Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
One other thing to be aware of is that the contrast of ele-
ments from different Render Layers should work well
together. They do not necessarily have to have identical
contrast curves, but a stark difference in contrast between
objects and characters that are supposed to be a part of sin-
gle, coherent shot will cause those objects to appear out of
place. The goal of the composite should be to get every-
thing to look as though it were really all of one piece.
Midtone Brightness
Figure 15.44 Losing shadow detail from too strong a
contrast curve
The adjustment of the brightness of the middle of the
RGB curve is also called another name: Gamma . Gamma
correction can be a very technical thing, and some people
will call you bad names if you don't go absolutely Gamma
crazy and read everything ever written about it and manage
your Gammas from end to end. A very simple but effective
layman's resource for adjusting the Gamma of your moni-
tor can be found at http://www.photoscientia.
co.uk/Gamma.htm .
With your monitor adjusted properly, you can attempt to
adjust the midtones of your images as well. Simply add a
control point at the dead center of your RGB curve and,
most likely, pull it up and to the left. Figs. 15.45 and 15.46
show the differ-
ence between a raw and adjusted image, and Figure 15.47 shows
the RGB Curve that changed it. Moving the middle point of an
image is called Gamma correction , and it affects whether an image is
weighted toward highlights, toward shadows, or is balanced.
Figure 15.45
An unadjusted image
Figure 15.47
The RGB Curve for creating this correction
Figure 15.46
The gamma corrected version
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