decrease saturation before using levels?

[CaptJR]

I was doing some post processing last evening and on one picture I thought I'd boost the saturation a little and did so. Then I went to adjust the levels and when I got what I liked, it seemed to have exaggerated the saturation increase. So I backed up, decreased the amount of saturation increase, then did levels and got to where I wanted to be.

After this I tried a couple of other pictures. Having see what happened to the above picture, I thought I'd try reducing the saturation a little(very little..-5) before using levels. It seemed like using levels brought back the original saturation. I liked the results I was getting.

Does this make sense to anyone?

JR

[Swampy]

I do levels first, then play with saturation, then play with other color filters, then play with Shadows and Highlights.

What happened the first time to you sounds about right where bringing up the levels will brighten everything, but contrast-wise, brighter areas (the ones that would be affected by the saturation control) will come out further and faster than not so bright areas.

[Andre]

I also do the levels, then (depending on what the picture is), I oversaturate it a little, like about 25-30%.
Next I apply a B&W gradient map and set its opacity to about the same percent - 25-30%. This brings down the saturation a bit. Then I edit the gradient map, and play around with the black level. This does nice things to the saturation without over-doing it.

Give this a try - I thinnk you'll like the added control it gives you.

[toners]

Andre, could you detail a bit what the B&W gradient map does, and the steps to set it up? Does it act like a mask to vary the degree of saturation according to brightness value? Please clue me in.

Thanks,
Tony

[CaptJR]

Thank you for the replies. I love this stuff. Really gave me some things to play around with.

Thanks again
JR

[ianmcc]

all the good books on correction I've read, say to fix the biggest problem first, then do other alterations. So if you need to tweak levels do that then try the saturation...

Needless to say, making all these correction as Adjustment Layers would give you the most flexiblity without permanmently altering the data.

Also worth noting, you can do some of this in 16 bit with the new Photoshop CS.

[Andre]

Originally posted by toners
Andre, could you detail a bit what the B&W gradient map does, and the steps to set it up? Does it act like a mask to vary the degree of saturation according to brightness value? Please clue me in.

Thanks,
Tony

Just add a gradient map type of layer, and choose the one that is B&W. This will immediately make your image B&W. From there, you change the opacity level down to bring the color back. Once you have the right saturation, then edit the gradient layer and move the black slide up and down until you have the right shadow detail that you want.

[toners]

Thanks, Andre for taking the time to lead me down a Photoshop path I hadn't taken before. Between this forum and the latest issue (5) of the UK magazine "Digital Photography Techniques", I am taking some giant steps with PS this week.

[okidoki]

Ye thanks Andre that was a new chapter for me too... This is what is soo cool with PS, been working with it for 5-6 years and find new ways all the time...

Thanks

T