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Author Topic: Level Adjustments in PS Elements 12 and Lightroom 5  (Read 2885 times)

Alan Klein

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Level Adjustments in PS Elements 12 and Lightroom 5
« on: December 29, 2015, 09:21:03 am »

I flat scan film into tiffs.  I find that using Levels in Elements 12 works better for me than LR to get the first major lighting adjustment, especially with color film although its similar with BW film.  But I want to use LR for the rest of the processing.  If I adjust Levels in Elements, and then save a Tiff, will the full 16 bits be preserved in the new file or will it reduce to 8 bits?  Alternatively, anyone have a way of adjusting Levels in LR.  I just can't seem to get the same results with LR as I get with Elements?

eliedinur

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Re: Level Adjustments in PS Elements 12 and Lightroom 5
« Reply #1 on: December 29, 2015, 01:05:33 pm »

PSE 12 can can write 16 bit tiffs; it can also do many edits in 16 bits, including Levels and Auto Levels, so if you bring your scan into PSE as 16 bit, edit it without converting to 8 bits and then save it (Ctrl/Cmd + S), it will still be 16 bits. However, you can't do the Levels on an adjustment layer as that would require converting to 8 bits.
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digitaldog

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Re: Level Adjustments in PS Elements 12 and Lightroom 5
« Reply #2 on: December 29, 2015, 02:06:02 pm »

I flat scan film into tiffs. 
Why and using what scanner driver? You might want to investigate a better tool for that task IF available: GIGO:Garbage In Garbage Out.
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Alan Klein

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Re: Level Adjustments in PS Elements 12 and Lightroom 5
« Reply #3 on: December 29, 2015, 02:26:31 pm »

Thanks.   Anyone know how to do levels on LR ?

digitaldog

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Re: Level Adjustments in PS Elements 12 and Lightroom 5
« Reply #4 on: December 29, 2015, 02:42:29 pm »

Thanks.   Anyone know how to do levels on LR ?
AFAIK, there is no such provision as seen in Photoshop/Elements.
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Simon J.A. Simpson

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Re: Level Adjustments in PS Elements 12 and Lightroom 5
« Reply #5 on: December 29, 2015, 04:06:44 pm »

Thanks.   Anyone know how to do levels on LR ?

Put simply Lightroom has a much more sophisticated version of Levels which allow you to adjust the extreme highlights and shadows, highlights and shadows, and overall mid-tones.

In the Develop Module and in the Basic panel (RHS) the sliders work as follows:
Highlights – highlights
Shadows – shadows
Whites – extreme highlights
Blacks – extreme shadows

And above these the Exposure slider which adjusts the mid-tones.

If you look at the Histogram display above the sliders a paler grey vertical rectangle appears when you hover your curser over each of the sliders showing which part of the image tones are being adjusted.

If you want to see what is clipping click on the little triangles above and to the extreme right and left of histogram display.

It’s a different way of working from Photoshop’s Levels but once you get used to it produces superior results.

I hope this helps Alan.



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Tim Lookingbill

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Re: Level Adjustments in PS Elements 12 and Lightroom 5
« Reply #6 on: December 29, 2015, 05:40:43 pm »

It would help if you posted a sample showing the advantages (for better image quality scans) using Element's Levels over doing it in LR.

If you're referring to the highlight compression issues applied in LR's PV2012 sliders I can show you how to override that, but I'm not sure what's so special about Element's Levels unless you're working in it's parametric editor Raw converter VS gamma encoded environment editing pixels.

I know in CS5 Photoshop the levels acts on highlights, gamma and blacks differently than the sliders in ACR. But I don't know if that's what you're experiencing in Elements.
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Alan Klein

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Re: Level Adjustments in PS Elements 12 and Lightroom 5
« Reply #7 on: December 29, 2015, 09:51:53 pm »

Simon:Which sliders in LR are the equivalent of the two Level adjustment (white side and black side)??

On LR do you adjust the Exposure first or the other four sliders? 

Tim:  It's just easier to adjust Levels in Elements.  Plus, it works better with color negative scans to get the colors right.  With LR, there's lots of other adjustments to get the colors right.

Robert-Peter Westphal

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Re: Level Adjustments in PS Elements 12 and Lightroom 5
« Reply #8 on: December 30, 2015, 02:28:21 am »

Alan,

I Asume you move in PS the black and white sliders each to the right and left beginning of the histogram to stretch it : In Lr, the most equivalent action is to press and hold the Alt key, and then move white and black sliders until the first black spots and corresponding the first white spots appear in the picture.

Best wishes Robert
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Simon J.A. Simpson

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Re: Level Adjustments in PS Elements 12 and Lightroom 5
« Reply #9 on: December 30, 2015, 09:49:14 am »

Simon:Which sliders in LR are the equivalent of the two Level adjustment (white side and black side)??

On LR do you adjust the Exposure first or the other four sliders? 

Tim:  It's just easier to adjust Levels in Elements.  Plus, it works better with color negative scans to get the colors right.  With LR, there's lots of other adjustments to get the colors right.

White side would be ‘Highlights’
Black side would be ‘Blacks’
… and watch the histogram for clipping.

The layout of the sliders in Lightroom is the order that Adobe suggest working in (top to bottom); so Exposure first, then Highlights and then Blacks.  But with wide dynamic range RAW files I often go for the Highlights sliders first (or sometimes Blacks) if I think they’re clipping, and then juggle the Exposure and other sliders for a balanced pleasing image.

When I first started using Lightroom I found I had to experiment a lot until I got a feel for how it worked and what I needed to adjust to get my images the way I wanted them.  And I’m still learning !
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fdisilvestro

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Re: Level Adjustments in PS Elements 12 and Lightroom 5
« Reply #10 on: December 30, 2015, 03:19:26 pm »

Hi,

The "Blacks" and "Whites" sliders in LR are not exactly the same as level adjustments in PS. Having said that, you can do levels adjustments in LR using the Tone Curve, since "Levels" is equivalent to a simplified version of curves where you only control the end points and a point in the middle (gamma). You can also adjust each individual channel (R, G, B), which you cannot do with "Blacks" or "Whites"

Adjusting the end points of the curve is equivalent to levels:




You can select an individual channel:




Moving along the middle horizontal line is equivalent to the "gamma" or center point adjustment in levels:


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