S/H Tone Gear Pro Free Tutorial

by Tal Ninio on 15. Nov, 2010 in Pixel Bender Filters, PSKiss showcase

The Professionals Contrast Filter

PSKiss S/H Tone Gear Pro offers full control of contrast in shadows, highlights and globally. You decide how to handle contrast of each part of the image’s tonal range, as presented in this free tutorial (panels available only in Photoshop CS5).

After installing S/H Tone Gear Pro Pixel Bender Filter and SH Tone Gear Pro Panel, launch Photoshop.
Go to Window > Extensions and choose PSKiss SH Tone Gear Pro Panel:

This will show the SH Tone Gear Pro Workflow panel:

Now you are ready to edit contrast.

Open an image you to edit:

Photo by Tomer Feder

Click to launch the filter’s dialog box:

Control Contrast with S/H Tone Gear Pro

Shadows Contrast edits contrast in darker parts of the image. Higher value means lighter shadows.
Shadows Range sets the tonal range for shadows. Higher value increases tonal range of shadows and more areas will be effected by Shadows Contrast changes.
Highlights Contrast edits contrast in brighter parts of the image. Higher value means darker highlights.
Highlights Range sets the tonal range for highlights. Higher value increases tonal range of highlights and more areas will be effected by Highlights Contrast changes.
Global Contrast edits contrast of the entire tonal range of the image. Higher value means more contrast.
Highlights/Shadows Balance determines the general influence on image. Higher value means overall darkening.
Preserve Saturation turned on means contrast changes effects only luminosity. Turn off if you wish to boost saturation.

The sample image is generally too bright. It is also quite monochromatic (the weather is just about the only thing this photographer can’t control…). We started with the “Darkening” preset:

The car is a bit too black, the background is still a little too light and colors need some encouragement. To correct this, we changed the settings as in the following screenshot and turned off Preserve Saturation:

After setting up the filter, click OK

Using Launch Preset

S/H Tone Gear Pro Workflow panel allows you to quickly launch 3 presets of contrast:

Lightening – Suitable for dark images that need to be lightened.
Darkening – Suitable for bright images that need to be darkened.
Fine SH – Our creative suggestion of combining contrast changes in the image.

When you click on one of these presets, PSKiss S/H Tone Gear Pro dialog box inside the Pixel Bender Gallery will appear automatically. Check the preview image. If you are happy with the result, click OK and continue with the workflow. Otherwise, make your adjustments until you reach the desired effect and click OK.

Please note – Unlike other PSKiss Photoshop Filters, the Pixel Gear Suite presets do not override the layer created by the workflow panel. Pixel Gear Filters work like regular Photoshop Filters – they work on the current layer as it is.