Assignment 5 - Using Adjustment Layers Cert III Media

Image 1 - Photo taken at 1.00 pm. Image in original photo (above) appears "flatter"and dull. There is less contrast between highlights and shadows with an overall predominance of darker colours. The image below has had three adjustment layers applied to it which has significantly increased its vibrancy, contrast and appeal. The grey flat tones in the original image has been replaced with "warmer" red hues. 

I note when comparing the original to the adjusted image, the edges of the lines marking steps, pavement edges are sharper in the original image. The adjustment image may have benefited from some sharpening of line edges. However, more details have been revealed in the tonally corrected/adjusted image due to the overall lightening up of shadows. 

Process for applying adjustment layers to this image included:

- Levels adjustment layer applied - the histogram for the original image revealed that most of the pixels were clustered on the left of the histogram.There were less pixels distributed at the right end of the histogram. I moved the arrow slightly from the left. 

- Vibrance adjustment layer applied - moved cursor from 0 to +100 to create greater intensity
- Curves adjustment layer applied - after fiddling around with moving the combined curve up and down, I left it at its present curve and instead adjusted the blue and green curves down a little and moved the red curve up a little. This made the photo look less "washed out".
Hue/Saturation - moved both the hue and saturation cursors from 0 to +12

I thought tonal correction definitely enhanced this image by adding vibrancy and detail.

Image 2 - Photo taken around 07.00 am. Easy to see why it is generally recommended to take photos at this time of the day! The adjustment layer levels histogram showed information was more evenly spread across the shadows, midtones and highlights tonal range of the above original photo than compared with the equivalent original histogram of image 1 which was taken at 1.00 pm.

I have added two tonally corrected photos. Both corrected photos were cropped and the last image attached was also rotated.

Process used for tonal correction of the first corrected image included:

1. Adjustment layer levels - Moved the far left arrow on the histogram slightly to the right to increase contrast. 

2. Adjustment layer vibrance - moved the cursor from 0 to +35 to enhance vibrance

3. Adjustment layer curves - minor upward move in the curve to increase brightness. 

4. Adjustment layer hue/saturation - Hue moved from 0 to +4 and saturation moved from 0 to + 21

Process for tonal correction of the 2nd corrected image included:

1. Adjustment layer levels - Moved the far right arrow from 225 yo 208

2. Adjustment layer Black/White - applied to the whole image. Applied mask area to selected lassoed areas to return original colours

3. Adjustment layer vibrance- cursor moved from 0 to +64 

What I thought about the process: I thought the original image was pretty good but after comparing it to the tonally corrected/adjusted images, I appreciate that using tonal correction can add vibrancy, contrast and excitement/interest to photos. I was aiming for a surreal vibe to the black and white image but did not succeed entirely - too domestic a shot or perhaps more imaginative tonal correction was called for.

I definitely think that tonal correction enhanced the original low light image. The adjustment layers can be applied together to create the best effects but the Levels and Curves and Vibrance layers are my pick for being the most effective at getting improved tonal correction to images.