Multiply and Layer Mask Technique for Lab Color Mode

Before Move After Move

When working in the Lab color mode we can quickly and easily enhance color separation and saturation in myriad ways. As we’ve discussed in previous posts, the essential key is to increase the contrast of the a and/or b channels of the image. This can be done manually and individually (to each channel) with Curve or Levels adjustments or we might duplicate merge all layers onto a new, top layer and modify the blend mode of that layer. One of the most effective techniques of this type is the Multiply and Layer Mask Technique inspired by the great master of Lab, Dan Margulis. This not only enhances color but also deepens light areas of the image and will add some contour enhancement to the overall image as well.

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The Classic Move

A Curve Before A Curve After B Curve Before B Curve After

Where we last left off on our Lab adventure we’d described a colorspace that could enhance and separate colors with both the a and b channels. These channels respond wildly to increased contrast, in ways that border on miraculous. Colors increase in saturation, separation, and definition. It is the most basic and fundamental move in the Lab-editing arsenal.

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Starting with the A and the B of It

Composite Image L Channel a Channel b Channel

We've discussed channels in this blog before. Channels are the grayscale image components of which a digital image is comprised (for more information on channels, please go to the blog post, Channeling Channels). In our more common colorspaces, these channels actually look like familiar, black & white depictions of our original scene. However, in the Lab colorspace our channels look entirely different. It's as if we'd scurried down the rabbit hole into Alice's wonderland where things don't quite make sense anymore.

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Hiking and Cameras

Inner Gorge Rainstorm, Grand Canyon | Mark Lindsay

I just returned from my seventh Grand Canyon hike. Each time my friends and I have hiked from the rim to the river and back up to the same rim or to the other rim on the opposite side. Each time I've taken my camera. In fact, I've never been on any hike anywhere without a camera. My camera and lens are hiking equipment as important to me as my hiking shoes and poles. Some of my favorite images have been made when on the trail or resting alongside it.

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Folders and Files and Better Ways to Manage Photos

Computer directories are dying. Yes, the complicated, tree structures of hierarchal files and folders that we've long relied upon to manage our information and media are on life support. Well, truth be told, I'm resorting to hyperbole in order to make an important point. Directories still exist (and *will* exist) for the internal functions of our computers. And they'll be available for people who insist on using them. However, they are becoming increasingly irrelevant and inflexible in a world of virtual information structures.

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