Shadows and Highlights

M
Posted By
mick
Jul 1, 2008
Views
353
Replies
4
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Closed
I have recently upgraded to CS3, so now have ‘Recovery’ and ‘Fill Light’ in the RAW dialogue. I can’t work out whether these are better than using the ‘Shadows/Highlights’ adjustment that I previously used extensively in CS2.
Are there some guidelines in when to use these adjustments for best effect ?
Thanks for any tips, Mick.
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G
gowanoh
Jul 2, 2008
If you are interested in digital photography and Photoshop you will eventually arrive at your own plane of misunderstanding but it will work for you.
The raw controls are poorly documented. Some appear to duplicate PS functions mathematically but are called something else and are applied in a different fashion. I have read accounts and seen video lessons of how to use these controls and what they do that are contradictory and sometimes clearly just wrong.
Also there are differing opinions about work flow: realize that applying sharpening in the raw converter is irreversible, unless you want to start over again, whereas sharpening can be done non-destructively and as a smart filter in Photoshop. Ergo, I cannot understand why the sharpening control even exists at the converter stage.
There is no logical structure to the way the converter and CS3 interact and overlap. Adobe screwed the pooch on that one.
CS4 will be worth the upgrade if it ditches the converter completely and unifies its functions with Photoshop.
My understanding is that the intention of Recovery is to try to save some highlight detail. Hold down the Alt key and move the slider toward the right until the screen blackens as much as is reasonable. Release the ALT key to see the effect and adjust if desired. An exposure with an optimal histogram will not be improved by the Recovery slider. For my purposes the Recovery tool is something I test on every raw image I open in the Adobe converter. Check out what happens when you hold down the ALT key and adjust the exposure or black sliders–for some that is the preferred way to use these tools. However your eyeballs are the final arbiter.
I do not find the Fill Light control something I would use at the raw conversion stage: there are better ways to develop midtone or shadow detail. The Shadow/Highlight tool in Photoshop is obviously useful for what it does–but you may have noticed that overuse lends a flat or cartoonish quality to the image. There is a limit to the dynamic range a digital image can capture. Sometimes it is better to learn to fake HDR type effects by blending parts of images that have been processed differently at the converter stage.
M
mick
Jul 2, 2008
Thanks for the reply, I think you have just about covered it. It is re- assuring to find that I am as confused as other people. The lack of documentation on how these adjustments work makes life difficult. I have found that I do use the Recovery tool, and the default red highlighting is a good guide. Fill Light is not as useful or as good as Shadow/Highlight in my experience. As for Clarity and Vibrance, I haven’t a clue, it is just hit and miss, so I tend to ignore them. Thanks again, Mick.
A
aglet
Jul 3, 2008
"mick" wrote in message
Thanks for the reply, I think you have just about covered it. It is re- assuring to find that I am as confused as other people. The lack of documentation on how these adjustments work makes life difficult. I have found that I do use the Recovery tool, and the default red highlighting is a good guide. Fill Light is not as useful or as good as Shadow/Highlight in my experience. As for Clarity and Vibrance, I haven’t a clue, it is just hit and miss, so I tend to ignore them. Thanks again, Mick.

Just to add my two cents’ worth — I do not use the RAW converter in Photoshop. I import all my photos first to Lightroom and then take them to CS3. But my comments hold true either way. I think that you will find, after more experimentation, that the fill and recovery tools are quite useful. As long as you use restraint with the fill command, it is quite good. The shadow/highlights tool in CS3 is also very good, but it does not do the same thing. As for the non-destructive aspect, the comment made earlier was valid … to a point. The fact is that there are a lot of CS3 users (very professional users) who do not care one bit whether or not the action is destructive or not. They make one pass from initial photo to finished output and that’s it — they don’t even save the psd file. I am not one of them — but I do know many successful photographers who take that route.

The bottom line is that you should not accept on face value the word of anyone who tells you one way is better than the other, or a tool is great, or a tool is terrible. Yes, there is consensus on many issues. But you really need to experiment yourself and find what works best for you. That said, I urge you to practice with the fill and vibrance tools — but don’t even think about sharpening during the conversion.
M
mick
Jul 3, 2008
I think that you will find,
after more experimentation, that the fill and recovery tools are quite useful. As long as you use restraint with the fill command, it is quite good. The shadow/highlights tool in CS3 is also very good, but it does not do the same thing.

Thanks, can you explain how the Shadow tool differs from Fill ? (other than at a different stage in the workflow). Shadow seems so much easier to use. Same goes for Exposure, I get more control by using Screen or Multiply as a layer blend mode. Why do we need an Exposure correction in the RAW converter?

What do you mean by restraint with Fill? For a tool that goes up to 100, going up to 15 feels like a long way to me, given that it can’t be masked or reduced in opacity.
I spend so much time experimenting with Photoshop, but a few words from another user are usually very useful. Without being abrupt, I don’t have time to experiment with every CS3 dial, and a few ideas and guidelines from others more experienced than me can save me a lot of mistakes.

M.

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