Skip to main content

⚠️ Please note that this topic or post has been archived. The information contained here may no longer be accurate or up-to-date. ⚠️

Use of the exposure eyedropper tools

wjl11
Does anyone use the exposure eyedropper tools (set highlight, set shadow)? I'm not sure how these should be used.
Is the idea to use both eyedroppers and identify a white point and black point?
0

Comments

6 comments

Date Votes
  • Christopher
    You can use one or both, and you are correct. You select the shadow dropper and click on what you want to become the black point in the image, and then the highlight dropper on the white point.

    Personally, I don't like them, or any of the "levels" related settings. Setting the black and white points in from the absolute left and right will clip some values to white and black that normally would have had some amount of detail.

    Instead my usual practice is to use the curves tab. I move the mouse over what would be the black point and hold the Ctrl key while clicking. This will add a node to the curve. And do the same for the white point. Then I drag the shadow point down a little, and the white point up making a lazy-S. This compresses the shadow and highlight regions that have little information in this particular image, but doesn't clip them straight to black or white.

    You can also save any curves you design and re-use them on future shoots.
    0
  • wjl11
    Thanks for the info on using curves. Very helpful.

    If I'm using a Whibal card in the shot, would I use the black and white areas on that card to set the shadow/highlight 'curves'?
    0
  • Christopher
    That may work, provided that your exposure settings and light levels are locked down for the rest of the shoot.

    I'm not sure what kind of shooting you do. Whether is it technical and needs exact colors or if the requirements are more loose and it just needs to look good. I fall into the latter category. This is why I love Capture One--the program is just so fast, one can just twiddle and tweak and see instant feed-back to the adjustments.

    So that is my advise. Just open up an image, go to the curve tab, and Ctrl-click in a shadow region and the same on a highlight. Then go over to the newly placed node points and just moving them around, you'll get a feel for what is happening. Another tip is to place anchoring nodes, by clicking on the curve, this will keep one node from having too much effect across the entire tone range--click in the middle of the curve to keep the shadow adjustments from pulling the highlight region too far.

    Another thing you may find is you don't need to adjust curves or levels for most pictures. The exposure correction is often enough to stretch the tone values from black to white. I usually only end up hitting the curves when I have a photo that's histogram shows a very uneven distribution of values. Either all mid-tones or all shadow and highlights. I'll make a curve the stretches the abundance of values across more of the range.

    The curve tab behaves much like the curves in Photoshop so you can do more reading on the subject under that topic.

    In closing I'll reinterate what I was saying above. Capture One is fast (and word is that 4.0 will be even faster!) so just play, play, play. Get a feel for what the tools do.
    0
  • littlemike
    [quote="Christopher Meadors" wrote:


    Instead my usual practice is to use the curves tab. I move the mouse over what would be the black point and hold the Ctrl key while clicking. This will add a node to the curve. And do the same for the white point.

    <snip>


    I must be doing something wrong. It doesn't matter whether I simply click, or Ctrl-click, all I get is black/white eyedropper action (depending on which eyedropper button is depressed), and no nodes are getting added to the curve.

    - mike elliott
    0
  • Christopher
    [quote="littlemike" wrote:
    I must be doing something wrong. It doesn't matter whether I simply click, or Ctrl-click, all I get is black/white eyedropper action (depending on which eyedropper button is depressed), and no nodes are getting added to the curve.


    Have no eye dropper selected and be on the "curve" tab. Then Ctrl-click on the image. It will add a node point to the curve at the value that was under the cursor when you clicked.
    0
  • littlemike
    Oh -- I didn't realize that the eyedropper buttons were push-on, push-off. Thanks.
    0

Post is closed for comments.