{"id":283,"date":"2013-07-16T09:51:34","date_gmt":"2013-07-16T15:51:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.stockerphotos.com\/blog\/?p=283"},"modified":"2013-07-22T18:52:57","modified_gmt":"2013-07-23T00:52:57","slug":"adjusting-exposures-part-3-brightness-and-contrast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stockerphotos.com\/blog\/?p=283","title":{"rendered":"Adjusting Exposures, Part 4 \u2014 Basic Photoshop Adjustments"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post is part of a series of posts on Adjusting Exposures. The series begins here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Frankly, I prefer the basic exposure adjustments in Camera Raw 8<\/a> to those in Photoshop. This post is included in the series for completeness. I only use basic exposure adjustments in Photoshop when they are combined with a mask that limits their effects to selected regions on my photograph.<\/p>\n

Except as noted, the top halves of the black-to-white gradient images in this post show effects of adjustments. The bottom halves show the original image. If you’d like try out adjustments yourself, you’ll find the black-to-white gradient image here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Exposure Adjustment in Photoshop<\/h1>\n

Figure 1 shows the effect of setting Exposure to +1 with a Photoshop adjustment layer. The effect on lighter grays is similar to setting Exposure to +1 in Camera Raw. The pure black on the left side of the image is maintained even if the exposure is increased the maximum amount.<\/p>\n

\"GadientDemoPsExposure+1\"<\/a>

Figure 1. Black-to-white gradient image with Exposure set to +1 with a Photoshop Exposure adjustment layer.<\/p><\/div>\n

Figure 2 shows the effect of setting Exposure to -1 in Photoshop.<\/p>\n

\"GadientDemoBrExposure-1\"<\/a>

Figure 2. Black-to-white gradient image with Exposure set to -1 with a Photoshop Exposure adjustment layer.<\/p><\/div>\n

Exposure adjustments in Photoshop and Camera Raw 8 are qualitatively similar. For example, whites are turned to gray as exposure is decreased. However, they aren’t identical. Figures 3 and 4 compare the effects of increasing and decreasing Exposure in the two programs.<\/p>\n

\"CompareGadientDemosPsExposure+1BrExposure+1\"<\/a>

Figure 3. Comparison of exposure adjustments in Photoshop CC with Camera Raw 8. Both Exposures are set to +1.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"CompareGadientDemosPsExposure-1BrExposure-1\"<\/a>

Figure 4. Comparison of exposure adjustments in Photoshop CC with Camera Raw 8. Both Exposures are set to -1.<\/p><\/div>\n

I frequently use a masked Photoshop Exposure layer to decrease the brightness of areas of my photos that are likely to distract the viewer from the main subject.<\/p>\n

In addition to the Exposure slider, the Photoshop Exposure adjustment has an Offset slider, a Gamma Correction slider, and eyedropper samplers for black, gray and white. Because similar effects can be obtained more intuitively with other adjustments, I rarely use these controls in Photoshop exposure adjustments. I will not discuss them here.<\/p>\n

The Brightness and Contrast Adjustments in Photoshop<\/h1>\n

When computer software doesn’t work exactly as expected users refer to the unexpected effect as a “bug.” Software developers may refer to the same effect as a “feature.” For several releases of Photoshop the Brightness and Contrast adjustment was such a bug\/feature. Recall that the Brightness and Contrast in Camera Raw modifies mid-tones but leaves blacks and whites unchanged. As you can see in Figures 5 through 8, the Brightness and Contrast adjustments in Photoshop now affect only mid-tones.<\/p>\n

\"GadientDemoPsBrightness+50\"<\/a>

Figure 5. Black-to-white gradient with Brightness set to +50 in Photoshop.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"GadientDemoPsBrightness-50\"<\/a>

Figure 6. Black-to-white gradient with Brightness set to -50 in Photoshop.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"GadientDemoPsContrast+25\"<\/a>

Figure 7. Black-to-white gradient with Contrast set to +25 in Photoshop.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"GadientDemoPsContrast-25\"<\/a>

Figure 8. Black-to-white gradient with Contrast set to -25 in Photoshop.<\/p><\/div>\n

In earlier versions of the Photoshop Brightness and Contrast adjustments affected blacks and whites as well as mid-tones. Depending on one’s point of view, this was either a bug or a feature. Adobe has fixed the “bug,” but left the “feature” by allowing users select a Use Legacy<\/strong> option on the Brightness and Contrast adjustment menu. Figures 9 through 12 demonstrate the effects of legacy brightness and contrast adjustments.<\/p>\n

\"GadientDemoPsLegacyBrightness+50\"<\/a>

Figure 9. Black-to-white gradient with Legacy Brightness set to +50 in Photoshop.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"GadientDemoPsLegacyBrightness-50\"<\/a>

Figure 10. Black-to-white gradient with Legacy Brightness set to -50 in Photoshop.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"GadientDemoPsLegacyContrast+25\"<\/a>

Figure 11. Black-to-white gradient with Legacy Contrast set to +25 in Photoshop.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"GadientDemoPsLegacyContrast-25\"<\/a>

Figure 12. Black-to-white gradient with Legacy Contrast set to -25 in Photoshop.<\/p><\/div>\n

Although the legacy Brightness and Contrast adjustment doesn’t do what users may expect, it could be used in conjunction with masks to de-emphasize distracting areas of an image by making them darker or less contrasty.<\/p>\n

In my next post I’ll talk about Levels adjustments — one of several more “advanced” tools that Photoshop offers for manipulating exposures.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This post is part of a series of posts on Adjusting Exposures. The series begins here. Frankly, I prefer the basic exposure adjustments in Camera Raw 8 to those in Photoshop. This post is included in the series for completeness. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stockerphotos.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stockerphotos.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stockerphotos.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stockerphotos.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stockerphotos.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=283"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/www.stockerphotos.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":565,"href":"https:\/\/www.stockerphotos.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283\/revisions\/565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stockerphotos.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stockerphotos.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stockerphotos.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}