The basics

134 ADVANCED PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS 5.0 FOR DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHERS
IMAGE CHANGES –
BEYOND THE BASICS
Those of you who are intimate with Elements will no doubt be asking ‘Why not just use the Fill
Flash or Shadows/Highlights feature to fi x this underexposure problem?’ and you are right to
ask that question. The Fill Flash option is a great tool for lightening mid to dark tones that have
plenty of details, but I have found that this ‘duplication layers’ technique provides a more pleasing
result for underexposed images with little shadow information.
Solving exposure problems when shooting
The statue picture not only provides a great example for this
technique but also demonstrates how such underexposure can
occur. Set against a white overcast sky this dark statue was
underexposed because the camera’s meter was fooled by the bright
sky behind the subject and therefore provided a shutter/aperture
combination which was too dark. The thinking photographer
would have predicted this problem and used the Exposure
Compensation system on the camera to increase exposure by one
to one-and-one-half stops to adjust for the back lighting. Most
mid range digital cameras and above incorporate an Exposure
Override system like this.
To try this for yourself, the next time you encounter a back lit scene shoot two pictures – one
with the camera set to auto and the other where you have added to the exposure. Compare the
results later on the desktop, or better still, check your exposure in the fi eld by examining the
histogram graph of your image on you camera’s monitor. This graph works exactly the same
way as the graph in the Levels feature in Photoshop Elements. It displays the spread of tones of
your image across a grayscale from black to white. Underexposure will result in a graph that
bunches towards the black end of the spectrum whereas overexposure moves the pixels towards
the white point. A simple check of this graph when shooting can indicate whether you need to
adjust your camera and re-shoot to compensate for an exposure problem.
Step 1 >> With the image at 100%
magnifi cation apply the Add Noise
fi lter with Uniform/Monochrome
settings.
Book resources at: www.adv-elements.com
Step 2 >> Select Burn-in tool, reduce
exposure to 10% and choose mid
tone range. Set brush size and edge
softness.
Exposure compensation >>
Use the camera’s Exposure
Compensation system to override
your camera’s settings.
Step 3 >> Burn-in the white area
using several overlapping strokes to
build up the effect. Change to Shadow
range and repeat if necessary.