Tone Equalizer proposal

[europlatus]

Just a mini-update to my latest post:
OK, I’m actually impressed with what Shadows and Highlights can do. As @priort said, changing the radius and compress sliders makes a big difference. I basically turned all the filter sliders off to see what I could do with this very challenging low-dynamic range shot, and experimenting with increasing the dynamic range:

The left is Shadows & Highlights, right side is Tone Equalizer with simple tone curve. There is no tone mapper used here, just a little boost of exposure and nothing else:

The results are quite similar, with perhaps a bit more local contrast in the Shadows and HIghlights version. But the BIG difference was how much quicker it was. It was just a few clicks with Shadows and Highlights, whereas it was dozens with TE to get the curve right.

We’ve gone a bit off-topic now, but I definitely see that this module could be an alternative to TE. I’d just like to see a few more sliders to control different areas of the tonal range, not just shadows and highlights.

[Terry (Terry Pinfold)]

@europlatus

only operates on the shadows and highlights, which the Tone Equalizer handles much better

I find the shadow and highlights module handles the task differently to TE module. I feel the shadow and highlights module is superior in some cases. In particular, I like the control I have to adjust the color (saturation?) in the shadows and highlights.While not always desirable I like how the S&H module lifts the colors in the shadows while the TE only brightens the shadows. I don’t see one as replacing the other, but rather both doing a similar job a little differently.

I also like your suggestion about adding a few more zones, but then it may behave in a totally different fashion.

[Terry (Terry Pinfold)]

@vsanchez

I never understood why he called this “dodging and burning”. In the film days that meant using tools or you hands to change exposures in a given area not related to the original tone. Dodging and burning are done using the exposure module with masks…

I 100% agree with this statement. I grew up in the darkroom and dodging and burning is an imprecise art of lightening and darkening areas of an image. TE and S&H modules are very different in my view.

[paperdigits (Mica)]

@vsanchez

I never understood why he called this “dodging and burning”

I assume its because the mask is blurred, like holding a piece of cardboard over an area of a print.