Darker/Brighter brush vs Overlay/Soft Light mid-grey layer

[cathodeRay]

A part of the consideration of the practical application of FS stacks, and the desirability of non-destructive changes, I generally like the idea of adding a blank transparent adjustment layer to the LF/HF layers and editing on those layers. (Note: still working on the best placement/setup for this for the HF layer; for the LF layer it just goes directly above the LF layer) For cloning (copy brush) and healing (with sample from previous layers) and general painting and in general anything that 'adds paint' this works fine but for brushes that modify pixels eg the lighter/darker brush and various filter brushes (sharpen, blur, whatever) nothing happens because the blank transparent layer at its inception has nothing to work on because it is blank and transparent. Correct me if I am wrong, but I think that is a general principle: a brush that modifies can never work on this sort of adjustment layer.

So for burning and dodging (perhaps one the most common operations) I use the mid grey adjustment layer set to Overlay or Soft Light and paint in B&W or various greys at varying intensities and have excellent control over what happens. Very nice! So this set me thinking: why do we ever use the brighter/darker brushes, with their tiresome Shadows/Midtones/Lights restirctions (I never seem to be in the right setting for the area I'm working on)? Are they a hang over from the past, now superceded by the mid-grey adjustment layer technique, with their only utility now as an occasional quick and dirty hitter if and when needed?

cathodeRay

[Hoogo]

If I remember correctly, the highlight/midton.. options are not for too long now in PL, they were added maybe 2 or 3 versions ago.

[photoken]

why do we ever use the brighter/darker brushes, with their tiresome Shadows/Midtones/Lights restirctions

Control.

The Shadows/Midtones/Lights targetting can be very subtle and I often use the Brighten and Darken tools as the final touchup on an image.

Also, the results of the Lens Flare Removal Experiment
http://www.pl32.com/forum3/viewtopic.ph ... are#p33077
can be achieved more easily now that PL's Brighten and Darken tools support multiple Channel modes as well as working on specific channels of those modes. It's just the thing for dealing with complex lens flares....

[cathodeRay]

I agree it does give very much wanted control at times, but it also introduces some faffing about. Is that borderline area shadow or midtone? You have to try it and see what happens. Nor is it clear how the zones are defined. Luminosity? And if so, are they equally spread, or are they adjusted to take account of human perception of brightness? Also Apply to Entire Image is a bit odd/inconsistent, as has been noted in the past. It would be useful if it simply meant apply to all zones (shadows/midtones/lights together). Or instead of a dropdown box to select one and only one affected zone, perhaps push buttons could be used instead to select the zone(s) to be affected, in the way that one or more channels can be selected.

cathodeRay

[photoken]

...but it also introduces some faffing about. Is that borderline area shadow or midtone? You have to try it and see what happens.

Yes. It's one of the functions where I take it as it comes without trying to analyze....

[cathodeRay]

But that's my point - you jump in and then have to 'analyse' to see what has happened where, and then go back and change the zone as needed, jump in again, analyse again... plus it can only be undone using the linear Undo. An action to create a Burn/Dodge layer with the paint brush selected and FG/BG colour set to White/Black is only one click and with one finger on the Ctrl key and the other on the X key and one is ready to go (if one if right handed, if LH then maybe reprogram the swap FG/BG key to right of the keyboard?) ...

cR