then I added a Vibrance/Saturation layer and PS created the mask from my selection. Now I made a big adjustment, I took the saturation all the way down to 0, just so I could see the areas it was affecting, but my final value will probably be greater than 0.
  4. Next, and I think this is the part you are missing, in the layers panel I clicked on the mask of the adjustment layer to activate it, and clicked CTRL+L to bring up the levels dialog box (or CTRL+M for curves), and made my adjustments. Doing this will allow you to see the effect your adjustment to the contrast of the mask is having on the overall image live, and in real time.

Last edited by maxfield_photo; 03-18-2016 at 10:27 AM.
03-18-2016, 10:13 AM   #3
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Haha glad I came up with something useful I had found other methods online, but the mask didn't have any gradation, it was jusr binary black/white...
I'm going to try your solution as soon as I can... a pity it isn't integrated in Camera Raw, since saturation affects the perceived "darkness" as well... so one has to guess just how much it is necessary to push the shadows and stop shy of what he'd like, hoping to guess it right...
03-18-2016, 10:39 AM   #4
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What software are you using?

03-18-2016, 11:20 AM   #5
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QuoteOriginally posted by wildman Quote
What software are you using?
Me? The procedure I outlined is for Photoshop. I'm using an older copy of CS4 Extended, but I'm sure it should also work on newer versions.
03-18-2016, 11:50 PM   #6
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Thanks dcshooter, gonna try that as well.
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