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Thread: "Tone down the white spots" - how?

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    BPN Member Kerry Perkins's Avatar
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    Default "Tone down the white spots" - how?

    I post a lot in ETL, and a common suggestion is to "tone down the white areas in the background". I am aware of the various techniques for "saving the whites", but this is different. If you look at my recent raven post in ETL, you will see that there are similar tones on the bird and the fine feathers covering some of those light areas make selection of either element almost impossible. I have tried using the burn tool, but it ends up looking pretty bad due to the brush strokes being very obvious. How would you go about doing this?

    Thanks! :)
    "It is an illusion that photos are made with the camera... they are made with the eye, heart, and head." - Henri Cartier Bresson

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  2. #2
    Fabs Forns
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    If you look at the thread "saving the whites" in the Edu Resources Forum, you will see the use of Color Range as one of the options, that may work for you.
    Be aware, though, that misuse of Curves could result in strange hot spots that were not there in the beginning.

  3. #3
    Cliff Beittel
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    If the whites are really white, one easy way to reduce them without making a selection and without affecting other parts of the image is to click New Fill or Adjustment Layer > Selective Color > Whites, then move the Black slider to the right.

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    BPN Member Kerry Perkins's Avatar
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    Understood, but if you have an image that has the same values on your subject as it does in the background, how do you selectively control those areas? For a specific example, look at this image - http://www.birdphotographers.net/for...ad.php?t=38892 How would you deal with the hot spots in the background? I couldn't even get Fluid Mask to properly separate the bg from the subject. I have quite a few images that have this same issue.

    Thanks for the help!
    "It is an illusion that photos are made with the camera... they are made with the eye, heart, and head." - Henri Cartier Bresson

    Please visit me on the web at http://kerryperkinsphotography.com


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    Kerry have you tried Niksoftware Vivenza. You can selectively do a lot of adjustments.

  6. #6
    Fabs Forns
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    Kerry, in this case I used the Burn Tool set to highlights with a 14% exposure and brushed many time until the spots disappeared. You can take longer and do a real perfect job. It will not affect midtones or shadows.
    Here's a quick and dirty:

  7. #7
    BPN Member Kerry Perkins's Avatar
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    Thank you Fabs, that is awesome. I had tried a similar approach and was getting obvious brush strokes. Looks like I need more practice, which I am certain to get! :)
    "It is an illusion that photos are made with the camera... they are made with the eye, heart, and head." - Henri Cartier Bresson

    Please visit me on the web at http://kerryperkinsphotography.com


  8. #8
    Fabs Forns
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    Keryy, the exposure is the key, use a very ow one and brush many times, rather than using a strong exposure.
    And make sure you pick the right tonality you want to correct.

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    BPN Member Kerry Perkins's Avatar
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    Got it, thanks! Wouldn't want to detract attention from this handsome fellow...
    "It is an illusion that photos are made with the camera... they are made with the eye, heart, and head." - Henri Cartier Bresson

    Please visit me on the web at http://kerryperkinsphotography.com


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    Quote Originally Posted by Kerry Perkins View Post
    Understood, but if you have an image that has the same values on your subject as it does in the background, how do you selectively control those areas? For a specific example, look at this image - http://www.birdphotographers.net/for...ad.php?t=38892 How would you deal with the hot spots in the background? I couldn't even get Fluid Mask to properly separate the bg from the subject. I have quite a few images that have this same issue.

    Thanks for the help!
    In case like this where you have clean edges around the subject, I would select the background with the quick select took and make a mask. Put that on a blank layer and just paint with a soft brush using the darker gray sampled from the background to cover the light spots.

    Where the mask covers "frizzies," I just paint those back on with a small brush on a new layer. You can set the brush to fade so the little "hairs" will taper as you paint them on. It can be done very quickly.

    I brightened the background a little behind bird, but that's just a personal preference of mine.


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