1. Chapter Eleven Digital Darkroom Expert Techniques

2. Sharpening All digital images benefit from some degree of sharpening Increase contrast of pixels at “edges”— adjacent pixels with big differences in contrast, brightness, or color Sharpening is destructive! Apply sharpening towards the end of editing

3. Unsharp Mask Amount: amount of increase in contrast at edges Radius: width of “sharp edge” Threshold: 0-255, minimal tonal difference for sharpening Images with higher resolution can normally benefit from more sharpening

4. Blurring the Background Often used to create soft focus in digital images Steps Select the background and save the selection Open the alpha channel and soften its edge with Gaussian Blur Return to the image and load the selection Copy and paste the selection into a new layer Soften the new layer with Gaussian Blur

5. Dodging with adjustment layer Lighten the image with a Levels or Curves adjustment layer Invert the white layer mask to black (Ctrl-I) Use Paintbrush to whiten (50% opacity) those areas of the layer mask for dodging To reduce dodging effect later, use paintbrush with black color (50% opacity) to paint over the layer mask

6. Burning with adjustment layer Darken the image with a Levels or Curves adjustment layer Invert the white layer mask to black (Ctrl-I) Use Paintbrush to whiten (20% opacity) those areas of the layer mask for burning To reduce burning effect later, use paintbrush with black color (20% opacity) to paint over the layer mask

7. Burning with a layer mask Select the center portion with an elliptical selection Invert the selection Add a Levels adjustment layer and darken the image Apply Gaussian Blur to the layer mask

8. Using a gradient mask For images that need progressive burning/dodging, e.g. an image with a bright sky and a dark foreground Steps Add a Levels/Curves adjustment layer and lighten the image Use the Gradient Tool to give the layer mask a gradient

9. Converting Color to Black and White Standard Grayscale Conversion Image -> Mode -> Grayscale Red: 30%, Green: 59%, Blue: 11% Channel Mixer Add a Channel Mixer adjustment layer Adjust the Red, Green, Blue percentages

10. Toning with a Hue/Saturation Layer Add a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer Check Colorize to add a color tint Move the Hue slider to adjust the color of the tint Move the Saturation slider to adjust the “richness” of the tint