Extreme Contrast Manipulations In Photoshop
Apr 15th, 2008 by Leo Geis
For some time…since about the time I hooked into medium format Portra NC160 (long story as to why)…I’ve been obsessed with extreme contrast imaging.
One of the most challenging subjects I’ve ever run across is a mile from my house-it’s a detailed flat black monument that faces away from some of Idaho’s most colorful sunsets.
Even the letters on the arches are relatively dark and weakly lit.
The contrast of the unprocessed 32 bit .tif is 692:1! So that there’s no question of whether or not that’s a typo, it reads “six hundred and ninety two to one.”
So, what might GamutVision have to say about the problem (click for a larger image)?
A walk in the park, right? The GamutVision preview isn’t in sRGB…in case you notice that sort of thing.
Is this Δ-E(94) profile really worth bothering over at these saturation levels (click for a larger image)?
Evidently we have some processing challenges, even in 16 bits and Gamma 2.2, going to print on this well-profiled (and pampered…HEPA, 30-50% RH, 70°F) iPF5100.
If you have techniques that you’ve developed and are willing to discuss, please try the “Contact” button on the Menu Bar above. I’m not getting noticeable problems in the output but I’m not a spectrophotometer-I’m just anal, and willing to trade thoughts.
Alternative processing? Here’s an example taken near completion of a differently remapped 16 bit (forgive the fringing in the tree on this screen capture):
Obviously I’m still addicted to Apply Image in my Layer Masks…and still prefer to prep them as stand-alone Documents when they call for more advanced touches. None of the Curves Layers are adjusted with anything other than Blending Modes & Opacity. I think this particular prep looks a bit cartoonish, but I am just playing and really like to flex in the Blue-Cyan-Green to show sRGB who’s boss.
Yes, we can do this with aerials but with some limits.
L