Painting With Light, A Photoshop technique for enhancing image tonality

“Yellowstone Terrace” from our Fine Art Black and White Mountains collection. This low key image benefits from the inclusion of a few pure white elements. The white acts as a reference against which the rest of the tonal range is contrasted.

onality is the interplay of light, contrast and color, of the various elements in an image. Producing the perfect tonality for an image cannot be achieved

by simply applying an action or a plug-in, because what is perfect is determined by the photographer’s vision.

We start the thought process with a few basic rules concerning tonality.

First, most images need at least one of their elements to be pure black, meaning black with no detail, and need at least one of their elements to be pure white meaning white with no detail. The majority of the elements in the image should fall in between, with a range from almost black with detail, through midtones and colors, to almost white with detail.

Second, try to establish a balance between the weight of the light and dark elements. The percentage of darks, midtones, and lights is of course determined by the image. Low-key images, those compromised of mostly dark tones will benefit from the contrast of a few very light areas. Conversely, high key images, those compromised of mostly light areas will benefit from the contrast of a few very dark areas.

The “Dock Reflection” is from our Surreal New England 2 collection. The light tones in the image are anchored by the few areas of black, lending a balance to the scene.

The Tools

Our tool of choice in Photoshop for adjusting tonality is a Levels adjustment layer, it allows one to control the light in the image, to lighten, darken, and adjust the contrast.

By using just the Levels adjustment, the changes will be applied to the entire layer. But by utilizing its layer mask, the adjustments can be painted on specific elements in the image.

Here’s how it works. When an adjustment layer is created, a layer mask is automatically added. The layer mask allows one to control the parts of the adjustment layer that will be visible and the parts that will be invisible allowing layers underneath to show through. Where the mask is painted white, the adjustments are visible, and where the mask is painted black, the adjustments are invisible. Grey areas determine the degree of visibility or transparency. The combination of a Levels adjustment layer with a layers mask is like digital dodging and burning only vastly more powerful.

The Technique

This technique in its simplest form is the following steps.

• Select the area of the image using any of the selection tools. The selection becomes the mask.

• Add a Levels adjustment layer.

• Make the adjustments to that layer.

• Use the paintbrush to modify and refine the mask. Paint with white to reveal the adjustments, paint with black to hide the adjustments.

The Example

The desire in this example is to lighten the left side of the building without altering the rest of the picture.

Start by using the lasso tool to draw a loose selection around the left side of the building (figure 1). At this point we are not concerned with the accuracy of the selection.

Create an adjustment layer by clicking on the Create new fill or adjustment layer icon on the bottom of the layers pallet (figure 2). From the pop up list we choose Levels. In the Levels box are five sliders; two for shadows, two for highlights, and one for midtones (figure 3). A summary of the controls is as follows:

Figure 4

For our example the midtone slider in the Levels box is adjusted to lighten the image so the left side of the building has the look I want (figure 4). At this point the adjustments are being applied to our original selection. Next we need to clean up the selection.

Make the foreground color black and chose the paintbrush tool. To make the foreground color black click on the “Default foreground and background color icon” on the toolbar or simply hit the “D” key. To switch the foreground color between black and white, click on the “Switch foreground and background colors” icon on the tool bar or simply hit the “X” key.

Now paint with black on the areas that are to be excluded from the correction, in our example everything except the left side of the building (figure 5). Areas painted black will hide the adjustments, revealing the layer below. Areas painted white will show the adjustments, blocking the layer below. To compare with and without the layer mask, hold down the shift key while clicking on the layer mask thumbnail. A red X will appear on the thumbnail when the mask is not active.

The beauty of using this method is that both the levels adjustment and the layer mask can be modified repeatedly until you are satisfied with the results. To reopen the levels adjustment layer dialogue box, double click on its icon on the layer. To make adjustments to the mask simply use the paint tool and paint on the image to modify.

We often have six or more adjustment layer / layer mask combinations in an image (figure 6). If there is any secret to the tonality in our images this would be it. Notice in the example the before (figure 7) and after (figure 8) images, and the layers pallet showing all the layer masks used.

Although the image in this example is black and white, this technique is equally powerful on color images.

Enjoy

Mike and Tammy Rice

To adjust the shadows do the following:

• Drag the input shadow Levels slider (upper black triangle) to the right, increasing the contrast in shadow areas.

• Drag the output Levels slider (lower black triangle) to the right, decreasing contrast in the shadow areas.

To adjust the highlights do the following:

• Drag the input highlight Levels slider (upper white triangle) to the left, increasing contrast in the highlights.

• Drag the output highlight Levels slider (lower white triangle) to the left, decreasing contrast in the highlights.

To adjust the midtones do the following:

• Drag the input Levels midtone slider to the right to darken the midtones.

• Drag the input Levels midtone slider to the left to lighten the midtones.

Although this may at first seem confusing, a little playful experimenting with the sliders while watching the image change, will give you a feel for the controls.

“most images need at least one of their elements to be pure black, meaning black with no detail, and need at least one of their elements to be pure white meaning white with no detail”

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 5. By using a large soft edged brush the selection lines will not be visible. Try varying the brush opacity to vary the degree of correction.

Figure 7

Figure 1

Figure 8