Comments on: Enrich Black without Affecting Overall Contrast

By: Jan C

Jan C — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 02:07:25 +0000

Thanks for the tip! I use Selective Color adjustment pretty often to remove purple coloration from faces but never thought of using it to put more black into the black. I would typically rather use the Black slider in Lightroom for instance but your technique looks more flexible and easier to apply. Thank you!

By: Antonie

Antonie — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 21:45:05 +0000

I like this. Obviously there are personal perspectives, even proven techniques that are different and arguably better. But for what I wanted to do this worked perfectly.
Thanks Kenneth, much appreciate you sharing this.
Antonie, Dubai, UAE.

By: Mark

Mark — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 17:06:50 +0000

good tips..one alternative that works for me, mostly on portraits though. Dup the image, flatten, convert to cmyk, dup the bkrnd layer, target this new layers K(black) channel, ctrl L, levels adjust, pull the bot left slider in. Overdo some here, then lower layer opacity to taste. Flatten, convert back to RGB and copy this image on top of original. Paint in effect with mask if desired. Watch some bright saturated colors as the trip to CMYK can do damage to them.

seems to give portaits, particularly head shots, more depth. Also works well with BW.

Note,

By: peter krahn

peter krahn — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 15:58:30 +0000

I did not find this to be very helpful. Yes, the sign is much sharper and clearer but at the expense of the fence, which has a nice natural metal tone to it in the original, but turns yellow after the adjustment….as does the white eavestrough.

By: Digital Scene

Digital Scene — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 09:47:22 +0000

A nice article that attacks a problem in a new light to me. I would have gone about it in a different way, but I like your idea and can see uses for it in the future. A nicely written post, Thank you

By: Greg Vaughn

Greg Vaughn — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 18:25:55 +0000

I agree with the others that the colors in the overall picture were impacted too much. If my plan with this picture was to sharpen the sign lettering and giving it more pop I would have considered taking the approach of masking the sign and only making those changes within the boundaries of the sign. Nice technique overall, but it probably should have been applied more selectively.

By: dcclark

dcclark — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 13:36:41 +0000

I’m curious how Curves wouldn’t help here — it seems like pegging the curve somewhere around the dark end of the midtones, then dragging the shadows end downward, would probably have worked very well without touching the hilights at all. That would have been my first try, at least.

By: Jeffrey Kontur

Jeffrey Kontur — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 12:37:12 +0000

I think the subject matter itself is inherently not all that interesting but, as an illustration of the technique described, it works well. I like both the before and after pictures, but for different reasons. Yes, the overall color balance in the after shot seems to have been shifted and there is a bit of garish oversaturation, but that lends a kitschy, 1950’s feel to the photo. Perfect for the subject matter. More importantly, the technique itself is a useful one. I think people should look beyond their personal like or dislike of the examples and consider the technique as it might be applied to their own pictures.

By: Nick

Nick — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 10:44:21 +0000

I think setting the Black Point in ACR works better.
;-)

By: Mike

Mike — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 09:52:59 +0000

i would like to see this in action on youtube.
But a nice bit of work