Lighting Basics
Before getting started, it’s worth knowing about the three categories of brightness values that make up images:
Shadows are created when light is blocked (you knew that). They’re rarely jet black (though if they are, they’re described as “plugged”), and can be different colors depending on how much light is hindered.
Highlights represent the lightest or brightest parts of an image, where the light is at full strength. When an image is overexposed, the highlights are described as “blown out.”
Midtones are tonal values that fall between the darkest shadows and lightest highlights. By enhancing midtones, you can increase the contrast and details in an image.
All the color and lighting fixer-uppers covered in this chapter use this terminology, so commit these terms to memory.
Tip
A handy way to get rid of distractions so you can focus on fixing an image is to go to the bottom of the Tools panel, click the Screen Mode icon, and then choose Full Screen Mode With Menu Bar. You can also press the F key repeatedly to cycle through Photoshop’s screen modes. The various modes are described on Swapping Screen Modes.
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