Photoshop CS6 – Step By Step

Photoshop CS6 – Step By Step
Photoshop CS6 – Step By Step
7 - Camera Raw - CS6's New Sliders
Not only are there new sliders in Photoshop CS6's version of Camera Raw, but
some of the old sliders now do different things, and understanding that now
(before we just dive in) will help it all make more sense. I’ve borrowed the
histogram from Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, which has the latest Camera Raw
built into it, because it will help you visually understand the changes of these new
sliders.
Consett Photographic Society 2013
1
Photoshop CS6 – Step By Step
Old CS4/CS5 Camera
Raw:
Four sliders controlled the
entire tonal range, which
limited your editing. One
problem was that the Exposure
slider covered too much of that
range — from the midtones all
the way through the highlights
(see #3 in the histogram on the
left here). Plus, you could only
increase the amounts of
Recovery, Fill Light, and Blacks
— you couldn't decrease them.
CS4/CS5 CAMERA RAW HISTOGRAM
1. Affected by the Blacks slider
2. Affected by the Fill Light slider
3. Affected by the Exposure slider
4. Affected by the Recovery slider
Consett Photographic Society 2013
NEW CS6 CAMERA RAW HISTOGRAM
1. Affected by the Blacks slider
2. Affected by the Shadows slider
3. Affected by the Exposure slider
4. Affected by the Highlights slider
5. Affected by the Whites slider
2
Photoshop CS6 – Step By Step
New CS6 Camera Raw:
Now, five sliders control the overall tonal range (so you have more control), and they're consistent now —
all starting in the centre, so that dragging a slider to the left darkens the adjustment and dragging to the
right brightens it.
CS4/CS5 CAMERA RAW BASIC PANEL
NEW CS6 CAMERA RAW BASIC PANEL
Also, the Exposure slider now
controls a smaller range (mostly
the midtones, as seen in the
histogram on the right above), and
it has a Recovery algorithm built in
now, so you can increase it much
more than you could in CS4/CS5
without clipping the highlights. If
you do clip the highlights (perhaps
in-camera), you now use the
CS4/CS5: Recovery slider
CS6: Now use Highlights & Exposure sliders
Highlights slider first to fix the
clipping, and tweak the Exposure
CS4/CS5: Fill Light slider
CS6: Now use Shadows slider
slider, if necessary. The Highlights
CS4/CS5: Brightness slider
CS6: Now use Exposure slider
and Shadows sliders are somewhat
like the Levels adjustment's white
and black points. Shadows is a
more subtle, but far better looking,
Fill Light control (think Fill Light
without the halos and HDR-effect
look).
Consett Photographic Society 2013
3