By David Rosenthal.

In Making Your Image "Pop" I showed you how to set your black point.

But sometimes setting the black point just isn't enough.

Here is a photo that needs more help...

(This tutorial assumes you already know how to set your black point. If you don't start with Part 1.)

Here's the same image after setting the black point. As you can see, it's a little better, but still not what you could call pleasing.

The first step is to move your highlights point on your curve over to get your whites whiter (be careful not too go too far, or you'll "blow out the highlights" which is another way of saying you'll lose detail in the brightest parts of the image.)

That move results in this image. It's a big improvement.

But we can do better. If you cmd-click (ctl-click, PC) on the shadow on his cheek and then again on the highlight of his cheek (not the white part, but a light part of the cheek), you'll set two markers in your curve.

The most interesting part of a shot should also have the steepest curve in your Curves Dialog. This means that it will have the most contrast and your eye will be drawn to it...which is a good thing, since it's the most interesting part of your image, right?

Play with the two markers that you put in your curve to boost the contrast in that part of the image, being careful not to go too far.

The move that I made resulted in this image. That's a bit better, now, isn't it?

POP!!!

This animation shows the Before/After difference. Make sure you have animation turned on in your browser to see the full effect!

Even though the results aren't always so dramatic, paying attention to "pop" can make a dramatic difference even in a shot that seems pretty good.

Here's the curve that I added to that shot. Again, I set the black point, and then I made an S-Curve from two points that I derived from the darker and lighter parts of his face.

And here's the result. A much more subtle difference than our last example, but still a big improvement!


Check out the thread on dgrin.com, and show us your pop or ask questions...


Once you've seen what pop can do for you, and you feel like it's time to move on to bigger and better pop, check out Part 3.



And another approach can be found here.