Digital BW, The Print

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "scrber" 
<stephen.bate@m...> wrote:
> I too have been following this with interest and it HAS made me 
> rethink what I've been doing, I often use dodge / burn on masked 
> selection areas, but only ever in highlight / shadow modes, never 
> tried the midtone method, it DOES seem to reduce posterisation and 
> grain.  
> 
> One point, however wonderful dodge/burn and curves may be, how do 
you 
> set your black / white points???  I dont get this, my scans / 
digital 
> images nearly always have unclipped headroom at one or both ends and 
> I thought I had to do this via level setting.  Does on do this on a 
> global basis to the image first and THEN play with the other tools?
> 
> Thanks for clearing up....
> 
> Steve
> 

Hi Steve

Re setting your black/white points, a few things - 

firstly, don't you just sometimes ignore whether you have unclipped 
headroom and just go with the image as it is, just because it looks 
great as it is? I don't think one always has to maximise the contrast 
in that way - many images look great with dusty, lower contrast. 

Secondly, I like to run my eyedropper tool across the highlights and 
shadow areas, and if I ever see I've hit a constant 100 in an area of 
the shadows, I know I've overdone it and killed shadow detail. 

Thirdly, you can constantly check your histograms to see where you're 
at, but without actually applying the dreaded levels to get more 
contrast.

Nick

.....