I am working on the Exercise 2 (Highlight clipping) of my 2nd assignment and have just been looking through Martin Evening's Adobe Photoshop for Photographers. I came across some interesting detail in Chapter 3 related to the topic:
1. Is it always necessary to save highlights or are there situations when it is safe to blow them out to white? Martin uses the term 'specular highlights' to describe highlight reflections found on shiny metal or similar surfaces. He makes the point that because these highlights contain no detail, it is safe to clip them so the highlight point could be set to a higher level [p.170. Martin Evening, Adobe Photoshop for Photographers, 2009]. Trying to preserve detail in specular highlights will limit the contrast of the whole image so other areas might look too dull. Using recovery adjustment might help to optimase the image with high contrast.
2. When adjusting the Exposure and Recovery sliders it is important to consider whether highlight details are matter or not. With the highlights, CMYK printers may be unable to produce a dot that is light enough to print successfully [p.168. Martin Evening, Adobe Photoshop for Photographers, 2009].
1. Is it always necessary to save highlights or are there situations when it is safe to blow them out to white? Martin uses the term 'specular highlights' to describe highlight reflections found on shiny metal or similar surfaces. He makes the point that because these highlights contain no detail, it is safe to clip them so the highlight point could be set to a higher level [p.170. Martin Evening, Adobe Photoshop for Photographers, 2009]. Trying to preserve detail in specular highlights will limit the contrast of the whole image so other areas might look too dull. Using recovery adjustment might help to optimase the image with high contrast.
2. When adjusting the Exposure and Recovery sliders it is important to consider whether highlight details are matter or not. With the highlights, CMYK printers may be unable to produce a dot that is light enough to print successfully [p.168. Martin Evening, Adobe Photoshop for Photographers, 2009].
