Adobe Camera Raw - RAW 101: Better Images with Photoshop and Photoshop Elements - page 43

25 will reduce contrast in the image by lightening the values below the midtone and
darkening the values above it.
Contrast adjustments should be made after correcting Exposure, Shadows, and
Brightness since these controls have more impact on the overall appearance of the image.

Fine Tuning

Saturation, Sharpness, Luminance Smoothing, and Color Noise Reduction are the final
four controls that both Photoshop Elements and Photoshop CS2 versions of Camera
Raw have in common. Photoshop Elements users will find all four of these sliders dis-
played below Contrast. Photoshop CS2 users will see the Saturation slider on this tab,
while the others are found on the Details tab (Figure 2.26).

Figure 2.26
The Details tab in the Photoshop
CS2 version of Camera Raw con-
tains the Sharpness, Luminance
Smoothing, and Color Noise
Reduction sliders.

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Saturation

Saturation defaults to 0, which is no change, and it is frequently best to leave it there.
Possible values range from -100 to 100, or no saturation (black and white) to double
the saturation. This is one of the few options that I prefer to wait until post processing
to do. Because the amount of saturation needed will change depending on the intended
use of the image, I feel that it is best done after conversion. I will often use different
saturation settings for prints than I will for web or screen use.

Note: Yo u can make a quick conversion to grayscale by setting the Saturation slider to -100. You
won't have the same level of control that you would have by using the Channel Mixer, but it is possible to
create a good black-and-white image during conversion by using this method. After setting Saturation to
the far left, adjustments to Contrast, Exposure, Shadows, and Brightness can yield good results that would
otherwise take several steps in Photoshop CS2 or Photoshop Elements. I'll cover this technique in depth in
Chapter 4,“Beyond the Basics.”

Sharpness

Every digital image needs sharpening. That may sound like a bold statement, but it's
true—especially for cameras that use an antialiasing filter (which most do) to reduce
moiré in the photo. This antialiasing filter softens the image which needs to be cor-
rected after exposure. When you shoot JPEG, the converter in your camera applies
sharpening to the image automatically but this isn't true of RAW images. Camera Raw