plottphoto Posted March 14, 2007 Share Posted March 14, 2007 I have Adobe CS2 and I was wondering what is the best technique to remove shadows? thanks, John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beauh44 Posted March 14, 2007 Share Posted March 14, 2007 Hi John, It would be really helpful if you could post an example because all shadows are not created equal. In the mean time you could play around with the Shadow/Highlight tool by selecting Image>Adjustments>Shadow/Highlights. I would do this on a new layer and not your background layer. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
randrew1 Posted March 14, 2007 Share Posted March 14, 2007 The first step to soften the shadows is to adjust the levels. You can do a bit more by adjusting curves. Another notch up the scale is to select the shadow area and lighten it. (Selection can be very tedious. It often helps to feather the edge of the selection.) To completely remove shadows is very difficult. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plottphoto Posted March 14, 2007 Author Share Posted March 14, 2007 Thanks for the advise... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philippartridge Posted March 15, 2007 Share Posted March 15, 2007 Cannot agree with the last post - CS2's mighty Shadow/Highlight tool will shine light into all and any low tones your image may have had the temerity to contain! If you need even more heavy duty lifting for seriously dark images, add a curves layer, click the drop down menu [with 'normal' showing by default] atop the palette menu and choose 'screen' - wow. Or for gentler effect, just do a curve layer and move the line up for the bottom part of it... BTW: Shadow/Highlight only works on the pixel layer due the heavy calculations required; at least this is what Bruce Frazer says! But really, climbing onto the soapbox, contrast is a large part of the joy of life and of photography; so do leave nature a little like you found it shadow-wise, and maybe refrain from creating yet another image taken on a planet with two or three suns in the sky! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
see_r Posted March 15, 2007 Share Posted March 15, 2007 Hey John--I like doing this best in in a curves layer in which I place the setting to luminosity...take the eyedropper to indentify those portions you want to adjust. This is not an easy way but gives you the most control in my opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed_Ingold Posted March 15, 2007 Share Posted March 15, 2007 The best solution for shadows is to prevent them. What shadows are you referring to? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
see_r Posted March 15, 2007 Share Posted March 15, 2007 Also, I forgot to mention that if you are shooting digital in RAW format, then in CS2 you can really do a lot in the simple shadows bar to a coarse degree and then fine tune, if necessary or desired, in a curves layer as described above. I have to disagree with Edward. Shadows have their rightful place in photography. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now