Eliminate halo from "Darken Highlights"

[Lance Warley]

Many PSE users, especially those who take pics of birds in flight, would love to see you eliminate the halo created by Enhance-Lighting-Shadows/Highlights-Darken Highlights whenever it is set above 10. Sometimes there's a halo even if it's set below 10.

The halo occurs, for example, around the bird flying in the sky.

This also happens in landscape photos when DH is used on skies. The halo occurs where the sky meets the horizon.

The halo does NOT occur with Curves-Darken Highlights. However, the Shad-Hi-DH effect is different than the Curves DH effect. The Shad-Hi-DH effect is extremely valuable in its own right.

I sincerely hope you fix this in some kind of a patch/upgrade, or in the next release. Thanks very much.

[Daviskw]

Hi there

I wish you would post an example of the original and altered with halos to see exactly what you are talking about.

For white halos try this;

Duplicate the background

Apply the shadow/highlights to the duplicate layer... if i understand this is where the halos appear

Change the duplicates layer blend mode to darken... this will remove any white halos.

Duplicate the darken layer but now change its blend mode to lighten... this will bring back the white halos but reduce opacity as needed.

As a side note you can also reduce halo sizes by adjusting the radius setting

Butch

[Lance Warley]

Sure, Butch. Here it is post-processing: http://www.naturephotographers.net/imagecritique/ic.cgi?a=vp&pr=81238&b=vg1&st=0&la=792&ph=24&sid=30745&u=30745
You'll see from comments below it that it's a known problem.

I don't have an easy way to get the original to you, but if you wish, send a note to lwarley@us.ibm.com and I'll send it to you as an attachment.

Thanks for trying with your suggested work-around, but it doesn't help...it just defeats the purpose of the adjustment.

[Daviskw]

There are always compromises when making adjustments….. try this…. Make your adjustment as usual using shadow/highlights… when you see the sharp halo go to the radius slider on the highlights… increase it…. or move to the right… the more you move it the more the halo will blend into the background. You can adjust to where you have just a slight back highlighting that enhances the shot but does not change the overall darkening.... much...lol

There are always work-arounds but they may take time... Birds in flight usually have smooth edges that can be selected... then masks or separate layers can be used to lighten or darken as needed without halos...

Butch

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1Zq3ZHSLpQ0YeedrWiWG5GZ7YkE0_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1Zq3ZHSLpQ0YeedrWiWG5GZ7YkE0)

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1F6fhASv5UKbWoOyRPqTRz8ogOR5U1_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1F6fhASv5UKbWoOyRPqTRz8ogOR5U1)

[Michel B]

Butch,

In Elements you have only one slider for shadows, highlight and midtones... and it is true you can correct shadows heavily, you have to be very prudent with highlights and midtones.

Lance,

I think that what is most important is the reason for the halo: it is there before you begin to correct. I'm quite sure it is the result of oversharpening, so the first thing to do is using conservative camera sharpening settings and sharpening only as the last step in post processing. It will be easier to mask the sky in this example. Then, the shadow/highlight command acts not only as a change in contrast, but also as a change in local contrast arount edges, which is different from a curve adjustment. The advice given by Butch to use a 'stamp visible' layer on top of the stack in darken mode really works.

To prevent this problem: use low camera sharpening settings. Work in raw if possible, or with PSE5, update to ACR 4.1 (free from Adobe's site) and use 'Open As', type 'Camera raw' to open your jpegs. There is a highlight recovery feaure far superior to Shadow/highlight. Use masks as suggested to avoid halos in the sky.

To cure the problem afterwards, there are several ways which might be too long to explain here, but tell us if you are interested.

[Daviskw]

Mike thanks for pointing out the difference in controls I keep forgetting what works in Elements.
I don’t believe there is a problem in the Shadow/highlight control in general. If you have a high-resolution photo that did not have in camera sharpening then using shadow/highlights will not produce an extreme halo…at least in my experience. However if a halo already exists then it will be made more apparent...as it should…. this is how the software works.
Sharpening will only make the halo worse but sharpening halos are easily controlled with the darken/lighten layer modes in Elements and the Blendif in Photoshop.

Butch

[Lance Warley]

Michel, thanks.

I do as much as possible in ACR 4.2 before opening in Elements. I don't sharpen in-camera and I only sharpen as the last step in the workflow in Elements.

I really don't mean to sound stubborn, but I think (and others think) it's a problem with Darken Highlights.

[Michel B]

Michel, thanks.

I do as much as possible in ACR 4.2 before opening in Elements. I don't sharpen in-camera and I only sharpen as the last step in the workflow in Elements.

I really don't mean to sound stubborn, but I think (and others think) it's a problem with Darken Highlights.

I don't shoot birds myself, and don't use telephoto lens, so there may be other factors I am not aware of. Like Butch, I have never met this halo problem with darkening the highlights. One thing is the resulting halo has the same look as a sharpening halo, and should be cured in the same way. Another is that if you have it before applying S/H, it will get worse, and in PSE5 there is no built-in way to limit this like in CS2 or CS3. I agree it is not really usable at more than 10%. Edge masking before applying S/H, as suggested, seems the way to go. In your example, a quicker way would be to select the sky, copy and paste it on a new layer, then selection/modify/expand by 1 or 2 pixels as a first step. Do you have free masks plug-ins for PSE?

[Lance Warley]

Yes, I have the mask plug-in.

This doesn't just occur with birds. It occurs whenever DH is used on a large area, like a sky above a mountain.

[Daviskw]

Hi Lance

I sure don’t think you’re being stubborn…you are seeing a problem and think you have an answer… you may be right. Just because I have not experienced it does not mean it isn’t happening.
I saw your thread by using “New Posts”…. I did not realize it was in the “Wish List” section. I thought you were looking for an answer rather than making a suggestion.
Sorry for the confusion and interference.

Butch

[Chuck S.]

Is there anyone else but me who can't see a halo around the bird??:o Guess it's time for me to get some new glasses....

[Daviskw]

Hi Chuck

I had to use a screen capture but I think he is talking about the halo on the right bird.. The left is with the halo removed with the clone tool set to darken.

I don't think he was wanting a "how to fix" but just report a problem.

Thats where I went wrong.

Butch

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1bYBBpCLm8k0ar40aZGzL5qruvbMzw_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1bYBBpCLm8k0ar40aZGzL5qruvbMzw)

[Chuck S.]

Ahh....got it. Thanks Butch.

[Daviskw]

Hi Lance I got your file...thanks

I could not duplicate your problem. I did not worry about color correction I just used Shadow/highlights and the setting displayed below. No matter what settings I used I could not produce a halo as in your post-processed example.

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1AnVQLmeWIxdAbHabY6ZKGPMBP9gll_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1AnVQLmeWIxdAbHabY6ZKGPMBP9gll)

I could easily produce the halo during sharpening. I over sharpened with the settings displayed below as an example.

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/18mMmC4vWINz2SELwsjYEEWdcDEfM_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=18mMmC4vWINz2SELwsjYEEWdcDEfM)

Just to give an example of what I was talking about I changed that layers mode to darken. What this did was compare the sharpened layer to the unsharpened layer and said let nothing lighter than the unsharpened layer show in the sharpened layer.
Sharpening makes two halos to give the impression of sharpness… a white and a black. They are both necessary for sharpening but often the white stands out too much. Changing the layer mode to darken completely removes the white halo.

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/139c5bJGGzdYFDkvHjuBmQ0Qng8W6_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=139c5bJGGzdYFDkvHjuBmQ0Qng8W6)

The white is also needed so we need to bring some back… To do this we duplicate the darken layer then change its layer mode to Lighten. This brings back the entire white halo. For a final adjustment I just reduce the opacity of the lighten layer until I get the best compromise of halo verses proper sharpening.

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1tSQr1I9jfkfiGJsOszawQ8y7315LS1_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1tSQr1I9jfkfiGJsOszawQ8y7315LS1)

I could also reduce the darken layers opacity if I wanted.

This is why it is important to sharpen on duplicate layers so you can use the layer modes as needed.

Butch