Does anyone have a good technique for evening out/removing shadows in a picture?

Hi Christo, as a quick method, try this.

Ctrl + alt + Shift + ~ this selects highlights.
Select Inverse to select shadows

Now open Levels Adjustment Layer, and adjust to minimise shadows.

I've attached a quick example of this. i t needs further work, but gives you a start.

Hi christo,
I was able to even out this image a bit in PS by playing with the levels.

Image> adjustments> levels

Then I did a little dodging and burning with a large soft brush set very low...like 6%. It seemed to bring out some detail in the shadow areas but it also lost a little detail in the highlights. You may get better results, as mine was a very quick effort.

Cheers,
Phil

Hi Gary,
I like the results you got with that method. I can't seem to get the quick keys to work though ( Ctrl + alt + Shift + ~ ) Is there another way to select the highlights of an image? Is that the same as ctrl clicking RGB in channels?

Hi everybody,

earthman,

Is there another way to select the highlights of an image?...Is that the same as ctrl clicking RGB in channels?

Not that I know ....You could eliminate the necessity to press the "Shift" key from your preferences, but the combination 'Ctrl+Alt+~' still remains .... and yes, it is the same procedure as ctrl+click on a single RGB Channel even if the resulting mask is slightly different (single Channel mask is usually much harder and stronger and limited to the luminosity of that particular Channel....)

Anyway, since I use Luminosity and shadows Masks a lot, I wrote two actions for these procedures.... You can download the LuminosityMask action here (http://www.retouchpro.com/resources/fileinfo.php?id=9), and the Shadows Mask action here (http://www.retouchpro.com/resources/fileinfo.php?id=10).

While you are there, check the other 'goodies' in our new Resources (http://www.retouchpro.com/resources) Section ....

Hi Earthman, can't really add anything to what Flora's already said. Can't think of a reason why the key combo won't work for you.

The problem with using a luminosity mask (or its inverse) or a particular shadow/highlight is that they are very broad masks and you wind up affecting a lot of other image features.

My tutorial, "Masking by the Numbers," demonstrates how to quickly create tone-based masks that are narrower in their effects.

http://www.thelightsrightstudio.com/DigitalDarkroom/Tutorials/MaskingByTheNumbers.pdf

I also have a PS action set that makes it easy to target changes to specific tonal ranges in an image: shadows, quarter tones, etc.

http://www.thelightsrightstudio.com/DigitalDarkroom/PhotoshopTools/TLRToneMaskToolkit.htm

Cheers,

Mitch

Sorry Mitch, don't seem to be able to view your pdf tutorials, either from your link, or by manual search of your site. Am using latest version of Adobe Reader, and have tried using both Firefox and IE as browser.

Sorry Mitch, don't seem to be able to view your pdf tutorials, either from your link, or by manual search of your site. Am using latest version of Adobe Reader, and have tried using both Firefox and IE as browser.

The PDF opens just fine for me both at my office and at home.
It opens just fine in Microsoft Internet Explorer.

Perhaps your version of Adobe Acrobat Reader is outdated?

I just tried by clicking on the link here.

Cheers,

Mitch

Flora,
Am having problems with your reduce shadows atn. I get to the Gaussian blur stage with no problem, and then the dialogue box comes up that says "in the fill dialogue box to set opacity between 40% and 80%. When I click continue there, everything seems to stop. I have two images open, the original and an image copy (gray). What am I missing here?

Mitch, still can't open your PDF files at least not online, I am using the latest version of Adobe Reader (at least it was 7 days ago), however have found work round. If I disable reader in Firefox, I can force a download, and then have no trouble in reading the file. No idea what the problem is, looks like its at my end, sorry for troubling you about this. By the way the tutorial is excellent, but then your tutorials always are.

Flora,
Am having problems with your reduce shadows atn. I get to the Gaussian blur stage with no problem, and then the dialogue box comes up that says "in the fill dialogue box to set opacity between 40% and 80%. When I click continue there, everything seems to stop. I have two images open, the original and an image copy (gray). What am I missing here?

Hi Christo,

Sorry you are having problems .... But actually the "reduce shadows atn" isn't an action of mine ..... I'll download and run it and I'll let you know .....

Another approach would be to compromise the chunks.
Then add the detail back in.

Copy photo.
Filter > Other > High Pass to extract detail. Maybe do this a few times with various values. Put aside for later use.

Select a chunk, like the garage door.
Gaussian Blur the snot out of it.
I seem to vaguely remember PS CS having an Average filter, but I don't have PS CS. If you do, might be a good alternative to Gauss.
Or, if you have the eyeballs for it, you could use Levels to wash it out.

When done compromising the chunks, use the High Pass layer(s) to add detail back in. Linear Light or Hard Light or whatever you prefer.

Then it's just a matter of masking.

Hmm... a bit heavy-handed and little sloppy in a few parts.

Well I opened the photo and used Image/Adjustment/Shadow Highlights in Photoshop CS. The picture had a magenta cast to it so I clicked autocolor. The process took about 10 seconds

Hi Flora,
Thanx for the carification. I haven't had a chance to try your actions yet as I've been quite busy, but I'm sure they'll prove usefull. I'm still not sure why that particular key combo won't work for me. Perhaps it is different for PS 7 than PS CS? No big deal though, just curious.
Thanx again,

Phil

Image adjustments shadow highlight is not in Photoshop 7. Its a new and very helpful feature in CS. It is sort of like an automatic fill flash. I don't remember whether or not autocolor is in seven either.

Flora,
Am having problems with your reduce shadows atn. I get to the Gaussian blur stage with no problem, and then the dialogue box comes up that says "in the fill dialogue box to set opacity between 40% and 80%. When I click continue there, everything seems to stop. I have two images open, the original and an image copy (gray). What am I missing here?
Hi Christo,

I hadn't forgotten your question .... I've been testing that action myself and had the same problem .... It seems to be something about the different way of handling documents between PS7 and PS CS ....

Anyway I wrote a new action for reducing shadows (tested with both versions of PS) ... you can dowload it from here (http://www.retouchpro.com/resources/fileinfo.php?id=38).
I'd be grateful if you'd let me know if it works for you ....