Colorspace

Canon 5D Mark II, 70-200mm f/2.8L IS @ 105mm, 1/200 sec., f/3.5, ISO 1600

I couldn't figure out how to photograph this iconic Maine Lighthouse. It's arguably the most photographed lighthouse in Maine, and I was running out of the time before they kicked me out of the park, and the sun was setting.

But we had talked about increasing contrast in the last post. What I'd like to have you do is look further on your image menu up on top of your image editor. 'Colors' for those of you using GIMP. Dan Margulis teaches something that I'm buying into more and more: Every photo has 10 channels. What!!

Usually we think of JPEGs as occupying only the RGB colorspace. In fact this colorspace is so common, that this is the only viable colorspace in GIMP. For a lot of work, this may be the only colorspace you'll need to adjust. You can increase contrast, and lighten a photograph's value, and color correct. But there is a richness that can be adjusted in the LAB (pronounced El-Ay-Bee) as well as the CMYK, with very useful Black (K) channel.

This isn't a tutorial in those, but I just wanted to pique your curiosity about colorspaces, and note up at the included photograph. I adjusted contrast in 6 of the 10 channels, with the most tweaking in the Lightness (L) channel in the LAB colorspace. Warmed the temperature (like you would with a warming filter, don't lie, you've all at least thought about doing it before!!) in the Blue channel of the RGB colorspace, and increased overall contrast of each hue in the A and B channels in LAB. Sharpened in the L channel to prevent noise production.

Worth the extra 30 seconds don't you think?

Welcome to the Digital Darkroom.