Chapter 7. The Digital Darkroom: Layers, Masks, Selections, Channels, and More


7. The Digital Darkroom: Layers, Masks, Selections, Channels, and More

What would you say if we told you that you could perform color correction, use dodging and burning, build up density in overexposed areas, open up underexposed areas, and moreall with a minimum of image degradation and with an unlimited number of undos? You'd probably just laugh at us. But in this chapter we'll show you how.

You can do a lot using the controls we've already covered, but you can go much further, with more freedom to experiment, when you apply them as adjustment layers rather than simply burning the changes into your image. The controls in adjustment layers behave just as they do on a flat file, but with far more freedom and flexibility. You can change your adjustment settings at any time, and vary their strength globally by changing the adjustment layer's opacity. Even better, you can turn global corrections into local ones by painting on the adjustment layer's layer mask. In effect, you have not just unlimited undo, but selective, partial undo.

The techniques in this chapter can help you get a better image with little or no degradation and unprecedented control. But just as important, they're designed to give you maximum flexibility so that you can experiment and play with your images more, while still having an escape route back to safe territory if you push things too far. Making mistakes is one of the surest ways to learn lessonswe're living proofso an environment where you can make mistakes safely is a great learning tool.




Real World Adobe Photoshop CS2(c) Industrial-Strength Production Techniques
Real World Adobe Photoshop CS2: Industrial-strength Production Techniques
ISBN: B000N7B9T6
EAN: N/A
Year: 2006
Pages: 220
Authors: Bruce Fraser

flylib.com © 2008-2017.
If you may any questions please contact us: flylib@qtcs.net