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Tutorial 4

How to add contrast to an image

In this tutorial, we will show you how to add contrast to an image.

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Sometimes one part of an image is more important than the rest and we want the subject to be able to stand out. We will show you how make a subject stand out by adding contrast to an image with the Curve tool.

In this tutorial, we will use Figure 10.04.1 as the original image. You may right click and save this image to your disk, then open it in Image Broadway if you want to practice it yourself while following the tutorial steps below. You may also right click on this image and copy it to the Clipboard and use the Image Broadway File > Clipboard menu to paste it in as a new image. Optionally, you may click the Navigator tab to display the Navigator window and use its slider bar to zoom in and out; or you may click the Info tab to display the exact pixel color and cursor information in the Info window.

The quickest way to adjust contrast is to use the Adjust/Enhance > Auto Contrast menu to automatically add contrast to an image at the preset value. The steps below will show you how to add contrast with more control.

   
   Figure 10.04.1

  1. Use the Adjust/Enhance > Color > Curves menu to open the Curves dialog box.

  1. Determine the squirrel's lightest highlight by clicking in the image to see where it shows up in the Curve dialog box. The spot that corresponds to the rightmost point in the Curve dialog box is the lightest highlight.

  2. Click the cross point of the curve and the vertical line in the Curve dialog box to mark it as a control point.

  3. Determine the squirrel's deepest shadow by clicking in the image to see where it shows up in the Curve dialog box. The spot that corresponds to the leftmost point in the Curve dialog box is the deepest shadow.

  4. In the Curve dialog box, click the cross point of the curve and the vertical line in the Curve dialog box to also mark it as a control point.

  5. Stretch the control curve by dragging the highlight control point towards the top and the shadow control point towards the bottom to have the steepest curve in between the two points as shown in Figure 10.04.3.

  6. You may use additional control points in the middle to further adjust the contrast if you so desire.

   
   Figure 10.04.3