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Adding Fill Flash
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In our previous discussion of using the Quick Mask,
we showed one way of adding light to only a portion of the image: you select
the area and then use the Increase Exposure
tool. But there are other ways. In particular, you can paint
light into an area, just as if you were using fill flash during the
exposure. First we need to define our brush. In Photoshop, click on the Brush tool; set the brush diameter to 300 px, the hardness to 0%, and the opacity to 30%.
In the resulting Curves dialog, select any point on the curve and drag it up a bit. Then type 64 in the Input box and 128 in the Output box. The Curves dialog should look like the figure to the left. At this point the image will be much brighter, but not to worry -- just press Ctrl-I to invert the layer mask color from white to black, and the image will look as it did when we started. Next click on the Brush tool, and from the Preset menu select the "Soft Round 300px 30%" brush we made before. Finally, press the letter "d" to set the default colors (foreground white, background black) and stop the recording. From the shape of the curve you can see that dark values will be doubled in strength, with increased contrast. Midtone values will also increase but the contrast will be about the same as before, and highlight areas will be strengthened but with reduced contrast. Now let's see how it works.
Image 1 is the original. The retoucher clicked Shift-F5 and then swished with the brush twice to produce Image 2. But he saw at a glance that twice was too much (although once had not been enough). So he pressed 'x' to toggle the foreground to black, reduced the brush opacity to 20% for finer control, and swished a little more until Image 3 appeared. To show how the Fill Flash method works in dark areas, consider the images below. There are other ways of achieving the same thing, but this one is simple and versatile.
Remember that the adjustment layer is still open when you've finished painting. You can leave it there if you want, and go back later to make more changes. Or you can just merge down by clicking Ctrl-E. Once you have this tool in your kit you'll be surprised at how often you use it for little adjustments. |
Next,
open the Preset menu by clicking the brush to the very left of the Brush
toolbar, and on the right of the Preset menu, click the "New Preset" button.
In the dialog that results, type in the name "Soft Round 300px 30%" and
press the OK button. The brush we need for our action is now ready.
Now
open an existing image and begin to record an action: name the action "Fill
Flash" and attach it to function key Shift-F5 (or whatever you like).
From the Layers menu, add a Curves adjustment layer and name it "Fill
Flash."
