Photographing Your Work - Software 2

Now let's go a bit deeper and discuss a few very useful editing features which far too many folks ignore.

Remember our before and after shots from section 1?

     

The shot on the left was taken directly from the camera with no processing involved. (Note that it has been deliberately under-exposed for demonstration purposes.) The shot on the right has had just two minor adjustments: "Levels" and "Unsharp Mask". Let's briefly discuss each.

LEVELS

Although they may look intimidating, LEVELS ARE YOUR FRIEND!

Levels exist to correct various "tones" in your image's colors and light levels. For our purposes we are going to put them to their simplest use.

Remember what I said in section 1 about the use of a white background? The background in the unprocessed photo above doesn't look very white, does it? Let's fix that.

In your photo editing software of choice locate the "Levels" or "Levels and Curves" function (again, use "HELP" if necessary). Normally a dialog panel similar to the following will be presented. (Remember that I'm using "GIMP". Your dialog panel will differ depending on the software you use.)

Notice the eyedropper icons just above the [OK] button? Look for something similar in your dialog panel. We want to use the "white" eyedropper shown on the right. Click on that dropper icon and then click on the lightest area of your white background.

Voila! A much better photo.

In effect, what we've done is tell the software what the color white in our image should be. The software then adjusts its color calculations based on that reference point. Notice how the other colors of the new photo are better balanced? Doesn't get much simpler, huh?

Of course, the white eyedropper only works if you have pure white available somewhere in your image (such as our background). You'll notice that we also have a black and gray eyedropper available. These perform the same function for their respective colors but are not always reliable in a single click operation and may require additional tweaking. After all, there are many shades of gray. The software assumes that you are referencing a (roughly) 18% shade of gray which may or may not be the case.

Does this simple trick always work? Sadly, no. There may be times that your colors are incorrectly adjusted. This could be caused by using a reference point that is not pure white. Or, perhaps the camera is using the wrong settings. Most likely the culprit is your "White Balance" setting. Don't worry about that for now. We'll deal with white balance in the next section.

Most software also has an "Auto Level" function. By simply choosing this function (usually a menu option, or button on the "Levels" dialog) the software attempts to calculate what values of color leveling should be used based on the lighting and camera settings. This feature works fairly well most of the time provided you (or your camera) have done a good job of exposing the shot. If not, the different color levels (red, blue, or green) may be over-calculated causing your image to be tinted in their favor. This can easily be corrected by adjusting the values for those specific color tones. We won't attempt to cover the details here but you should be aware that it is available.

Levels are an extremely powerful tool and one you are encouraged to experiment with and learn. A wealth of reference information is available on-line and in book form.

UNSHARP MASK

Let's briefly talk about sharpening. Sharpening does exactly what it sounds like if used correctly. It adds crispness to edges and texture. This is a common feature available in any photo editing software worth its salt.

Your editing software probably has two (or more) sharpening functions. One is usually called "Sharpen" and the other is referred to as "Unsharp Mask". Obviously, to sharpen your photo you want to use "Sharpen", right?

Wrong (I used to think that too). Although the name sounds contrary to its purpose, "Unsharp Mask" is where you want to start. (Check here for a bit of history on the name.)

Locate the "Unsharp Mask" function in your editing software (again, use "HELP" if necessary). Here is what GIMP's looks like.

It should be noted that value scales for the "Unsharp Mask" function could vary from one software package to another. Don't expect your default values to look like those above unless you are using GIMP.

If your software has a "Preview" button be sure to use it. Also make sure that the window view of your image is zoomed to actual size (100%) in order to fully see the effects of "Unsharp Mask".

The two main values you want to experiment with are "Amount" and "Radius" ("Threshold" should normally be set to a relatively low value). Finding the right balance between the two values is your goal. Play around with these values and have some fun! You'll quickly get a feel for the effect each value has on the photo. The "Unsharp Mask" function is fairly intuitive (once you get a feel for the sliders) and should give you good results with some simple experimentation. And, if things go too wrong you can always "Undo" (or just not save the photo).

Sharpening techniques, such as Unsharp Mask, should typically be the last operation you perform in your software processing (prior to your final save). This allows the process to act on any resolution changes you may have made in prior steps.

One final note, be careful about using too much sharpening. An over-sharpened photo causes unwelcome artifacts (jagged edges, graininess, etc) in your image. Over-sharpening can be worse on image quality than no sharpening at all. Here's a rather extreme example.

I rest my case.

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