Comparing Gray>Brightness to Levels/Color

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Marpel
Posts: 692
Joined: September 13th, 2009, 3:19 pm
What is the make/model of your primary camera?: Nikon D810
Location: Port Coquitlam, British Columbia

Comparing Gray>Brightness to Levels/Color

Post by Marpel »

Couple questions:

Maintaining the same tonal range, does moving the Gray>Brightness slider give the same result as moving the two end points on the Gray>Levels and Color Dynamic Range slider?

To explain.

I shoot foggy scenes and occasionally unintentionally underexpose on some of the images. If I wish to maintain the same tonal range, but merely move the brightness of the scene towards the brighter tones, does it matter which tool I use??

If the answer is yes:

I often like to move the tonal range far enough to the right (brighter) so that it bumps into, but does not exceed, blowing out highlights. However, if I try it with Levels/Color, and let's say the image starts at 30% and goes to 70%, I have to move the right slider to 100% then move the left slider to 60%, or worse yet, calculate the numbers (and difference) if they are odd and/or decimal, which becomes a bit of a pain. Conversely, if I try and use the brightness slider, it becomes impossible to know how far to move it to the right, without having to repeatedly give it a guess and then review the histogram of the resultant image, etc.

I guess the last question is, is there a way to use the brightness slider while being aware of the images dynamic range, so I can move it in precise distances??

Or is there an simpler way than the two described methods??

Thanks,

Marv
jsachs
Posts: 4203
Joined: January 22nd, 2009, 11:03 pm

Re: Comparing Gray>Brightness to Levels/Color

Post by jsachs »

If I understand correctly what you are trying to do, here is how I would do it using Gray/Brightness Curve:

1) Click the Show Histograms button (the 2nd one below the Opt button to the right of the curve). This will display the histogram of the input image above and the output histogram below.

2) Drag the upper right marker to the left until is just touches the right end of the upper histogram.

3) Drag the lower left mark right by the same distance you moved the previous marker to the left.

4) Click OK
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Jonathan Sachs
Digital Light & Color
Marpel
Posts: 692
Joined: September 13th, 2009, 3:19 pm
What is the make/model of your primary camera?: Nikon D810
Location: Port Coquitlam, British Columbia

Re: Comparing Gray>Brightness to Levels/Color

Post by Marpel »

Thanks Jonathan, I will try your suggested method.

Regards,

Marv
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