Whats the deal with the 50% gray background?

[cricket1961]

Abdul

Yes, I do all of my brushwork on one softlight gray layer. There is nothing wrong with using two different gray layers to lighten and darken. I find that it slows me down though.
I rarely use default black as an option for darkening. I tend to sample a darker flesh tone from the image and use that instead. I will then turn the brightness down on that color to make it as near to black as possible while still retaining the color info. This eliminates any desaturating that may occur.

Chris

[abdul10000]

Originally Posted by cricket1961

Abdul

Yes, I do all of my brushwork on one softlight gray layer. There is nothing wrong with using two different gray layers to lighten and darken. I find that it slows me down though.
I rarely use default black as an option for darkening. I tend to sample a darker flesh tone from the image and use that instead. I will then turn the brightness down on that color to make it as near to black as possible while still retaining the color info. This eliminates any desaturating that may occur.

Chris

Hey Chris,


Many thanks for answering my question! You pretty much answered the last major question I had about this technique. Now, I am in the process of using this technique instead of the traditional curves D&B method and I am going to beat this technique to death to see what is the most that I can get out of it. Once this is done I am going to summarize my experience. Hopefully this will provide a useful thread for people who are also trying to learn the softlight (gray background) D&B method.


Thanks

[drouber]

Originally Posted by cricket1961

Abdul

... I will then turn the brightness down on that color to make it as near to black as possible while still retaining the color info. This eliminates any desaturating that may occur ...

Chris

Thank you for this remark but how do you turn down this brightness? Maybe by selecting a color range on the softlight gray layer and then turning down the brightness? Isn't this a difficult (selection) task if, after a lot of retouches, you decide a certain color or area needs further darkening? Maybe there is a simple solution. TIA for your comments.

[cricket1961]

I select the color I am going to use, click on the foreground color square to bring up the color picker and slide the triangles down on the gradient bar. Or reduce the numbers in the "B" field.

Then I start painting.

Chris

[drouber]

@cricket1961:
Thanks for answering but I was thinking of reducing brightness after painting. Painting again (or painting with white to increase the brightness) is the most obvious way of course. I thought I was missing something here or that there exists some trick to influence the brightness of an already painted area/colour.

[cricket1961]

I use curves on the grey layer. Or any other adjustment method.

[abdul10000]

The softlight D&B technique is just amazing! I can sum up its main advantage in flexibility.

Instead of having to use many targeted curves with the traditional technique, I can just change the color to target different areas of the skin. More importantly, by switching the foreground color from dark to light and vice versa I can Dodge and Burn on the same layer .


That being said, picking the right color has proven tremendously challenging. As I target different areas of the skin I can't find a clear formula to pick the correct color.

I always end up with over saturated colors instead of a total blend, which I usually achieve with the traditional technique. I wish there was a tutorial on how to choose the right color because that is the key component to using the Softlight technique effectively.

[Markzebra]

Its dodge colors that have this problem, the ones you use to lighten. No formula. Blue colors neutralise, use them at a low opacity, or set your brush mode while painting to Color.

Heres a mechanical way to pick colors which will work for your image… If you first make a feathered selection on your soft light layer which includes the areas which look over-saturated and wrong. Then use command U Hue/Saturation and move the hue slider, it will leave the greys untouched, but provide you with alternatives on your dodge color. If you change the mode of your Soft light layer to Normal (shift/alt N) while you do this you will see whats happening. You can then sample the colors that look right directly from your grey layer, store them as swatches. They will need to be lightened, use the HSB brightness slider. Shortcut for getting your layer back to Soft Light (shift/alt F).