Image with midtones only (no blacks or whites) Curvemeister Process??

[mikemeister_admin]

Returned from trip with many images of fall colors where the histogram is a bump in the middle (mostly yellows and orange) of the graph. Almost no part of the histogram falls in the first (shadow) and last (hi light) quarter of the graph. My question is: how is shadow, highlight and neutral pinned in these images.
Thanks Joe S

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Hi Joe,

In general, if there is no shadow or highlight, use the threshold controls.  Drag the left and right edges of the Lightness curve until you see areas of pure black and white.  This will give your image the maximum brightness range.  I generally prefer to do this in Lab, not RGB mode.

That said, each image is different, and for some moods you will not necessarily want the broadest brightness range possible.

Perhaps you could post one of your images for more specific comments.

[mikemeister_admin]

I have been trying to post a image but find that I am not able to. Maybe just dont know the process. When I click on the "add image ikon" it just adds the following text: [img]http://[/img]
Have played with this for about a half hour. Does anyone know the process to add a image? Also what is best image size and resolution?
Thanks Joe s

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Sorry about the trouble.  The text of the error message seems to have been lost - can you type it in manually?

The actual item you need to click on is "Additional Options", and there will be a browse button that you use to chase down the image.  When you're all done, click the Save button as you would for a normal post. If you're doing all this, I'm guessing there may be some special issue with your browser, or with the way it is configured. The text of the error message should narrow this down.

Mike

[mikemeister_admin]

Lets see if I can attach image.

This image is as it came from the camera. No processing done other than reducing size. I would like to see how others approach this image using Curvemeister.
Thanks Joe S

[mikemeister_admin]

Hi Joe
   Here is my attempt at your photo. I did this quickly in lab. I'll try to describe what I did for you.
      I moved  the left side to input 14 and out put 0
      I moved the right side to input 61 output 100
      steepened the curve slightly input 33 output 53
      Moved the slider to 1.35

    Mike, I have a question for you. How do you do a screen capture of the CM window before closing?
           Barry

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Hi Barry,

Nice curving!

I use a utiltiy called Snagit for most of my screen captures.  You can click on the curvemeister window, hold down the Alt key, and press PrintScreen to copy the contents of the window.  Then click OK, do a ctrl-N in Photoshop and paste your copy of the curve window to a new document.  I generally save the image in PNG or GIF format for posting. - Mike

[mikemeister_admin]

Here is a snap of the curve I used. Hope it helps.
        Barry

[mikemeister_admin]

Thanks Barry/Mike. I get the gist of it. Its similar to using levels where the sliders are moved inwards to the beginning and end of the histogram. Now I have another question.

Barry/Mike, does something happen in the internet transmission of the image?
Barry's histogram is shifted left. His peaks left of center, mine peaks right. He has the beginning of the histogram at 14-0 and the end at 61-100.
The image I sent has the beginning at 43-0 and the end at 90-100.
That's quite a shift. Whats happening?
Thanks Joe S

[mikemeister_admin]

Joe,
  If I remember correctly, CM uses white on the left and PS black uses black on the left. I switch back and forth often and don't notice it. When using CM, there is a small tool in the upper right corner next to the triangle. If you click on that tool a widow opens for CM settings. Under curve 1 there is a section called "other". There is a box that you can check to reveres the setting to black on the left, or unchecked to have black on the right. I believe I have that correct.
        Barry