Upgraded Shadow Reduction Action

[Andrew B.]

I am impressed what Photoshop CS's new shadow adjustment tool can do to correct shadows. But it is not suitable for every situation, and on some images it is surpassed by old standbys like the "fill with gray color dodge" method. So I decided to upgrade an action I created, which uses screening layers with progressive luminosity masks. The main improvements in this version are: A. improved protection of light areas, and B. greatly improved retention of local contrast.

The action I am posting is meant to be run more than once. depending on how much shadow boost you need. So just repeat the action until the shadows are too light, then reduce the opacity of the top layer to step back. You can also paint on one or more masks if you want to tweak this.

BTW, I don't think my action is the best method for the majority of shadow correction situations. But with some images, it works better than other methods.

Note: this action is now part of collection of actions and can be found here

[shelray]

You may want to try DIGITAL SHO Professional Plug-In by Kodak
I have been using it for about a week and I find it dose a very good job.

it is at this site http://www.asf.com/

Hope this helps

William Mayer
www.shelray.com

[Andrew B.]

Thanks. I've tried SHO, and for some images it does a very good job.

[sPECtre]

Sometimes, I use a copy of the layer,[CTRL/Command+A , CTRL/Command+J]

load a luminosity selection [CTRL/Command+ALT/Option+~ (of CTRL/command+Click the composite channel)]

Use it as a Layer mask [Click the layer mask icon]

Invert the mask [CTRL/Command+I]

And swith the blending mode of the layer to screen.[ALT/Option+S]
easily actionable too...(you can duplicate the layer form a stronger effect, and fade if needed).

Edit: erm, your action has the same basis, but is more evolved...
I'll download and test the action before posting next time...