Photo - Squeeze colours

[GFS]

Is there a colour tool in AF-Photo that will squeeze, or converge colours together?

[Asha]

Do you mean posterization?

[GFS]

No ... but it's sort of similar, in as much as you are reducing the number of colours, but you wouldn't necessarily get the breaking up of tones.  In some ways you would think of it as reducing contrast of a colour, because you're squeezing/converging the tones together.  I can't find anything in AF-Photo that does it, but I'm just starting to try and learn it ...

[R C-R]

I am having a lot of difficulty understanding what you mean by "squeezing/converging the tones together." Is it maybe something like reducing the color gamut of an image?

[Asha]

I've never heard the term "squeezing", but I have heard "crushing" as pertaining to contrast. For that you can use Curves or Levels, both of which are available as a non-destructive layer adjustment. You can apply the effect to each channel, or to the master composite.

[Madame]

I think a screenshot or link will help to illustrate the problem.

[GFS]

I think a screenshot or link will help to illustrate the problem.

 

To be honest, having now searched far and wide I don't think it can be done in AF-Photo (just as it can't in PS) which is a shame, because although it's a difficult tool to use, it can be a very useful tool.

 

Here you see it being used in an HSV context, but it can also be used in RGB and CMYK.  Also, this is a selective colour system, where you select and add which HSV values you want to alter on the left and then determine what you want to do with them on the right.

 

[Madame]

Ok, I'm not familiar with that.

 

Can you select a colour  and then Select> Select sampled colour and add an adjustment layer? As a work around?

[GFS]

Thanks Madame.

 

I can't find an Adjustment layer that can do anything similar, so it looks like AF-Photo just can't do this.  Shame.

[R C-R]

It is not the same thing, but the HSL adjustment filter (with the HSV box checked) can do some of what you want.

 

However, like with just about everything else related to digital color space management, it is not as simple as a HSV or HSL context makes it seem. For example, the Wikipedia entry for HSL and HSV discusses (in mind-numbing detail) the simplifications & shortcomings of these two representations of an RGB color space.

[Asha]

Something similar can be done in PS, but only on individual colors, not the composite. In the PS tool, the colors can be squeezed or expanded. If this is something you would like to see in AP, it might be worthwhile to post in the Request Feature board ;)