 Jerry Frazier |
Any lab owners or technicians here? I'm looking for either a book, or maybe just a discussion here about the relationships between exposure, contrast, shadows, and brightness. I have found some very interesting things about these controls using ACR, but I don't really understand their relationships to eachother. I can adjust them and see it, but I am positive that there is some science behind how they work in relation to eachother. Coming from film, I always just told my lab what I wanted, and they produced it. Now that I do all my own color management, I am trying to learn and understand how these things work to create awesome images.
|
|
|
|
||
|
Ariel Lepor |
Exposure is the total amount of light that hits the film or sensor during the duration of the the open shutter. Brightness is how bright the picture is. Highlights refer to the bright parts of the picture. Shadows refer to the dark parts of the picture. Contrast is the difference in brightness between the highlights and the shadows. I think. Ariel
|
|
|
|
||
|
Bob Cammarata |
The relationship between highlights and shadows is what constitutes contrast. The disparity in exposure values between the bright and dark areas within a scene is almost always defined by the intensity of the primary light source. I'm no lab owner or tech' specialist but I can tell you that I usually just expose for the gray (or an equivilent)...and let the others fall where they may. Bob
|
|
|
|
||
|
Kerry L. Walker |
Joe, check with Alan Marcus at ammarcus@earthlink.net. He is a member here and he may very well be able to help you.
|
|
|
|
||
|
Mark Feldstein |
For the basic stuff, go to your local libe where you'll probably find copies of Ansel Adam's books on "The Negative" and "The Print". While they were intended to apply to black and white, I think you'll find the principles apply to color photography as well. Mark
|
|
|
|
||
|
Jerry Frazier |
Thanks, I only read "The Camera". I'll go look up the other two. This isn't about exposure of an image, but it is about processing RAW images using ACR. My next quesiton is, if brightness and shadows together make up a contrast adjustment, why is there ALSO a contrast adjustment tool? I have always known that I can increase contrast by using curves (and in fact have made some actions that do auto curve bumps to increase contrast). But, I didn't know why that works. It makes sense, because light and dark by definition is contrast. But, why is there a contrast adjustment, and how is that affectd by the others? Here's an example: So, maybe all I am doing is introducing slightly darker tones in the blacks, and higher contrast between that and the highlights, and achiving the look I like? Not sure. But, it sure is working for me.
|
|
|
|
||
|
Ariel Lepor |
When you increase contrast, you are darkening the shadows and brightening the highlights.
|
|
|
|
||
|
This old forum is now archived. Use improved Forum here
Report this Thread |
||