Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
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So how can we alter the brightness of just the shadow or only the highlight areas? Well,
Adobe provided quite a clever solution to these problems in the earlier versions of the pro-
gram, employing two features - Fill Flash and Adjust Backlighting. Version 3.0 replaced
these with yet another feature called the Shadow/Highlight control. The tool combines two
different controls that performed similar functions in previous versions of the product into
the one dialog.
EXPERT
BEFORE
AFTER
The Shadows/Highlights
feature (above) replaces
both the Fill Flash and Ad-
just Backlighting tools
available in earlier versions
of Elements with the add-
ed advantage that the
contrast of middle tones
can be adjusted using the
third slider.
Editor: Enhance > Adjust Lighting > Shadows/Highlights
Designed as a replacement for both the Fill Flash and Adjust Backlighting controls, this one
little dialog contains the same power as the previous two features in an easy-to-use format.
The tool contains three sliders - the upper one is for Lightening Shadows, which replaces the
Fill Flash tool, the control in the middle Darkens Highlights and is a substitute for the Adjust
Backlighting tool, and the final slider adjusts Midtone Contrast.
Moving the Shadows control to the right lightens all the tones that are spread between the
middle values and black. Sliding the Highlights control to the right darkens those tones be-
tween middle values and white. The beauty of this feature is that unlike the Brightness/Con-
trast tool, these changes are made without altering other parts of the picture. To fine-tune
the tonal changes a third slider is also included in the dialog. Moving this Midtone control
to the right increases the contrast of the middle values, and movements to the left decrease
the contrast, making the image 'flatter'. You can also use the Midtone Contrast slider in the
Advanced options of the Adjust Color Curves dialog box to produce similar results.
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