Why is the Photoshop default brightness +50?

[Shadowman]

The Brightness setting Bettina refers to is in the Photoshop raw converter ACR, I believe. This was a feature of CS5 and used the so called "2010 process". "50" is the default setting for Brightness in this process. It was a rather strange arrangement that was replaced by the "2012 process" in CS6 (with no Brightness setting).

Dave,

So if she moved one of the sliders the +50 should reset to zero?

[george013]

But if she is seeing the same problem with her Canon, doesn't that eliminate d-lighting from the equation? Plus, she has told us it is "off".

Dave

As long she doesn't give more adequate info and an example it's all guessing.
The picture you see on the camera is the result of the incamera conversion. What you see on the pc is the conversion of photoshop, ACR.

George

[dje]

Dave,

So if she moved one of the sliders the +50 should reset to zero?

John I'm not sure that I follow you here but no the +50 setting on the Brightness slider should not be affected by what you do with other sliders.

Dave

[Shadowman]

John I'm not sure that I follow you here but no the +50 setting on the Brightness slider should not be affected by what you do with other sliders.

Dave

Dave,

Perhaps this setting isn't the same as the default ACR setting I'm used to, if you make adjustments in ACR and then select the "default" icon as shown in your screenshot, the sliders usually reset to zero.

[dje]

Dave,

Perhaps this setting isn't the same as the default ACR setting I'm used to, if you make adjustments in ACR and then select the "default" icon as shown in your screenshot, the sliders usually reset to zero.

Yes John I think this one is different, it's default value seems to be 50, not 0.

[Manfred M]

But if she is seeing the same problem with her Canon, doesn't that eliminate d-lighting from the equation? Plus, she has told us it is "off".

Dave

Active D-Lighting only affects jpegs and as she is shooting raw, it does not affect her images.

[george013]

Active D-Lighting only affects jpegs and as she is shooting raw, it does not affect her images.

D-ligting does only affect the JPG. Active d-lighting changes the exposure and so the RAW. The camera goes in matrix when it is not yet and calculates another exposure, more to the highlights, thus seeming to underexpose. In the in-camera converter and PP the darker lights are lifted up.

George

[Loose Canon]

Been a while since I have used CS5 and its associated version of ACR Bettina. It is of note that ACR and Photoshop are two different programs and update separately as well, so there is no ACR version CS5. But as I recall “Brightness” in that version of ACR deals primarily with the mid-tones. It’s effectiveness falls off toward the high and low ends. That it is set in the middle by default and that indicates +50 is irrelevant. In this case +50 (middle) indicates that no adjustment has been made. Its just the default indication of “flat” (no adjustment made) in this particular ACR version. “Exposure” is more of a global adjustment and affects the entire range of the shot (highs, lows, midtones).

ACR has it’s sliders in the suggested order that you use them top to bottom. So adjusting brightness before exposure might not be the way to go.

As for your noise issue you are experiencing what is arguably the biggest cause of revealing excessive noise, which is under-exposing in-camera and trying to recover in post. Followed by excessive cropping. And if you do both you are really going to exacerbate the problem. Using noise reduction, while okay in extreme instances, is not necessarily desireable. Certainly not for shots taken in good light. It will cause a loss of sharpness and detail and can give a human subject a “plastic” look. If anything, a tad over-exposure and recovering by reducing exposure in post is what you want to do. Then see if the brightness (mid-tones) might need tweaking. Another thing you might consider is using Contrast rather than Brightness and see if this nets you better results.

But the bottom line here from what I can tell is that you are at the point where you need to get a handle on your exposures and that will most likely mean getting out of P-mode/auto and into another mode. If you are seeing these problems and going into post with them, then that means you are at that point in your Journey. Your cameras will perform a lot better than what you are describing (if I’m reading it right) but you are going to have to take control and make your own decisions on how to set the camera under the different conditions you will encounter. Getting a grip on using a Histogram is a great place to start and is a critical tool to know both at the shoot and in post. Knowing how to boost your exposure is another using one or more of the variables (aperture, shutter, ISO) and I think you will find a mode other than auto or P might be a better choice. When you do all of this, and come to terms with these tools, I think you will solve your problem.

This shot was taken using manual mode.
F2.8
Shutter 1/60th
ISO 8000



I used a bit of noise reduction locally on the background only, but at that ISO I exposed the soup out of the shot and pulled it back in post to keep the noise down. I knew at ISO 8000 the shot would be unusable with even the slightest under-exposure. In fact, was surprised the shot was usable even at that. To my standards, the shot would not have been possible in either auto or P mode.

[Manfred M]

D-ligting does only affect the JPG. Active d-lighting changes the exposure and so the RAW. The camera goes in matrix when it is not yet and calculates another exposure, more to the highlights, thus seeming to underexpose. In the in-camera converter and PP the darker lights are lifted up.

George

Thanks George, I did not know that. I went out and did test shots and indeed, while the impact is more apparent in the jpeg, it is also there in the raw data. I had assumed that this would simply be the standard shoulder and knee compression / curves applied to the jpeg file only, but there definitely is a slight change in the highlights and shadow detail too.

This approach is quite common on video cameras, which is where I first started using it. It is used to enhance highlight and shadow details, but as the output is is processed and compressed there is no impact on any "raw" type data as it simply is not available. Rather than changing the exposure itself non-linear processing takes place to map these values to ones that are more discernible to the human visual system.

[DanK]

Good feedback already, but let me try to pull the various ideas together.

First, as Dave pointed out, Active D has nothing to do with this, since Bettina is shooting with a Canon, which doesn't have Active D.

I think Terry hit the nail on the head: to address the problems you are having, you need to learn how to control exposure. A good place to start is with the tutorials on this site. for example, there is one on understanding your meter. You can then post specific questions that we can try to answer. However, in the meantime, a few basic points:

The camera is not a magician. When you use an any automatic mode, an algorithm will take information from whichever metering area and mode you have selected and guess what the exposure should be, knowing nothing about the scene. Often, it will be close. Sometimes it won't be. The alternative is to use the camera to meter the way you want, selecting the metering mode, metering off appropriate areas, and adjusting exposure if need be. That takes learning and practice.

Second, as Manfred pointed out, the way to evaluate exposure is with the histogram, not with whatever a piece of software does when reading in the image.

Third, assuming you are shooting at a low ISO, excessive noise usually indicates underexposure. The reason is that noise is constant across the frame, so it is most apparent when there is little signal, and when you brighten an image, you are boosting both noise and signal. When you boost ISO, you are amplifying both signal and noise. However, if you expose well--the mass of the histogram to the right--you can get low-noise even at moderately high ISOs. The image below was shot at ISO 3200 with a Canon 7D, which has an older model of sensor than your camera. I didn't apply any noise reduction at all. It doesn't have much noise.

[george013]

Dan and Dave,
From her first post

So I very recently switched to a Canon 60D with pancake lense, and to my big surprise (and disappointment), there it is again: Photoshop +50 Brightness as a default, and although the image is definitely not as dark as with my Nikon, it still needs either brightness or a higher exposition.

She has to give some more info, and an example.

George

[xpatUSA]

The Brightness setting Bettina refers to is in the Photoshop raw converter ACR, I believe. This was a feature of CS5 and used the so called "2010 process". "50" is the default setting for Brightness in this process. It was a rather strange arrangement that was replaced by the "2012 process" in CS6 (with no Brightness setting).

looks like a legacy thing, too. IIRC, those numbers even come up as default in ACR 4.5 (my Elements 6). Both the brightness and the contrast sliders can go into negative numbers as they are moved to the left; they are not 0-100 (as some might think).