Day 2 Retouching

[ExpertNovice]

I understand there are more then one way to accomplish any task. In fact, people get tired of me explaining multiple ways to do something and invariably ask "which way is best." They must not get tired of me saying, "it depends." :)

Question 1.
Duplicating a background. (PS, I understand the reason to duplicate.)
All but one method described in the class renames the new layer "Background copy" (Layer | Duplicate Layer). The one that is different is the keyboard shortcut Ctrl-J (Layer | New | Layer via Copy) which uses a default name of "Layer 1."

Is that really the only difference? Sorry for the newb question but given the different names and since (Layer | Duplicate Layer) does not show Ctrl-J is a valid shortcut has me wondering.



Question 2.
Histogram (no, this was not in the class.) I notice that the histogram at the dark end (when doing a Shadows/Highlights adjustment) stops being smooth and ends up with a series of vertical (jagged) lines. What, in novice terms does this mean? I "see" the effect but...


Question 3.
Subjective question for those who have taken the class. The adjustments made during the instructions used a 30% and 35% (it was done twice) Shadows/Highlights adjustment. To me, this left the image with a milky look or more washed out.

Since I am a novice and see pretty much everything differently than eveyone else I'm wondering if there is a consensus on how light faces should be? Of course, each photo is different so I'm referring to the photo in the class for day 2, in case you happen to have it. I ended up using a 14% adjustment.

Is this truly subjective or am I radically different in what looks good?

[GaryK]

Hey

Q1

In this instance it is virtually the same, CTRL-J actually copies the selelction. If there isn't one, it copies the layer. It is a popular shortcut for most.

Q2

Not sure. My best guess would be that that is the "NEW" made up blacks/darks.. elements has to stretch out the dark areas and this is how it represents it.

Q3

Subjective, but if your gamma on your monitor, is higher than the one in the video, then what you see will be different than what Dave sees. The true test is in the printing, although it should match (or be close) to what you see on the monitor.

[Wendy]

Hi ...

Q2 ... Elements has indeed stretched out the info it has so gaps appear because of that. Its not perfect but the best it can do :)


Wendy

[GaryK]

Wendy

Could ya tell I was guessing :?: :?: :lol: :lol:

[Wendy]

Gary ...

I thought you made a very informed statement (guess .... now way) :) :)


Wendy

[ExpertNovice]

I found a detailed explanation for my second question in the post.




Question 2.
the histogram at the dark end (when doing a Shadows/Highlights adjustment) stops being smooth and ends up with a series of vertical (jagged) lines. What, in novice terms does this mean? I "see" the effect but...


http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/posterization.htm

A couple of lines from the article:
Posterization occurs when the bit depth of an image has been decreased so much that it has a visual impact on the image.

A stretched histogram is forced to spread these discrete levels over a broader range than exists in the original image. This creates gaps where there is no longer any intensity information left in the image.