|
Page 2 of 3
The image shown here is from the wonderful light show at Chicago O’Hare
International Airport in the tunnels between terminals. I had a
four-hour layover at the airport, and being a photographer, I
appreciated the neon lights that played around the moving walkway that
connects the different concourses, so I decided to photograph them. I
rode back and forth on the walkway, shooting many different exposures
at many different shutter speeds.
That’s one great thing about digital—using the image review on the LCD,
I could check the shots and look for such things as the highlight
warning to make sure I wasn’t overexposing the bright highlights. I
placed the highlights just on the verge of overexposing so that I could
keep the overall photo bright while still retaining detail in the
highlights.
When I returned home, I processed the image in Adobe Camera Raw, built
into Photoshop CS2. Photoshop CS2 is the first version of Photoshop
that allows you to open two copies of a file with the same name, which
makes this technique easier. Otherwise, when you first open a processed
file, you have to rename it before you can open a newly processed image
from the same file.
(STEP 1) Process For Highlights. The first
time I processed the image, I moved Exposure down to a minus number to
bring the overall exposure down about a half-stop. I watched the bright
colors to make sure I held all the detail and color in the brightest
areas of the picture. The darkest parts of the photo are unimportant at
this point. I opened this version into Photoshop.
(STEP 2) Process For Shadows. I went back
into Camera Raw and processed the image a second time. This time, I
opened up the shadows by moving the Shadow slider to the left (which
reduces its setting) and by adjusting the Exposure slider to the right.
This processing step is purely about the dark areas, so having the
bright colors lose detail didn’t matter. You may find, as I did, that
when the shadows are opened up like this, they appear a bit flat. I
added a little contrast to the image because of that. I also opened
this version into Photoshop.
(STEP 3) Create A Layered Image. Now you
bring the two processed images together into one file. Since they come
from identical files, they will match exactly. I put both images side
by side in Photoshop. Using the Move tool and holding down the Shift
key, I clicked on the lighter image and dragged it in perfect
registration onto the darker image (the Shift key keeps them aligned).
You must move your cursor completely onto the second photo or you’ll
get an error message that says you can’t move the background layer.
The result is a file with two pixel layers, the light image over the
darker image. You’ll find that some photos do better with the darker
image over the lighter image. There’s no absolute rule for this, though
often it’s best to put the image needing the least amount of work on
top.
|
