Learn a better way to
increase contrast using Photoshop. This Photoshop technique protects
your image from having blown out highlights and shadows while you
increase contrast. Follow this Photoshop tutorial to learn how to
apply this new technique.
Step 1: Load a
photo into Photoshop
To open an image,
choose File > Open. Browse for the image file then click OK.
Step 2:
Increase contrast
First, we'll increase
the contrast as we usually would. There are many ways to increase
contrast but we'll show you how to do it using Curves. Choose Layer
> New Adjustment Layer > Curves. In the Curves tool, create a slight
S curve like the image below.
Step 3: Create
a new 50% gray layer
Now we'll create the
mask for the Curves adjustment layer. The mask will specify how
visible the Curves adjustment layer is according to the brightness
of the area. To do this, we first need to create a layer with a 50%
gray fill. Create a new layer then choose Edit > Fill.
In the Fill settings,
use the settings from the image below.
Step 4: Create
a custom selection using Calculations
With the 50% gray
layer created, we will use the calculations tool to create the mask
that will be used for the Curves adjustment layer. Choose Image >
Calculations and enter in the settings below. This will create a
selection around the highlights and shadows of the image.
Step 5: Apply
the selection to the layer mask
Delete the top layer
with the gray fill then select the layer mask.
With the layer mask
selected, press the delete key on your keyboard and choose Select >
Deselect.
The data in the layer
mask looks quite low in contrast. Choose Image > Adjustments > Auto
Levels to automatically increase the contrast. As you can see in the
layer mask, the highlights and shadows are darker and the midtones
are brighter. This layer mask that we jut created is only allowing
the Curves adjustment layer to affect the midtones in the image.
Generally, this works well with landscape photos because it
preserves the details in the shadows and highlights.
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