I recently acquired a copy of CS4 after using Photoshop 7 for years and years. One feature on it alone has made a huge difference in my ability to post reasonable facsimiles of my artwork on the web. It’s called Vibrance. One problem I always had with reproducing my work is caused by my saturated colors. In PS7 if I approximated the values in my paintings then the colors would be become too hot and if I faded them to reduce the heat then they were too light and lost too much contrast. So they ended up somewhere in between without really solving either problem. Enter CS4. I soon discovered Vibrance under image/adjustments/vibrance. And I was in love!
Here’s a painting of mine that I’ve re-color corrected from what I had originally done. It’s called “Midnight Magic”
Here is another example that I think makes it even clearer what I’m talking about because the teals and oranges are very hot. This one is called “Forgotten Summer”. With them side by side I think it’s a bit clearer what the differences are.
- Composite of “Forgotten Summers” at different points in color and value correction
I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me to use this new tool to adjust all the pictures on Moontoe Gallery but it’s worth it. I’m also looking forward to seeing what other nifty tools PS4 has under it’s hood. When I discover that next greatest thing I will let you know.