Tag: Revolution

The ability to reproduce detail is one of the essential characteristics that defines the photographic medium. While there are many similarities between the camera eye and the human eye, there are also significant differences between the two. One of the most significant differences is that the camera eye can achieve a much greater area of focus than the human eye can at one time. This has never been more true than today.

The relationship between highlights and shadows is a critical aspect of any image. Photographers have been trained to become highly sensitized to these relationships. Today, we have more control and greater precision than ever before over these key visual elements using the digital darkroom. In Photoshop, the type of adjustment chosen will provide very specific control. The specificity of an adjustment can be further refined by using a mask. One type of mask yields extreme precision and is derived directly from the light and dark relationships within an image—a luminance or contrast mask.

Smooth transitions. They’re the essence of continuous-tone images. In most cases, you want to preserve them. On occasion, you want to modify them. Sometimes, you want to create them. While gradients can be extremely complex and yield highly sophisticated results, once the basic principle behind them is firmly grasped, they’re simple to create and use. Using the Gradient tool, a gradient is created between the start (where you click first) and end points (where you drag to). The start and end points may be placed anywhere on the canvas. Gradients can be drawn for any length at any angle.

This is the first iteration of a new Digital Photo Pro column from John Paul Caponigro, a master photographer and artist who teaches workshops, writes books and lectures on Photoshop technique. In each installment of (R)evolution, we’ll examine a technique for improving your photographs. By focusing on a single problem in each column, we hope to show you the depth and power of some of the tools at your disposal in Photoshop.

The ability to work in specific areas of an image with unparalleled precision and repeatable results, along with the ability to combine multiple exposures seamlessly and flexibly, are two key advances that are propelling the current (R)evolution in photographic practice.

Prior to the 21st century, black-and-white photographers developed a heightened sensitivity to the direction and intensity of light, a given relationship between highlights and shadows, largely discounting the appearance of hue and saturation unless able and willing to use color filtration during exposure. These perceptual skills are all very important for 21st century digital black-and-white photographers. But, today, because you can make any hue light or dark, globally or locally, and you can make more dramatic changes to more saturated hues, hue and saturation need to be factored in rather than factored out.

Reproducing the full range of tones or brightness values seen by the human eye is one of the most fundamental challenges in photography. Capture, display and print technologies are all limited when compared to the ability of the human eye to see a wide dynamic range. They’re all advancing. As they advance, our methods for addressing this fundamental challenge advance with them.

Reproducing the full range of tones or brightness values seen by the human eye is one of the most fundamental challenges in photography. Capture, display and print technologies are all limited when compared to the ability of the human eye to see a wide dynamic range. Recent advances in technology enable you to exceed these limitations.