PSE2 Blending Mode question

MS
Posted By
Mark_Sand
Jan 6, 2004
Views
394
Replies
13
Status
Closed
I previously posted this question under the topic "Photoshop Elements 2.0" but some users suggested I start it as a new topic, so here it is:

I have a book "Adobe PHE2 Hands-On-Training", and one of the lessons is a video file which shows how to use Adjust Backlighting to darken a sky with minimal affect on the rest of the picture.
Here are the steps:
1. duplicate the Background layer of the original picture.
2. hide the Background Copy layer (click the eye icon).
3. select the original Background layer.
4. darken sky using Adjust Backlighting tool.
5. make Background Copy layer visible (click eye) and select this layer.
6. select Blending Mode of Darken (which I assume is supposed to merge the darkened sky with the original non-sky portions).
7. toggling the visibility of the Background Copy Layer then shows the effect of the Blending.

My problem is with step 7. In the video the toggling clearly shows the difference between blending and no blending. However when I toggle there is no change. In fact, the result I get after blending is the same as if I had not used layers at all but just did the Adjust Backlighting from the original picture. I’ve watched the video many times and carefully reproduced each step, but I cannot get the same results. I suspect this is pretty basic layers stuff, but since I’m new to PSE2 I might be missing something (still, I followed the video exactly!). BTW, I’m on Windows 2000.
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Terri_Foster
Jan 6, 2004
Someone suggested on the other thread that perhaps there was an error in the steps. I think they may have been correct because I also tried it and could only see a blending mode difference by toggling the original background. If you aren’t seeing a blending mode change at all, maybe you did not move the backlighting adjustment slider.
MS
Mark_Sand
Jan 6, 2004
Terri,
I agree that toggling the original background does show the difference, but the video CLEARLY shows the user clicking the eye icon on the background copy. I reproduced the steps in the video at least a dozen times, including moving the backlighting slider. Can you try something for me? Make a copy of your test picture and change the backlighting without using layers and save it. Then do the same on the original picture using the 7 steps I described, and compare against the first. According to the book, the layered picture is much better since the non-sky portions stay pretty much unchanged. But like I said, my end result was the same for both methods.
NS
Nancy_S
Jan 6, 2004
Mark,

On the video, in the example image, what are the contrasts like…is the sky almost blown out or just light, how light is the non-sky portion, like just sort of medium or what?
MS
Mark_Sand
Jan 6, 2004
Nancy,
The image is of a sign hanging from the side of a building. The sign appears in the center of the picture. The side of the building extends along the entire right edge of the picture, and the side of another building (apparantly across the street) extends along the left edge. Since the exposure was taken on the sign, the sky is washed out and is a pale blue with just a hint of clouds. The buildings are about a medium grey. In the video, after the Backlighting is adjusted the sky is a deeper blue and the clouds well-defined but the building are now washed out with loss of detail. After the Darken Mode is applied the sky remains the deeper blue but now the buildings are more like the original.
TF
Terri_Foster
Jan 6, 2004
Yeah, I see no difference either when looking at both with all visibility on. Was the point of the excercise just to show the difference between backlighting and darken? If that was the case, then if you look the darken blend mode only seems to adjust the blown out areas of sky vs the backlighting which seems to affect the entire photo. Of course you could always select out your sky and apply backlighting to just the overexposed sky so as to leave the rest of the photo unadjusted.
NS
Nancy_S
Jan 6, 2004
I think the point of the exercise was to alleviate the need for making a selection. Using the blending mode is a lot faster than making a selection and fiddling with the transition zones.
TF
Terri_Foster
Jan 6, 2004
That’s my thought too. I think this just might be an exercise designed to demonstrate what the darken blending mode does.
MS
Mark_Sand
Jan 6, 2004
Nancy & Terri,
Thanks much for looking into this. It looks like none of us is able to reproduce exactly what is shown in the video, i.e., after blending, the Background Copy layer can be toggled and the picture saved either way.

Your comments suggest that the purpose of the exercise is just to demonstrate blending, but to quote the book:

"The Adjust Backlighting command is designed to bring detail back into the overexposed places by darkening those areas. Adjust Backlighting, unfortunately, also has the tendency to lighten parts of the image you don’t want necessarily lightened. To fix this, you will learn to use layers [the video] in combination with a layer blending mode to darken only the overexposed areas while leaving the other areas of the photograph relatively untouched."

So what can we conclude? Does the video lie, or are we all missing something?
NS
Nancy_S
Jan 6, 2004
Mark,

It sure beats me! When I apply the backlighting it didn’t lighten any areas of the image, every part darkened. On the three images I tried it on, I have to conclude it did not have the "tendency" to lighten any part of my images.

edit—however, if it had lightened parts of my image, then I can understand the merit of using the Darken blend mode. The point being that in a comparison of the pixel value for each layer (which is what this feature considers), the darken mode chooses for the final, composite, viewable value whichever pixel is darker. I have indeed used the Darken blending mode with great success, but never with the Backlighting adjustment.
CS
Chuck_Snyder
Jan 6, 2004
Nancy, if I remember right, the backlighting control was ‘retuned’ for PSE2 – not for the better IMHO. Will go check that….

Chuck
CS
Chuck_Snyder
Jan 6, 2004
Nancy et.al. Backlighting control in PSE1 is subtle; in PSE2, it’s a sledgehammer!
🙂
NS
Nancy_S
Jan 6, 2004
Ah,

Perhaps this accounts for the fact I cannot reproduce the lightening effect to other parts of my image, using version 1.
CS
Chuck_Snyder
Jan 6, 2004
Nancy, the backlighting control is one I haven’t really figured out how to use and doubt I’ll ever have much enthusiam for, especially now that I’ve learned so much here about contrast masking.

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