Mac Holbert's Mid-tone Contrast Enhancement action

<p>I've searched for the explanation -- the more in-depth the better -- of this action, but all I've found are a couple of brief recipes:</p>

<ul>

<li>an <a href="http://www.dgrin.com/showpost.php?p=703882&postcount=5">Andrew Rodney's post on the Digital Grin forum</a></li>

<li>a <a href="http://www.craiglewisimaging.com/links_top/cli_public/files/Layers_and_Masks-Tips.pdf">Craig Lewis's <em>Layers & Masks: Tips & Tricks</em> handout</a></li>

</ul>

<p>Believe there used to be a description as well as a PS action on <a href="http://rmacholbert.com/page19/page19.html">Mac's website</a>, but I don't think they available anymore.<br>

If someone who has more info on this wouldn't mind sharing this knowledge, it would be greatly appreciated!</p>

<p>...have just found one more, perhaps the best so far: <a href="http://www.digital-photography-school.com/enhancing-midtones-in-photoshop">Helen Bradley's <em>Enhancing Midtones in Photoshop</em> article on Digital Photography School</a>.<br>

Mind you, in his version, Andrew adds not mentioned elsewhere 'Desaturate' step to the procedure, which I've tried; the effect was very hard to notice (had to jack the opacity back to 100% to figure out how it was affecting the image).</p>

<p>i use something similar as the effect, in a really simple way..its not the same, but give this extra oumf to the image; Unsharp Mask set to 15-15-0.. work on everyshot, every kind of camera, any megapix ... fantastic (the only use i have of this filter that i dislike with a passion normally ; )</p>

<p>I dont do it at my first stage, like for example using the Clarity in Lr 3 or ACR as i dotn want this extra definition before my skin retouching .. that is why i applied it in my last last step just before closing my image.</p>

<p>try it and let me know.</p>

<p> </p>

I've been using large radius USM (20, 50, 0) for years. It's a very quick way to get some pop in your images, both color and B&W. You need

to watch for halos on edges though, and some images can look over-baked when it is applied. Backing down to 10, 50, 0

helps if that occurs.

<blockquote>

<p>Mind you, in his version, Andrew adds not mentioned elsewhere 'Desaturate' step to the procedure, which I've tried</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Mac’s recipe calls for this as the last step.</p>

<p>Cheers for your responses, guys!</p>

<p>@ Patric and Brad: that's so-called <em><a href="http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/techniques/local-contrast-enhancement.htm">local contrast enhancement</a></em>, isn't it? <br />(Believe it's anecdotally attributed to Thomas Knoll in spite of him denying to have devised this neat trick ;) <br />I've learnt about it only recently and, by the sound of it, I'll be using it a lot, so let me ask you a follow-up question: what's your experience with even greater radius? -- e.g., <a href="http://www.bythom.com/sharpening.htm#contrast">Thom Hogan</a> suggests going all the way (btw, CS4 doesn't let me dial 300 in; 250 pixels seems to be the upper limit).</p>

<p>@ Adrew: what a small world! :) <br />I'll take your word for it.</p>

<p>I'm just starting to get my head around all these manipulations, so thought would double-check whether my understanding is correct: the two contrast enhancements techniques -- <em>midtone</em> vs. <em>local</em> -- while probably often giving visually similar results, don't actually do exactly the same thing. From what I've gathered, the former, by definition and true to its name, affects midtones only, whereas the latter isn't selective in this regard, so the effect is applied to highlights and shadows too, correct?</p>

<p>Thanks again. Much appreciated!</p>

>>> Believe it's anecdotally attributed to Thomas Knoll...

Correct. From a long time ago...

>>> what's your experience with even greater radius?

No experience there. You'll have to try and see if the results are pleasing to you.