Anyone use Shadows/Highlights Control

[rpcrowe]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHpYpT-lZyE

The Shadows/Highlights Control is located in Photoshop (I use CS6) under the Image> Adjustments> Shadows/Highlights

I have never used this control since I do much of my shadow and highlight control using NIK Viveza.

However, the Photoshop Shadows/Highlights control seems to be a pretty neat way to globally adjust images. However, you need to use these controls sparingly because they can result in some outlandish results...

[pnodrog]

I used to use it a lot but my workflow for the last few years begins in Lightroom and the various controls it offers have more or less taken over.

I did like the boost to saturation that could be set in the advanced settings of shadows/highlights control..

[TonyW]

I use this quite routinely but I still found the video helpful. I find that I have to be careful not to raise the shadows too much. It often brightens the colours nicely without giving the over saturated look.

[Manfred M]

I tend to use this tool in ACR / Lightroom during the raw conversion. Once in Photoshop, I don't use the global tools a lot unless I am working a jpeg file. In extreme situations, I will crank the shadows slider all the way up and will reverse some of the effects in Photoshop, usually with a curves adjustment layer.

What I will do in Photoshop is use this with a layer mask to apply the affect locally (think of it as a more sophisticated burning and dodging technique).

[dje]

I tend to use this tool in ACR / Lightroom during the raw conversion.

Me too. I occasionally use the Photoshop tool where I want more control over the tonal range affected by these adjustments eg if I only want to raise the very darkest of tones, I might have tone range set to 25% rather than the default of 50%.

Dave

[davidedric]

Hi Richard and others,

I do use Shadows and Highlights extensively, but in Lightroom (I assume ACR is the same), rather than Photoshop, and they do look rather different.

There is just a single slider, and it is almost impossible to create weird effects by over-use. The sliders are also in the middle, so negative and positive adjustments are possible.

To take the Highlights slider, it's main effect is to expand or compress the brightest third of tones (depending on which way you move it, obviously!), the reverse with the middle third, and leave the bottom third unaffected. However, it never pushes the brightest tones into clipping, it just compresses them. This is in contrast to the Whites slider, which WILL push the brighter tones over the edge and clip them,

The other thing the Highlights (and Shadows) slider does is rather subtle: it creates what I can only call a "micro reverse gradient" between tones - in other words, it makes the tones stand out more. You can best see this is you use the image of a step wedge - you can see the histogram single lines broadening, and see the gradients in the image. I don't know of a way of doing this with a tone curve (I'm pretty sure that you can't in Lightroom).

I know this may not be directly relevant to the video, but may be of interest generally.

Dave

[Shadowman]

I use it in either Lightroom or Elements, I also use Viveza but after Lightroom or Elements. Viveza doesn't seem to affect the adjustments I make in LR or PSE; although I typically only use the shadow adjustments in Viveza very sparingly. Usually I adjust contrast and perhaps structure in Viveza. I will say that I will usually only bring a portion of the photo into Viveza; I'll select an area or object and only move that layer into Viveza.

[DanK]

Thanks for posting. This prompted me to do some investigation.

I have never used it, even though a landscape photographer I admire, Carl Heilmann II, wrote that he uses it often. Except when I want luminance-only adjustments, I do most of my global tonality adjustments in Lightroom.

However, now that I have explored it a bit, I see that the PS version of this tool is far more powerful than the similar tools in LR. This wasn't obvious until I checked Show More Options. An explanation of the additional controls is here. I'm going to play around with this for a while to learn how best to use it.

[Thlayle]

I haven't tried this as yet, mainly since I am so used to using ACR for these kinds of adjustments. I really am interested in the additional options involved with this control & will have to try it out.

Thanks for posting this.

Randy

[chauncey]

I use it a lot, usually in conjunction with the "HDR Toning" thingy found next door, but...
it is usually used on various selected parts of the image as opposed to the entire image.

[IzzieK]

Yes I do use Highlights/Shadow control in ACR then if I go to Nik's Viveza or Color Efex I only have to use Structure or a bit more contrast if it is not enough or more Shadows. Depends on how you see your image...

[Brev00]

Funny you should mention it. I just used it to good effect on a beach scene using the highlights slider in Elements. A little does go a long way. I have been using Viveza more often lately for more precise control of specific areas but still like to give it a try in certain situations (I.e, after boosting saturation in a plug-ins or if the highlights generally lack detail). A setting of 1 or 2 can be enough.

[James G]

I use both sliders routinely in ACR.
I tend to reduce highlights first and then bring back detail by increasing the brightness. I then open the shadows and rebalance by increasing the contrast ..... and so on cyclically until I'm happy.

I used to work my way from top to bottom through the sliders, which I think is the 'recommended' way, but I have become much more comfortable using the workflow above.

[DanK]

The ACR sliders are the same as the ones in Lightroom but not the same as the ones in Photoshop. They don't have all of the functionality of the Photoshop sliders. Check the link in my post #8, which explains the additional functions.

[TonyW]

Very recently, I had a problem with the shadows/highlights control in Photoshop. I had a small isolated dark area which I wanted to lighten. When I did so there was a distinct halo around the dark area. I had to use an alternative method - select the dark area and apply a brightness adjustment layer.