What can levels do for you???

[almo]

I have been asked i don't know how many times what "levels" does, or how can levels help me?

So I thought I would show everyone that isn't sure what levels is, or if it can really help them in there digital editing a simple comparison. The only change from the original image to the finished imge is a simple levels correction using just the black and white eye droppers. Nothing else other than resizing for the web has been altered. Now I know that some more precise things could be done to really finish a given image off, but I think this is a good example of what levels can really do for an image as far as bringing out true colors and the real light in your images.

If anybody has some examples to add please do so. I would love to see them!

[jar_e]

Great thread. I'm going through my pics right now. Unfortunately, I just did a mass burning to some CD's and deleted a bunch of stuff off my harddrive but I'll see what I can pull up!

Great example by the way,

Jared

[natefromri]

Hi Almo:

Thanks for the post. I'm gonna sound like a 3 year old for saying this, but which of the two is the image that you captured with the camera? The blue one or the white one? I assume it was the blue one and you "corrected" it to show the white sign as it should be. How specifically do you use the droppers to accomplish this? Do you click on something which should be white with the white dropper to tell it "this is really white" and do the same with the black dropper to do the same and it takes care of the rest? Interesting! I've never used this before, so I'll be trying a few things out tonight when I get home. Thanks.

--Nate

[almo]

Hi Almo:

Thanks for the post. I'm gonna sound like a 3 year old for saying this, but which of the two is the image that you captured with the camera? The blue one or the white one? I assume it was the blue one and you "corrected" it to show the white sign as it should be. How specifically do you use the droppers to accomplish this? Do you click on something which should be white with the white dropper to tell it "this is really white" and do the same with the black dropper to do the same and it takes care of the rest? Interesting! I've never used this before, so I'll be trying a few things out tonight when I get home. Thanks.

--Nate

Yes the blue image is the original. You pretty much nailed the use of levels with the eye droppers on the head, but you need to think highlights and shadows, not white and black. After all not ever image has white or black in it.

Highlights and shadows.

[another view]

Levels is a really powerful tool, I use it all the time. Some day I'll figure out Curves which you can do more with too. Another way to work with Levels is to take the highlight and shadow points on the histogram, and move them in to where the data starts. I'm guessing on the first one that the highlight (right side) information starts a ways away from the right side, so just drag the pointer over to the left. Same is true for shadow detail, and adjust the mids for overall lightness.

This won't give you any color correction (taking out the blue cast) and there really aren't any rules to where the pointers have to be. Low-contrast shots look a lot better with a short histogram instead of one that covers the full range of the graph. After all, if it extends to both sides of the histogram then it isn't a low contrast shot anymore!

[natefromri]

Thanks for the quick response! Very interesting. I'm going to try some things when I get home to see if I can get it to work for me. Thanks again.

--Nate

[Axle]

Yes levels is a very powerful tool and has helped me on many occasions.

[lidarman]

Good stuff but don't forget about the basic techniques in photography.

I like to add that one should not just shoot based on using the levels adjustment later...don't be a levels junkie. When you properly expose a shot, you have more data and a better image to work with. The old photography rules still apply in digital, "Get the best negative you can before you go into the darkroom"

In Almo's example with all that white, one should over expose the image a extra 1-1/2 to 2 stops...You still might have to do a little level adjustment but the will be more detail (and less noise) in the dark areas.

[almo]

Good stuff but don't forget about the basic techniques in photography.

I like to add that one should not just shoot based on using the levels adjustment later...don't be a levels junkie. When you properly expose a shot, you have more data and a better image to work with. The old photography rules still apply in digital, "Get the best negative you can before you go into the darkroom

You are absolutly right Lidarman. I used that image because of the dramatic contrast between the two. I would certainly hope that most images that were shot looked much better than that original did...

[Photo-John]

That's a great example, Almo. But it should really be on the Digital Imaging forum. I hope you don't mind that I move it...

I'll post an example of my own later.

[almo]

That's a great example, Almo. But it should really be on the Digital Imaging forum. I hope you don't mind that I move it...

I'll post an example of my own later.

No prob John. I posted it in the VF to get the max effect, but I am sure it has alradey reached as many ppl there as it was going to. I had asked Liz to make my galley post a sticky and I think that she misunderstood me, so I think that is how it became one. I certainly didn't think it was sticky worthy....

[Photo-John]

Now there's a redirect link on ViewFinder, so it works out well, anyway.

And the white eyedropper is a powerful and little known tool. When I do product photography on white seamless, I always use the white eyedropped in a levels adjustment layer to get the background white.

[kafin8ed]

It works the same in Curves too, just in case anybody was interested... I like to use curves in an adjustment layer and then I can add in a little contrast with the curve in addition to the eyedropper adjustment.

[Chunk]

That's a good point, Alan. Also, if you have it in an adjustment layer, you can just drag the layer to other open similar shots to apply the same correction to them. A real timesaver if you are making a correction of my most common goof - not having the whitebalance set right for a series of pics.