• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

By Root 1937 0

the auto mask has more information to work with. To convert the image to black and white, you can do what I did here and take the Saturation slider in the Basic panel all the way to the left. Alternatively, you can go to the HSL panel and set all the Saturation sliders to −100. The advantage of doing this is that you then have the option of using the HSL panel Luminance sliders to vary the black and white mix (see Chapter 6 ). After desaturating the image you simply select the adjustment brush and click on the color swatch to open the Color Picker dialog and choose a color to paint with.

Adjustment brush speed

The fact that you can apply non-destructive localized adjustments to a raw image is a clever innovation, but this type of editing can never be as fast as editing a pixel image in Photoshop. This example demonstrates how it is possible to get quite creative with the adjustment brush tool. In reality though it can be extremely slow to carry out such complex retouching with the adjustment brush, even on a fast computer.

1.

The first step was to go to the Basic panel and desaturate the colors in the image by dragging the Saturation slider all the way to the left.

2.

Once I had done this I selected the adjustment brush and edited the brush settings. In this instance I clicked on the color swatch to choose an orange color and with ‘Auto Mask’ selected, started coloring the building.

3.

I then added several more brush groups to color the photo. In this example, you can see I have the pin marker on the front path selected, where I adjusted the brush settings to apply a yellow color with a −0.40 Exposure setting.

Graduated filter tool

Everything that has been described so far with regards to working with the adjustment brush more or less applies to working with the Graduated filter ( Figure 3.72 ), which allows you to add linear graduated adjustments. To use the graduated filter tool, click in the photo to set the start point (the point with the maximum effect strength), drag the mouse to define the spread of the Graduated filter, and release to set the minimum effect strength point. There is no midtone control with which you can offset a graduated filter effect and there are no graduated filter options other than ‘linear’.

Figure 3.72 The graduated filter tool options.

Toggle the main panel controls

You can use the key to toggle between the Graduated Filter panel and the main Camera Raw panel controls.

Resetting the sliders

As with the Adjustment Brush options, double-clicking a slider name resets it to zero, or to its default value.

Graduated filter effects are indicated by green and red pin markers. The green dashed line represents the point of maximum effect strength and the red dashed line represents the point of minimum effect strength. The dashed line between the two points indicates the spread of the filter and you can change the width by dragging the outer pins further apart, and move the position of the gradient by clicking and dragging the central line.

1.

This shows how a photograph looked after I had applied just the main Basic panel adjustments that were used to optimize the highlights, shadows, and contrast.

2.

I then selected the graduated filter tool, which revealed the Graduated Filter panel options. I created a negative Exposure effect setting and dragged with the graduated filter tool from the middle of the sky downward to darken the top third of the picture.

3.

I then decided to strengthen this graduated filter effect by decreasing the Exposure setting to -0.45 and added more contrast along with more saturation and more clarity.

4.

After that, I clicked on the color swatch to open the Color Picker shown here, selected a blue color and added a new Graduated Filter adjustment by dragging from the top of the photograph downward to the horizon.

Angled gradients

As you drag with the Graduated filter you can do so at any angle you like and edit the angle afterwards. For example, if you click on a pin marker to select it (as