Adobe PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS Manual page 97

4 If your image needs midtone corrections, use
the gray Input Levels slider. Drag the slider to the
right to darken the midtones; drag it to the left to
lighten the midtones. You can also enter values
directly in the middle Input Levels text box.
5 Click OK.
6 To view the adjusted histogram, reopen the
Levels dialog box.
The gaps in the adjusted histogram do not indicate
a perceptible problem in the image unless they are
large or accompanied by a low pixel count.
Setting target colors for highlights,
neutral grays, and shadows
In addition to setting the tonal range, you can use
Levels to set target colors for the lightest and
darkest areas of detail in the image, as well as areas
of neutral gray.
When identifying the lightest and darkest areas of
an image, it's important to identify representative
highlights and shadows. Otherwise the tonal range
may be expanded unnecessarily to include extreme
pixel values that don't give the image detail.
A highlight area must be a printable highlight, not
specular white. Specular white has no detail, and so
no ink is printed on the paper. For example, a spot
of glare is specular white, not a printable highlight.
ADOBE PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS
To set target colors for highlights, neutral grays,
and shadows:
Select the eyedropper tool, and choose 3 by 3
1
Average from the Sample Size menu in the
eyedropper tool options. This ensures a represen-
tative sample of an area rather than the value of a
single screen pixel.
Choose View > Actual Pixels to make sure that
2
you are viewing the image at 100%.
Open the Levels dialog box. (See "Using the
3
Levels dialog box" on page 87.)
When you open Levels, the eyedropper tool (
still active outside the dialog box. You still have
access to the scroll controls and to the hand and
zoom tools by using keyboard shortcuts.
4 Identify areas of representative highlights,
known grays, and shadows in the image. One way
to do this is to move the pointer around the image,
and look at the Info palette to find the lightest,
neutral, and darkest areas. (See "Using the Info
palette" on page 29.)
Double-click the Set White Point eyedropper
5
tool ( ) in the Levels dialog box to display the
Color Picker. Enter the color values you want to
assign to the lightest area in the image, and click
OK. Follow these guidelines:
When you are printing on white paper, you can
•
achieve a good highlight in an average-key image
using RGB values of 244, 244, 244. An approx-
imate grayscale equivalent is a 4% dot.
You can approximate these target values quickly
•
by entering 96 in the Brightness (B) text box under
the HSB section of the Color Picker.
89
User Guide
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