RickyO Posted July 24, 2020 Share Posted July 24, 2020 I'm still learning. I have an image of some landscaping boulders, see attachment. As you can see, the sunlight reflects quite brightly on them; far too much for the shot. What is a way(s) to correct just the rocks or area of the rocks without effecting the rest of the image? The problem probably started with how I photographed the shot, but it was the only angle that would work, and the time of day was not of my making. (The image is a jpeg, simply because the file size of the afp file is far too large to send along. I want to do the work in Photo, so assume any instruction offered will be done as such.) If there is an accurate YouTube or similar video, it works for me. Thanks in advance. Quote RickyOAPh, ADe and APu user New User as of Mar, 2018 (Still stumbling along given too many directions at any given moment) Windows10 platform Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff Dan C Posted July 24, 2020 Staff Share Posted July 24, 2020 Hi @RickyO, Sorry to hear you're having trouble! Perhaps one option here would be to use a Shadows and Highlights Adjustment layer, as this allows you to selectively target the highlights of the rock and attempts to reduce the harshness, as shown in my below screen recording - 2020-07-24 16-51-33.mp4 If you find this is affecting too much of the rest of your image,then before creating the adjustment layer, use your preferred selection tool to create a selection around the rocks (it doesn't have to be precise) and then create the adjustment - this will Mask the adjustment to only affect the image within your selection area. I hope this helps RickyO 1 Quote Please note - I am currently out of the office for a short while whilst recovering from surgery (nothing serious!), therefore will not be available on the Forums during this time. Should you require a response from the team in a thread I have previously replied in - please Create a New Thread and our team will be sure to reply as soon as possible. Many thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dominik Posted July 24, 2020 Share Posted July 24, 2020 2 hours ago, RickyO said: What is a way(s) to correct just the rocks or area of the rocks without effecting the rest of the image? The problem probably started with how I photographed the shot, but it was the only angle that would work, and the time of day was not of my making. Hi @RickyO, my first try in Affiity Photo would be to choose 'Select > Tonal Range > Select Highlights' and see how that works. To better judge the selection it helps to hit Q (= quick mask) to turn on a ruby overlay. That should work with your photo already pretty well. I see one major problem with this particular shot. A lot of the bright areas are pure white due to over exposure and even if you tone them down they will not show any texture. They will just turn grey. You could copy in some texture from some other photo if you have one. If you want to learn some more about selecting tonal ranges you might watch this video tutorial (this is just one way on how to go about it but I think its pretty clever): Cheers, d. Dan C and RickyO 1 1 Quote Affinity Designer 1 & 2 | Affinity Photo 1 & 2 | Affinity Publisher 1 & 2 Affinity Designer 2 for iPad | Affinity Photo 2 for iPad | Affinity Publisher 2 for iPad Windows 11 64-bit - Core i7 - 16GB - Intel HD Graphics 4600 & NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M iPad pro 9.7" + Apple Pencil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickyO Posted July 24, 2020 Author Share Posted July 24, 2020 20 minutes ago, Dan C said: Hi @RickyO, Sorry to hear you're having trouble! Perhaps one option here would be to use a Shadows and Highlights Adjustment layer, as this allows you to selectively target the highlights of the rock and attempts to reduce the harshness, as shown in my below screen recording - 2020-07-24 16-51-33.mp4 9.88 MB · 0 downloads If you find this is affecting too much of the rest of your image,then before creating the adjustment layer, use your preferred selection tool to create a selection around the rocks (it doesn't have to be precise) and then create the adjustment - this will Mask the adjustment to only affect the image within your selection area. I hope this helps Thank You for the Extremely FAST response. Will give it a run. Thanks again! Dan C 1 Quote RickyOAPh, ADe and APu user New User as of Mar, 2018 (Still stumbling along given too many directions at any given moment) Windows10 platform Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thomaso Posted July 25, 2020 Share Posted July 25, 2020 stones.afphoto 1. auto-selection of the highlights: 2. masked adjustment layers: 3. paint on the mask of the adjustments to partially fine-tune them according to the image content, e.g. reduce the mask for the yellowish WB on the bluish stones. Or exclude the gras from the noise adjustment. 10 hours ago, RickyO said: the time of day was not of my making. An underexposed photo is usually easier to repair than an overexposed one because highlights loose their image information faster than shadows. In case of the stones the missing info was added by noise which works well because of their similar structure. It wouldn't have worked on a different texture, like for instance a glossy, overexposed wooden surface which shows rather stripes than a pixelated structure. IanSG 1 Quote macOS 10.14.6 | MacBookPro Retina 15" | Eizo 27" | Affinity V1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lacerto Posted July 25, 2020 Share Posted July 25, 2020 (...) RickyO 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lepr Posted July 25, 2020 Share Posted July 25, 2020 1 hour ago, Lagarto said: Shadows & Highlight Live filter (instead of Shadows & Highlights Adjustment) Shadows/Highlights Adjustment is an abomination LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickyO Posted July 25, 2020 Author Share Posted July 25, 2020 22 hours ago, Dan C said: Hi @RickyO, Sorry to hear you're having trouble! Perhaps one option here would be to use a Shadows and Highlights Adjustment layer, as this allows you to selectively target the highlights of the rock and attempts to reduce the harshness, as shown in my below screen recording - 2020-07-24 16-51-33.mp4 9.88 MB · 0 downloads If you find this is affecting too much of the rest of your image,then before creating the adjustment layer, use your preferred selection tool to create a selection around the rocks (it doesn't have to be precise) and then create the adjustment - this will Mask the adjustment to only affect the image within your selection area. I hope this helps Thanks! it gets me closer, but not quite there. Appreciated. Quote RickyOAPh, ADe and APu user New User as of Mar, 2018 (Still stumbling along given too many directions at any given moment) Windows10 platform Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickyO Posted July 25, 2020 Author Share Posted July 25, 2020 22 hours ago, dominik said: Hi @RickyO, my first try in Affiity Photo would be to choose 'Select > Tonal Range > Select Highlights' and see how that works. To better judge the selection it helps to hit Q (= quick mask) to turn on a ruby overlay. That should work with your photo already pretty well. I see one major problem with this particular shot. A lot of the bright areas are pure white due to over exposure and even if you tone them down they will not show any texture. They will just turn grey. You could copy in some texture from some other photo if you have one. If you want to learn some more about selecting tonal ranges you might watch this video tutorial (this is just one way on how to go about it but I think its pretty clever): Cheers, d. Indeed, very helpful! Due to your choice of verbiage, I actually found my issue by fiddling with some of the adjustment layers I had produced. (In this case, "less is greater than more".) It's an example of implementation of multi-variable calculus.... The video is a bit above my pay grade; but I was due a promotion. Thanks again. Quote RickyOAPh, ADe and APu user New User as of Mar, 2018 (Still stumbling along given too many directions at any given moment) Windows10 platform Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimmyJack Posted July 25, 2020 Share Posted July 25, 2020 @RickyO instead of trying to pull back basically lost data, you could try introducing new texture info. I grabbed the first two pics I found of "rocks" and nested them inside the (refined) highlights selection. (Try to find imagery close to the right scale and with similar pixel quality to minimize fiddling about) Play with layering and blends. I did it quickly with broad imagery and let the textures fall where they may. You can get a specific as you like/need (I did pay a little attention to one specific rock....). cheers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickyO Posted July 25, 2020 Author Share Posted July 25, 2020 27 minutes ago, JimmyJack said: @RickyO instead of trying to pull back basically lost data, you could try introducing new texture info. I grabbed the first two pics I found of "rocks" and nested them inside the (refined) highlights selection. (Try to find imagery close to the right scale and with similar pixel quality to minimize fiddling about) Play with layering and blends. I did it quickly with broad imagery and let the textures fall where they may. You can get a specific as you like/need (I did pay a little attention to one specific rock....). cheers. Thank you! Being still quite new, I understand the broad view of what you sent. Just hazy on the specific steps in the nesting them inside the (refined) highlights selection. You certainly nailed it. Any chance you can provide the URL to a video of the step-by-step? Thanks again. Quote RickyOAPh, ADe and APu user New User as of Mar, 2018 (Still stumbling along given too many directions at any given moment) Windows10 platform Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickyO Posted July 25, 2020 Author Share Posted July 25, 2020 16 hours ago, thomaso said: stones.afphoto 1. auto-selection of the highlights: 2. masked adjustment layers: 3. paint on the mask of the adjustments to partially fine-tune them according to the image content, e.g. reduce the mask for the yellowish WB on the bluish stones. Or exclude the gras from the noise adjustment. An underexposed photo is usually easier to repair than an overexposed one because highlights loose their image information faster than shadows. In case of the stones the missing info was added by noise which works well because of their similar structure. It wouldn't have worked on a different texture, like for instance a glossy, overexposed wooden surface which shows rather stripes than a pixelated structure. Thank you! It's all a learning curve. Asked one question and learned a half-dozen things I hadn't known. (I'll have to do this more often....) I think I found an issue that I created, oh well. I'll give your method a try of course. Thanks again. Quote RickyOAPh, ADe and APu user New User as of Mar, 2018 (Still stumbling along given too many directions at any given moment) Windows10 platform Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickyO Posted July 25, 2020 Author Share Posted July 25, 2020 To All, THANK YOU! Attached is a png export (so that I'm not sending a 16Mb file). Not great, but will serve the purpose (part of a book on home buying). In it's current state, it gives me the focus I like, bright to the front with retained texture, ranging to the rear which is most shadows, with mid-lighting between. Thanks to all again. Dan C 1 Quote RickyOAPh, ADe and APu user New User as of Mar, 2018 (Still stumbling along given too many directions at any given moment) Windows10 platform Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickyO Posted July 25, 2020 Author Share Posted July 25, 2020 4 hours ago, Lagarto said: To keep the highlights of the rest of the image I would area select just the rocks and place a copy of them on top of the copy of the image and then apply Shadows & Highlight Live filter (instead of Shadows & Highlights Adjustment), which allows more control of the way highlights are processed, and just bring up the pixels there really exist. Color Balance Adjustment can be used to control the color cast. Thank You! So many responses, lots to try out. I'll be giving your suggestion a try. Thanks again. Quote RickyOAPh, ADe and APu user New User as of Mar, 2018 (Still stumbling along given too many directions at any given moment) Windows10 platform Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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