Welcome to the Sagelight Editor Blog

This blog is for things currently happening in Sagelight.

Useful links

Homepage: www.sagelighteditor.com

My direct e-mail: rob@sagelighteditor.com

Direct link to the free 30-day trial: www.sagelighteditor.com/install_trial.exe (22  megs, All Windows versions).

Sagelight Editor Facebook Page An informal place to post your pictures, thoughts, and ask questions.  It was just set up — please “like” it so it can get it’s own username.

Youtube Page (with video tutorials — can be accessed on the discussion board, too): http://www.youtube.com/sagelighteditor

Current Sale:

The $39.95 (lifetime version) sale is coming to a close, ending around the 1st of January. Sagelight is currently being split into a Standard and Enthusiast/Pro version.  The current version is the Enthusiast/Pro version, though the current pricing reflects the standard version.  Once the split is complete, the Enthusiast/Pro version will be $79.95.

A Couple Sagelight Bokeh Examples Submitted by Pat Autrey.

Pat showed me these examples of Bokeh created using Sagelight, taken at a concert.  I thought I would share them.  I thought they came out very natural, but also show the Bokeh effect in a great way.

These are used by permission and all rights and copyrights belong to Pat Autrey. Thanks, Pat!

Click on each picture for full-sized versions.

Image 1.

 

Image 2.

 

I’d love to see some of your, pictures too!  You can post them on the discussion board, either as a regular post, or you can even start your own gallery and post any type of image created fully or partially with Sagelight.

Bokeh Tutorial Video

Sagelight Bokeh Tutorial

 

This video shows how to use Sagelight Bokeh. This is a tutorial video showing you how to use the Bokeh from basic steps of blurring with the Lens Blur as well as creating highlights.

Sagelight Bokeh is easy to use, and with just a few steps, you can create powerful Bokeh and lens blur effects.

With realtime feedback and dynamic masking, it is easy to create different effects. This tutorial shows the basics, and the other posted videos show more creative uses of Sagelight Bokeh and Lens Blur.

Click on the image above, or here to see it on youtube in HD:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ap1zPsZMmlA&list=UU1U1yvqVBtcYK_fztbLAOqw&index=1&feature=plcp

Working with Local Areas: Masking and the Undo Brush

Working with Local Areas: Masking and the Undo Brush

 

Introduction

The subject of working with localized areas came up the other day, and I decided it might make a good video tutorial.

Using local areas is accomplished through masking or the Undo Brush, or a combination of both.  Each has their advantages, and both have a lot of flexibility.

Though the Undo Brush and Masking has been covered in many Sagelight Video Tutorials, this video discusses using them in the context of specifically working with more localized areas of your image.  For example, if you want to increase the light on a certain area while leaving others alone, or increase the local contrast or sharpness in other areas, you can do all of this with the tools explained in the tutorial.

 

Lightroom Adjustment Brushes

The issue of Lightroom Adjustment Brushes came up on the discussion board as part of the same conversation.

To clarify and to add perspective, Lightroom Adjustment brushes are along the same concept lines as the functions presented in this video: working with localized areas of your image vs. the entire image.

As far as I know, Sagelight’s local controls predate Lightroom’s adjustment controls, working along more traditional masking lines.

 

Tutorial Sections

The tutorial is split into a few different sections…

Masking with the Draw Mask Brush

This section shows using the Draw Mask brush to draw your own mask.  Since most masking is about blending, you don’t need to be too careful with your brush strokes.   When you’ve drawn a mask, you can then use the dynamic Feather and Range sliders to control the mask and shape it closer to your selection, or to widen the scope and blend the mask more evenly.

Using All Controls in the Mask / Dynamic Controls and Masking

When you mask an object, you can use all of the controls in the main Quick Edit Pane, to adjust brightness, saturation, curves, etc.

You can change the settings dynamically, as well as change the mask dynamically also.  You can change the shape of the mask and add or subtract to it while you are using the controls.  This gives you a lot of power and flexibility in defining your mask.

Using the Undo Brush

The Undo Brush allows you to do even more.  While – at first – not as localized as masking, the Undo Brush gives you even more power, allowing you to either blend back the original image, or to start with the original image and blend in your changes.

The video shows how the Undo Brush is in the same scenario as the masking, but much quicker and in a more freestyle and artistic setting. 

Even though you can change the shape of the mask, it tends to remain relatively static. The Undo Brush, by contrast, allows you to blend back images from an image-wide perspective, allowing you to work with a brush on the entire set of changes.

Using Masking (Instead of the Undo Brush) for specific areas

The video shows a scenario where masking makes more sense over using the Undo Brush.  The examples shows highlighting the eyes, where it makes more sense to localize the area so that only the area you have masked changes, making it easier to see the effect in the image.

The video also shows how the masking controls can help you shape the mask while you’re using the controls.

Using the Undo Brush for Specific Purposed (such as Dodge and Burn)

The video discusses using the Undo Brush with functions that help make them even better.  For example, the Dodge and Burn brush is sometimes much better suited towards making large changes and then using the Undo Brush to keep what you like, or to remove the overflow from the brush – the video shows that using smaller brushes in the Dodge and Burn is not necessarily as useful as using a large brush.

This can also be true of many other functions – the basic idea is that the Undo Brush gives you the flexibility to not have to be precise at all with any given function.

 

Using the Automated Masking Tools to Help You Define a Selection

For more precise selections, the video shows how you can use the automatic mask selection tools in Sagelight help refine your mask for very precise shapes.

 

Conclusion

The Undo Brush and Sagelight Masking are very powerful elements in Sagelight, much more so than discussed in this tutorial.  See other tutorials on the Sagelight You Tube Page for more information about these tools.

This video concentrates on using masking and the Undo Brush to work with local areas in your image.

Using the masking allows you to work with specific local areas of your image, using any control in the main Quick Edit Panel, only changing the areas of the mask.  You can change the shape of the mask and use the controls dynamically, which gives the masking a lot of flexibilty.

With the Undo Brush, you can do even more, since you can blend with any previous image in the history state with a brush, making it more freestyle and less constricted than a static mask.

The video shows many different examples of using both the masking and the Undo Brush, separately and together.

Sagelight Pro Series: Pro Saturation Function

(Image Saturation with Sagelight Saturation)

Sagelight Pro Series Articles and Videos

This series of articles and videos detail some of the more professional-level, sometimes less-obvious qualities of Sagelight.

For example, why use the Sagelight Pro Saturation Feature when there are already two methods of saturating your image in the Quick Edit and Pro Quick Edit Modes (i.e. the Saturation and the Power Box Vibrance)?

The answer is that the Sagelight Pro Saturation functions provide just that – a set of professional-level saturation functions that encompass some traditional methods (such as XYZ, C*I*E LAB, Hunter LAB), as well as Sagelight-developed methods created specifically to answer problems with saturation.

The article below is more verbose than most Sagelight articles.  It’s a combination of an introduction to the Pro Saturation feature and an outline detailing why such high-level functions exist in Sagelight.

At the end of the article, the idea is to have an understanding of the very high-level nature of Sagelight, how it is used internally (i.e. much of the technology in the Pro Saturation function is used elsewhere in Sagelight automatically), as well as how the Sagelight engine takes image processing at a very serious level.  By providing the Sagelight Pro Saturation function, this gives you access to the Sagelight engine functions, without it getting in your way of the normal, easy editing process elsewhere in Sagelight.

note: for before & after image examples and a more detailed description of the science behind Sagelight Saturation and Vibrance methods, see these two articles:

Click here for more information Sagelight Saturation Technology

Click here for more information Sagelight Vibrance Technology

Introduction

As it turns out, the subject and concept of Saturation (and Vibrance) is both more subjective and technically challenging than just about any other traditional, mainline image processing feature.

There are many different types and color spaces and algorithms that can be used to add color to your image.  They’re all different, and most editors provide just one type of saturation.

Sagelight offers 8-10 saturation algorithms in the Pro Saturation Feature, and uses various saturation models automatically elsewhere in Sagelight, depending on the needs of the particular function.

 

(highly saturated image)

 

The Problems and Challenges with Adding Color to Your Image

The reason the Sagelight Pro Saturation function exists, as well as providing many saturation models, is because of the technical problems and subjectivity involved in adding color to your image.

 

Saturation is a Challenging Technical Process

Saturation models, from an algorithmic and mathematical standpoint, can be very complex, especially when you want them to work in realtime.  All traditional methods of saturation have problems:

Noise.  One of the biggest problem with many saturation methods is that they can add noise.  For example, HSL saturation is the most color-faithful of the saturation methods, maintaining the same basic hue as you add color to your image.  However, it can also add a large amount of noise to your image as well as turn many colors into a neon-like brightness compared to other colors in your image.  Sometimes this looks nice on a random image, but it is technically incorrect and can lead to unrealistic-looking results.

Other saturation methods can cause more noise than others.  Sagelight’s saturation algorithms were designed to keep the noise at a minimum, as when noise occurs while saturating, defined speckles and color edges can appear in your image.

• Jpegs and Noise.  In many cases, the noise caused by adding color is exacerbated when an image starts as a JPEG.  In some ways, the noise issue with adding color is inherited by the technology we now use to compress images. Noise when adding color also occurs in non-Jpeg (i.e. RAW, .TIFF images never saved as a JPEG image), but it shows much faster and stronger with JPEG images.
• This is one of the reasons why Sagelight saturation algorithms (Sagelight Saturation, True Color, and Hybrid) were developed, because editing with an image saved as a JPEG can be much easier than starting with the RAW.  While starting with a RAW image from your camera is technically more precise and much less susceptible to edges, speckling, and other problems associated with adding color and elsewhere in the editing process, it can also be much more cumbersome and difficult, since you have to deal with a number of elements the camera performs automatically (such as color balance, sharpening, light adjustments, etc.).
• Sagelight has extensive RAW functionality, but doesn’t take an opinion on editing with RAW or JPEG, as both have their advantages.   However, if you see noticeable block-shaped edges in your image while adding color, this is probably due to the JPEG compression.  When this happens, try different saturation modes to remove it.

Color Fidelity. Most saturation methods will start to change some of the colors in your image as you add saturation. For example, XYZ-based saturation can tend to move your image to the warm and yellowish tones, and skies can turn into an undesirable CYAN with XYZ, or C*I*E LAB saturation.   This can be a problem if it happens with every image, because your images can start to take on the same ‘look’ from image to image.  

If this is such a problem, why does Sagelight offer XYZ and C*I*E LAB saturation? 

The reason many different saturation methods, including XYZ and C*I*E LAB saturation is offered is because, for as much as these methods can change colors in your image, they can also provide very nice toning effects on your image.  Sometimes, the ‘technically right’ color is not the most desirable.  Many images look nicer with a warming effect, and the XYZ and C*I*E LAB (or other) saturation methods can look visually nicer, as they also tend to deepen the colors in your image, even when not technically correct.

Light Fidelity. Many saturation methods will also change the light value of areas of your image, depending on the color.  For example, you may have noticed with some editors (or traditional Sagelight saturation modes) that greens tend to brighten.  This happens with other colors, as well.    As with the Color Fidelity issue, this can sometimes make your image look nice, but can also go the other way and make your image look unrealistic.

Color Overruns (blowouts).  In just about all saturation methods, bright colors (such as red) can overrun and become flat, causing your image to look unrealistic.  Sagelight has a number of controls to help with this problem, and the Sagelight saturation algorithms were written with this issue in mind.

Saturation is Subjective

Saturation is also subjective.  I could adjust the saturation on an image with the algorithm that, for me, does the best job in adding color to my image, where someone else would choose another saturation algorithm.  For example, I tend to like images that stay more neutral or ‘cool’, where other people like more warm images.  Where I see an awful yellowish-green underlying hue, someone else may see a nice, colorful, warm and natural image — and this is from actual experience.

This is another reason the Pro Saturation exists in Sagelight.   Since saturation methods vary greatly, having multiple methods (which you can switch between easily) allows you to get the look you prefer in your image.

A good example is the sky.  While some algorithms move the sky to a deep blue, other algorithms will move it more to a cyan.  I tend to think the cyan is ugly, but others may find the sky going deeper blue unrealistic from a photographic perspective.  Choosing between algorithms allows you to control more of how your image is saturated.

Another reason multiple saturation algorithms are useful is because the same algorithm that might turn the sky that ugly cyan color is the same algorithm that may (and often does) work out better for another picture.

Since all pictures are different, each saturation method will work differently with each image.  That is to say, while each saturation method has its distinctive qualities, they work differently for each type of photograph.
 

Getting Used to the Different Saturation Modes

Once you get experience with the different saturation modes, you will begin to know which type of saturation is typically better for your image.  For example, I mentioned above that some algorithms tend to move the sky to an ugly cyan (in my subjective experience, that is), while others move it a deeper blue.  I tend to like the deeper blue, so I use those algorithms for the type of picture that needs it.

Once you’ve seen the same type of image a few times, it is easy to realize that C*I*E LAB and XYZ, for example, will turn the sky more of a cyan, where the Sagelight saturation methods will turn the sky a deeper blue, as well as which algorithms have the same general effect for other image qualities.
 

The Best Overall Saturation Algorithm

Sagelight Hybrid Saturation

While all of the saturation modes have their strengths, the best overall mode is the Sagelight Hybrid algorithm.  This tends to warm your image and deepen colors simultaneously.   You can also try the Hunter LAB algorithm which works well with most images.  Sagelight’s Hybrid Saturation tends to offer deeper colors and does not turn your image quite as yellowish or warm as Hunter LAB saturation.

note: when using the Sagelight Hybrid Saturation algorithm, try checking the “Keep Luminance” checkbox, as this can sometimes work better (i.e. it’s always worth trying).

Sagelight Saturation

From a technical standpoint, Sagelight Saturation is the best overall saturation.  The reason Sagelight Saturation is second in the list is because, as mentioned above, the most technically correct algorithm isn’t always the ‘perceptual’ best.  For most things, the Sagelight Saturation will work well, which is why it is the default saturation method in the Pro Saturation Controls.

However, Sagelight’s Hybrid Saturaiton works in the middle ground and, on an average, is the best ‘go to’ saturation method.  Sagelight’s Hybrid Saturation is the most predominantly-used saturation method in Sagelight in other functions, and is the basis for the Vibrance in the Power Box (Quick Edit or Pro Quick Edit Mode)

 

The Strengths of each Saturation Method

Each saturation method has some basic strengths.  For example, Sagelight Saturation works well for deepening the colors in your image and created a well-defined edge between colors that can be a nice result.  C*I*E LAB saturation has a strength in working with skin tones, and the Sagelight Hybrid and Hunter LAB saturation methods have a great warming effect on your image, as does XYZ saturation.

For more information on the strengths of each saturation methods, go to the Sagelight Pro Saturation Quick Reference, and then hover the mouse over the numbered tags for each saturation method; they are described in detail in this section.

Selecting Between Saturation Algorithms

It is easy to switch between saturation algorithms.  You can simply select them by clicking the mouse on the Saturation label to the right, and you can also use the mousewheel to move the saturation algorithm up or down.

 

 

Masking in the Pro Saturation Controls

The Sagelight Pro Saturation feature includes simple, powerful masking.  This will be explored as a separate post and possible a video tutorial. You can also mask with the saturation in the Pro Quick Edit mode, though the masking in the Pro Saturation controls is more oriented towards quick masking for adding or removing color.

In short, the masking in the Pro Saturation function provides powerful features to specifically select or avoid areas.  In a lot of cases, adding color to your entire image can look unrealistic.  But, adding color to just one subject or, conversely, avoiding a subject, can make the image look much more realistic while adding color that will make your image vibrant and crisp.

See the Sagelight Pro Saturation Quick Reference for details, which describes the masking in detail (just move the mouse over the numbered tabs for each masking control).

 

Sagelight Saturation Algorithms

The following details the Sagelight-developed saturation methods.  Each method was developed to answer specific problems that can occur with traditional saturation methods.

 

Sagelight Saturation

 

Sagelight Saturation was developed specifically for Sagelight and is a very high-level, algorithmically intense saturation. Sagelight saturation works by keeping the color fidelity and luminance fidelity as tight as possible, allowing for deep saturation with little or no noise compared to some other saturation methods. Sagelight saturation is designed to deepen the colors as you add color to your image, as this typically works better for an image. However, you can control this with the “Keep Luminance” switch, which tells Sagelight Saturation to preserve the luminance of the image.

Sagelight Saturation is also designed to move the colors to their primary colors as you add color to the image.  This allows the colors to deepen.  For example, a blue sky will typically turn to a darker blue instead of a cyan, as the color is moving to the primary blue.  Green plants will move more towards a deeper green than a yellow, and deep orange skies will move towards a deeper orange/red as you add color.

You can also control this factor with the “Protect Colors“ switch, which tells Sagelight Saturation to maintain the original HUE, which can prevent deepness, but can also be useful in keeping certain colors from moving to their primaries.

Sagelight Saturation has many options to help with getting the best color for your image.  See the sections on Keep Luminance, Protect Colors, Clamp Colors, and the More switch next to Clamp Colors. in the Controls Quick Reference

 

True Color Saturation

 
True Color Saturation is another Sagelight-developed saturation method.  True color is based on HSL saturation, but maintains the light and removes the noise and neon-effect that HSL saturation can often created.

HSL saturation is notably the most accurate saturation method in terms of color accuracy, but also creates a large amount of noise and light problems with your image.

Sagelight’s True Color Saturation increases the saturation in your image with the HSL component, but also maintains the light and color in your image, which prevents the traditional problems with HSL saturation.

If you wish to use HSL saturation in Sagelight, use the Power Curves with the Chroma channel in HSL mode.

 

Hybrid Saturation

Sagelight’s Hybrid Saturation is an intensive saturation that also warms as well as deepens colors. Recognizing that while it’s technically not accurate, the warming effect that some saturation models (i.e. XYZ, Hunter LAB) have can be very useful to your image, Sagelight’s Hybrid Saturation was developed to have similar properties of Sagelight Saturation, to protect your image from noise as well as deepen colors while staying truer to the original color ‘direction’ (more below).

In it’s default mode, Hybrid Saturation deepens the colors of your image while warming it.  In some pictures, the result is similar to Hunter LAB, and with the “Keep Luminance” button checked, they are even more similar.

However, Sagelight Hybrid Saturation, like Sagelight Saturation, starts drawing the colors of the image to the primary color, allowing it to deepen and stay much more crisp than Hunter LAB or XYZ saturation as color is added.  This means that skies become deeper blue, and greens become deeper green, where Hunter LAB and XYZ saturation will move the warming more to a central color.  Sagelight Hybrid Saturation allows you to warm your image while simultaneously deepening the colors in your image.

In most cases, this works out well.  But, it is always worth clicking between the other saturation methods (such as Hunter LAB or Sagelight Saturation) to see the difference.

 

Quick Reference

 

 

Click here to view the interactive quick reference for the Sagelight Pro Saturation controls.

This section explains all of the controls as well as describes each saturation algorithm and their strengths.

 

Conclusion

Adding color to your image is highly subjective.  The images above, for example, may be to your liking or not, depending on what you personally like to see in your picture.

Adding color to your image is also one of the primary things that can change your image with great effect.

This is one of the primary reasons the Sagelight Pro Saturation function exists – to give you as many options as possible to add color to your image to get what you want.

Every saturation algorithm is different and will treat your image differently, depending on its makeup. Most editors use just one algorithm for saturation.

Sagelight doesn’t take the idea of saturation lightly, giving you access to many different saturation algorithms, so you can use the one that fits your image the best.  The different subjects, and colors in your image can make one saturation algorithm more useful than others.

Saturation is also a very technically challenging and mathematically intense concept.  As such, it is hard to define one saturation algorithm that is the ‘best’. There are inherent problems with saturation algorithms, which include adding noise, changing color, changing the light value, and color overruns.

Saturation algorithms developed just for Sagelight (Sagelight Saturation, True Color, and Hybrid) were designed to specifically work with the problems associated with adding color to your image.  They are designed to reduce noise, keep as much color fidelity as possible, and to deepen the colors in your image (as a default option) to add color to your image that looks as natural as possible.

Sagelight’s Hybrid saturation is used in most places around Sagelight as the default saturation algorithm, and it has been designed as the best overall saturation to use, in general, as it fits the needs of most images well, by providing a slight warming tone to your image while also deepening colors and staying true to the main colors in your image.

In general, just adding a little bit of color to your image works out well in the main Quick Edit and Pro Quick Edit modes.  But, if you’re looking to get the most out of adding color and want to explore how you can better control and shape how color is added to your image, then you can use the Sagelight Pro Saturation Function to explore many more options.

Introduction to Sagelight Bokeh & Lens Blur Video #2: Showing the Highlight Mask and More Creative Elements

Sagelight Bokeh Introduction 2

 

Introduction

This is another video introduction to the Bokeh, Lens Blur, and Fast Depth of Field features in Sagelight Image Editor.

Where the first video focused on creating a blur area and using a mask, this video shows using the Highlight Mask and explores some of the more creative aspects of using the Sagelight Bokeh/Lens Blur function.

Photographic Authenticity vs. Freestyle & Artistic Bokeh/Lens Blur

It should be noted that the Bokeh/Lens Blur functions are very powerful and can do a wide range of effects on your image.  From a photographic perspective this means that you can keep within the realm of what is photographically realistic or go further and perform more artistic effects.

Both the first video and second video show me doing freestyle sessions with a clear intention of being more artistic.  Since the Bokeh/Lens Blur functions are very high quality, fast, and versatile, you can explore both methods.  You can create on-the-fly or import depth masks for photographic realism, or just go with your artistic sense of an image.

Masking

Editing the Mask in the Bokeh/Lens Blur

As with the first introduction video, the image is masked.  Unfortunately (or fortunately, as the case may be), the video I recorded of the masking ended up being corrupt and I didn’t get a chance to include it.  On the other hand, it might be just as well because this was shown in the first video, so it saved about 2 minutes on the video anyway.

The above image is the mask I created while in the Bokeh/Lens Blur.  To repeat my comments in the first video, you can edit the mask on-the-fly very quickly, editing it in a coarse overview, and then refining it as you go and see where it needs to be touched up.

 

Highlight Mask

Image While Editing the Highlight Mask

The real star of this video is the Highlight Mask. This is a Sagelight innovation with Bokeh and makes a real difference in your image.  It is also very easy to use the highlight mask.

As the video explains, a traditional problem with highlights & specular reflections in Bokeh is that only the upper-end highlights look good, and if you have a picture that isn’t nearly epitomical example of a Bokeh picture (streelights, or other lights in the distance in a fairly dark foreground, for example), then the highlights can easily become too white or bright and wash out very quickly.

In many cases, you really want to capture some of the highlights without having the brighter areas wash out.

That’s where the Highlight Mask comes in.  You can simply use the Highlight Strength and Highlight Threshold slider, see the highlights you like, dab them with a brush, and then they are ‘frozen’ in place.  Then you can either reset the Highlight Sliders to 0, or find other highlights with different settings.

The image above shows how it is done (the video shows much more).  You can see where I just really brushed the areas I wanted to keep.  See the video to see it working in action.

 

The Results: Photographic, Artistic, and Way Out There

The Original Image

 

The ‘Photographic’/Natural Result.

 

Again, I’m not really worrying about ultra-realism, but I do want something that looks a little naturally photographic. In the above image, you can see where I blurred the area by the window and slowly extended the blur down the wall to the left.  I also added highlights with the Highlight Mask function. 

I also added a transparency to her arm, which I thought looked really nice, almost like a motion blur, as if she was moving when the camera took the picture (I did this by using the ‘As Selection Mask’ setting, which blends back the original image based on the mask setting).

Overall, it has a natural look with some really nice colorful highlights.  I was able to get the highlights (and the nice colors) by using the Highlight Mask in combination with the Highlights Strength, Highlights Threshold, and Color Edge Sliders.

 

The Artistic Result

In the video, I then went even further and added some deep contrast and color.  I did this by using the Backlight Slider, increasing the Highlights Strength (by using the Highlight Multiply Slider in the Highlight Mask Area; this slider lets you increase or decrease the highlights you previously masked, such as in the above Highlight Mask Image), and then adding a fair amount of Saturation by using the Add Color (Vignette Only) Slider to add color only to the blurred areas, while leaving the non-blurred areas (i.e. the woman in the picture) untouched. 

I then changed the aperture shape to a diamond, for effect.  If I were to go back and work on this image, I might add just a splash of color to her face so that she blends in with the rest of the picture just a little but more smoothly (which is what I did in the next picture).

The ‘Way Out There’ Result

One of the other features that Sagelight Bokeh/Lens Blur offers that you really don’t see in other Bokeh packages is a very high radius setting on the Blur Amount Slider.  This allows you to create shapes that are very large.

There’s a lot of effects you can do with such large settings, and in this case, I just decided to simply go for an effect.

Obviously not photographically realistic, but I thought it came out nice, nevertheless.

 

Conclusion

The Bokeh/Lens Blur Video Introduction #2 video shows both the Highlight Masking and more creative aspects of the Sagelight Bokeh, Lens Blur, and Fast Depth of Field features new to Sagelight Version 4.2.

The video demonstrates how to easily use the Highlight Mask to isolate highlights very quickly, creating more photographic and artistic effects than with traditional Bokeh implementations.

The video also shows how you can use the Sagelight Bokeh/Lens Blur to go even further creatively with the separate Sagelight Saturation/Vibrance Sliders, Backlight Slider, Color Edge, and many other functions that make the Sagelight Bokeh/Lens Blur very versatile and powerful.

Video Tutorial, Sagelight Pro Series: Curves in the Quick Edit Mode and Pro Quick Edit Mode.

Sagelight Pro Series: Curves in the Quick Edit and Pro quick Edit Mode

 

Introduction

This is part of a series I am working on to show the more advanced, professional-level qualities of Sagelight.

The curves, at first, may seem like they aren’t necessarily for everyone.  But, they can be very useful even if they might seem intimidating, as a lot of traditional image-editing concepts and functions tend do that.  I know that it took me a long time to really understand what was going on with curves.

Perhaps that’s why I spent so much time designing and writing the Curves function in Sagelight, as there are many innovations in the Sagelight curves to make them much easier to use.  You can watch this video to get an idea of this, and you can also see the other videos I have posted regarding the curves.

The fact that I posted a number of videos on the Curves shows a couple things.   For one, how useful they can be in enhancing your image.  Two, it also shows that they do take a little getting used to.

Background on the Curves in Sagelight

Old-School Curves vs. New Technology in Curves

Curves are a traditional part of image-editing.  As I wrote Sagelight, I realized that, though curves are very, very useful in the editing process today, they have also become old-school technology, and have been relegated to simple and less-than-elegant toning.

Enter Sagelight

As I researched the curves issue, I realized I wanted to put them in.  I had considered them too old-school to be useful in Sagelight.  Then I ran across a plug-in called Smart Curves.  I used to distribute this with Sagelight (it’s a free plug-in).  After using the Smart Curves plugin for a while, I realized that curves had a definite place in Sagelight, but only if they were incredibly enhanced to make use of modern approaches in image-editing and to fit into the overall editing process.

Power Curves

The Power Curves is just such an example.  One of the reasons why the Smart Curves Plugin convinced me of the usefulness of curves in editing today is because it supported the LCH mode.  This is a powerful editing mode in the curves that can do amazing things with your image.  I know I discuss this in various videos, and intend to do a video just on using curves in the LCH mode, as well as the HSL and other modes.

In traditional Sagelight style, I don’t like providing a lot of singleton functions, because there tend to be natural things you want to do.  For example, I provide a set of saturation and other controls with a number of functions, such as the vignetting, Tone Blender, Bokeh, etc;, because that’s a natural thing you want to do.

The curves were no different.  One of the things that you want to do immediately (and while) using curves is to adjust how the color is changing.

The Power Curves in Sagelight has a Chroma channel on the RGB (using Sagelight-developed RGB saturation, which is a very deep saturation, as well as the basis for Sagelight Vibrance) and other modes where normally you wouldn’t see it.

The Chroma Channel, added as a separate curve channel, by itself, as well as in conjunction with the other modes and color spaces in the Power Curves, transforms the old-school curves into something that much more useful to today’s image editing.

General Curves Interface

One of the other places I identified problems with using curves with today’s image editing, and where they had become old-school, in my opinion, we the interface.  I really didn’t like having to select one curve after another by moving away from what I was doing, pressing a channel button – or wose, select the channel from a drop-down menu – to get to a different channel. This caused me to lose focus and made the entire curves process more cumbersome.

A lot of time and design went into creating a curves interface where you can very rapidly switch back-and-forth between curves channels, simply by grabbing the displaying non-active channel and moving it – most of the work was in making sure the Curves Window understood what you wanted to do, since these curves can be very close to each other.

This also made the process that much easier, as it allows you to change curves without losing your creative focus – you can just play and experiment, which is the basis for how Sagelight tends to work.   The ability to be unintentional also helps you when you have a plan, as it makes the controls work that much more fluidly.

Fine Curve Adjustments

Another place where the curves technology was extended vs. traditional curves levels was in the fine-tuning.  This is particularly useful in the Light Blender, but is useful overall.

You can use the keyboard arrows and the mousewheel to finely adjust the curves points.  Since a lot of curves work is about subtlety, you can adjust the points with a high-degree of accuracy without the traditional method where you had to grab the point again, lose your focus, and replace the point without having the context of what it looked like before.

You can also hold the control-key down to make an even finer adjustment.

Curves in the Quick Edit Mode and Pro Quick Edit Mode

The Curves in the Quick Edit and Pro Quick Edit Modes provide a powerful set of curves functionality.  While the Power Curves provide a wider array and more powerful set of standalone curves functions, the curves in the Quick Edit Mode and Pro Quick Edit mode have many embedded functions that are designed to work directly with the other controls of the Quick Edit Mode.

There are also a number of functions within the Curves in the Quick Edit/Pro Quick Edit modes designed specifically for these modes that are not in the Power Curves.

General Help and Video Sections

The video above is split into different sections.  You can click on the links below to go directly to that section.  You can also go to the general help section on “Curves in the Quick Edit and Pro Quick Edit Modes” for a recap of this blog entry (it’s basically a copy of the help section), later on when the different sections may be more relevant.

• Basic Controls. This shows how to easily use the basic controls of the Curves Window, which are the same throughout sagelight.  After that, things get different, as dicussed in the following sections.

• Color Toning. This section shows how to use the Curves in the Quick Edit Mode for color toning your image, and how the Curves algorithms help integrate into the Quick Edit mode by keeping the luminance the same throughout the toning.

• Correcting Color Casts. This section shows how to use the embedded curves functions to correct color casts in the same way you would with the “Remove Color Cast” function, but with more control since you can change the resulting curves yourself.

• Auto Levels and Auto Color.  This shows how to perform the same Auto Balance functions used in the Sagelight functions, but with more control over the result.

• Pro Quick Edit Mode and C*I*E LAB and HSL Color Spaces Color.  This shows how the Pro Quick Edit mode curves can be used in the C*I*E LAB and HSL modes.  Similar to the Power Curves, but you can use the other controls in the Pro Quick Edit mode together with the curves in these color spaces.

 

Technology

he Curves in the Quick Edit/Pro Quick Edit modes have the same basic interface as the curves eslewhere in Sagelight (see the Quick Reference section below), which contains an advanced, easy-to-use architecture that allows for much easier curves than tradtional methods, while also providing a large amount of power.

The traditional problem with curves is that they can be difficult to use, which can interrupt the creative flow.  Sagelight curves offer easy background curve selection, fine-tuning using the keyboard and mouse wheel, as well as the ability to easily switch to different color spaces.

In the Quick Edit and Pro Quick Edit modes, Luminance-keeping functions allow the color curves to be used as color toning curves, which is a powerful tool, as this allows you to adjust the results of the other controls used, rather than completely changing the light and tonal changes already made.  You can also switch this off to use the curves as normal curves.

Remove Color Cast and Auto Balance Functions in the Curves Window

In some ways curves can be limiting.  For example, the RGB Adjust tools in the Quick Edit Mode/Pro Quick Edit Mode offer essentially a minimum of 10 simultaneous curves windows open at the same time.  The Curves Window, by comparison, provides one curve for each RGB channel + the RGB channels together.

However, curves give you much more direct control, allowing you to manipulate curves in a way not possible with the RGB adjust controls.  You can use the Options Window to perform the same functions as the Remove Color Cast and Auto Balance functions. The results are then displayed as curve points which you can directly manipulate.  This can provide more flexibility and power to adjust the results, where the Remove Color Cast and Auto Balance functions, while powerful, provide you with a more limited set of results.

 

Interactive Quick Reference

 

Click to go to the Interactive Quick Reference

 

Click on the image above to go to the Interactive Quick Reference.  When you move the mouse over the round tabs, it will display information for that control.

Introduction to Sagelight Bokeh & Lens Blur Video

Click to watch the video on Youtube

I just posted a video that gives an introduction to the Sagelight Bokeh and Lens Blur function.

I have a number of tutorials planned, and this video is more of an overview than a tutorial.

It shows how to quickly create Lens Blur and Bokeh effects with little effort.  It also shows how easy it is to use the mask in the Bokeh/Lens Blur function to make the feature even more effective.

In this particular video, the emphasis is on the easy masking.  One of the issues with Bokeh and Lens Blur is that, typically, you have to create the mask before you go into the Bokeh/Lens Blur function.

This can make creating a mask rather difficult, since you have to know what you’re going to do, more or less, before you can perform the blur.  This causes pressure to make the mask well-defined, which can take a lot of time and, realistically, transform something that should be fun into a lot of work – especially if you’re just experimenting to see if anything good comes from playing around with the Bokeh/Lens Blur.

With Sagelight, you can simply go into the Bokeh/Lens Blur with no intentions and edit as you go.

The main rule with the mask is: just work with what you see, and don’t worry about being careful.  You can just create a very quick mask within a few short seconds, and then hit the little “hot spots” that you want later.

The Shaped Auto-mask in the Bokeh really helps you out, so you don’t need to completely define your mask.

Also, the a large amount of coding work went into making the Bokeh and Lens blur not have to work with very detailed masks.  This is because creating a mask with the Bokeh/Lens Blur is a natural thing to want to do, and it was important to make sure that it was not only an easy process, but also not very intimidating.

You can use depth masks and be as complicated and detailed as you want to be.  But, for most things, you can just experiment and add details as you go, which, for me, makes image editing not only more fun and entertaining, but also more of a spontaneous artistic activity.

I never really know what I want do with an image until I’m doing it, and that’s how I’ve written Sagelight.  The Bokeh/Lens Blur function really was a challenge for me in that regard, as these functions are very intensive and took a long time to write.

But, between the interactive masking, real-time display, and highlight masking (next video), the Bokeh/Lens Blur functions can be used to create some very different and artistic images in just a few minutes.

This video shows how I went from this:

 

to this:

 

 

With just about 2-3 minutes of actual work on my part!

The video is located at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RDcgo_K9Cg

Interactive Quick Reference Help

Every once in a while, I get a reminder of just how many functions and controls Sagelight really has.

I have been slowly writing more and more help for Sagelight to outline more of what it does and to explain some of the things that might go unnoticed.

There are quite a few controls that take up a small amount of space that can make quite a difference.  The little button called the “Neutralize Image Button” (in the Quick Edit Mode, just above the Color Spinner) is a good example of just such a button that takes up very little space, but can make a big difference in your image – the Color Spinner itself is another good example.

I’ve been working on more help, located at www.sagelighteditor.com/sageweb, which will help explain some of the powerful features of Sagelight, as well as better-document the controls.

 

I’ve been really getting into the interactive quick reference charts lately, and am finding that they are very useful.  You can just put the mouse over the button number, which gives the control name, and the short-form documentation for that control comes up.

Here is an example:

 

The above is the Quick Edit Mode (basic controls).

A list of the ones just added

Quick Edit Mode. This will describe all of the controls in the Quick Edit Mode in the basic mode. There are 40+ controls described.

Bokeh & Lens Blur. This describes all Bokeh & Lens Blur controls.  There are about 45 controls described.

Auto Balance Function. This describes the Auto Balance controls in both the Quick Edit Mode and Pro Quick Edit Mode.  The algorithms are the same, but there are some behavioral differences between the two modes (in short, the Pro Quick Edit Mode version is better).

A Great example of 48-Bit Editing vs. 24-Bit Editing

Introduction

 

48-bit editing (16-bits per-channel) is important, and many editors these days support it. Sagelight, for example, is called ‘Sagelight 48-bit Image Editor’ because it really is that important.

In creating the Bokeh, Lens Blur, and Fast Depth of Field functions for version 4.2 (just released.  You can find it here), I came across a great example of the difference between editing an image in 16-bits per-channel, as well as saving an image at the same depth level. 

An important note

Before I go too far, I do want to point out that it is only important at certain points.  If you’ve read much of the Sagelight Blog, you’ll know that I also talk quite a bit about how saving in Jpeg and then performing edits can certainly be fine as well.

 

Editing in 16-Bits per-channel vs. Saving at 8-bits per-channel

 

It’s important to note that when you load an image into Sagelight, even if it is 8-bits per-channel, it is immediately converted to 16-bits per-channel and, by far, most operations are actually performed at 32-bits (floating-point) per-channel, and sometimes at 64-bits per-channel.

This is important because it allows you save out at 8-bits per-channel (i.e. Jpeg, though I would recommend the highest quality settings (9 or 10)) with the option to edit the image again without too much degradation of the image as a whole.

Even though it is better to save out at 16-bits per-channel (and without lossy compression), this can be a little less easy than just saving out a jpeg.

 

Saving at 16-bits per-channel

 

As mentioned, this is technically the best option, but, for the record, I only do this with images I intend to keep working on creatively later on. 

If an image is fairly close to what I’m looking for, then I will probably save it as a Jpeg for convenience.  Minor edits after that, such as adding color, some sharpness (*see the examples below, however), a little light, contrast, shadows, etc. – aren’t going to hurt your picture.

It’s really only in the initial and medium-level stages of an image where 16-bits per-channel can be important, and only under certain circumstances.

The trouble is, of course, that you don’t know when those circumstances are going to come up, so it’s better to work in 16-bits from the start.

It’s also important to note that the need to work in 16-bits per-channel often comes from the editing process itself, so starting with 8-bits per-channel isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as long as the main part of the editing process is in 16-bits per-channel.

 

The Main Example

 

It’s Not the Current Edit, but the Next One Where You See the Difference

 

It’s always been a little hard to find a good example for why 16-bits is important. Banding in the sky is a good example, but that can come with 16-bit editing, too, under certain circumstances.

Plus, one of the main issues with editing in 16-bits per-channel is that yiou don’t see the quality difference until the next edit, or the one after that.  As you add color, sharpness, contrast, and use one of any number functions, this separates the color pixels from each other.  With only 256 colors (at 8-bits) per-channel, this can quickly cause the pixels of each channel to ‘clump’ together.

This pixel clumping also happens at 16-bits per-channel, but at 256 times the resolution of 8-bits per-channel, you rarely encounter problems with it.  However, this is why Sagelight works mostly at 32-bits internally to keep the quality at basically 16 million times the quality of 8-bits per-channel. 

Again, editing in 8-bits per-channel is “ok”, and in minor editing situations, you don’t have to worry about it much.  But, let’s look at the examples:

Blurring an Image

 

Original Image Blurred with Sagelight Bokeh/Lens Blur

 

Let’s say we want to take the above example and add a blur to it by using the Bokeh/Lens Blur function in Sagelight.   In the above image, you can see that I added some blur and some highlights to the original image.

 

The Quality of Sagelight Bokeh (yep, a plug)

Sagelight Bokeh, Lens Blur, and Fast DOF works at a very high quality and in the testing phase multiple sharpens were performed to test the integrity of the blur.  To see how Sagelight was doing against the other Bokeh products out there, I ended up looking at other retail packages.  I came across one with an 8-bit per-channel output and realized I had a great example of 8-bit vs. 16-bit editing.

 

A Closeup

 

Closeup of the Bokeh Result Image

 

The above is a 100% closeup of the Bokeh Blur.   If I convert this image to 8-bits, here is what is hiding just beneath the surface:

 

8-Bit per-Channel Image (sharpened)

 

The above is the image sharpened at 8-bits per-channel.  Let’s look at it closer:

Blurred Image, Untouched

 

The above image is the blurred image that has not been touched since the Bokeh Blur was applied.  In 8-bits or 16-bits per-channel, it looks fine.  But, as I mentioned, it’s the next edit where you start to see it.

Let’s say I decided to sharpen the entire image to bring out the center.  Here is what the image looks like if it is in 8-bits per-channel

 

8-Bit Image, Sharpened

 

As you can see, just below the surface of the nice, clean looking image can be quite a mess. This was a medium-level sharpen.

Let’s look at what happens if I apply the same amount of sharpening in 16-bits per-channel

 

16-bit per-channel image, sharpened.

 

As you can see, there are no lines and no defects!  (anything you may see is from the 8-big jpeg compression for the blog).

Let’s sharpen the 8-bit image again:

 

8-Bit per-Channel Image, Sharpened (pass 2)

 

Ouch!  You can see how certain things can really bring out the limitations of editing in 8-bits per-channel.

 

Let’s look at the 16-bit per-channel image, sharpened in the same way:

16-bit per-channel Image, Sharpened twice.

Now, that’s a textbook picture!  As you can see, there are still no lines or edges even after being sharpened twice.  Now, to brag a little about about Sagelight here – this was done with a shaped, lens blur.  Not all Bokeh packages are this clean.

The little lines and things you see is a result of the unsharp mask bringing out the natural texture in the image.  That is, it’s actually sharpening it without bringing any edges or artifacts.  You can even see the shape of the kernel I used (octagon) even though I had it set for a very soft focus.

By contrast, the 8-bit image sharpened twice still looks like the same blur image with a lot of noise piled on top of it.

 

Conclusion

 

As you can see from the above examples, it really doesn’t take too much to hit the limitations of 8-bit per-channel editing, and the Bokeh, Lens Blur functions in Sagelight ended up providing a great opportunity to show it in action.

On the other hand, I do want to repeat that minor edits and simple editing in 8-bits is just fine, as long as you save at high (or maximum) settings with Jpeg.  I do this all the time.

We’re really only talking about saving images and re-loading them (or initially loading them) in 8-bits per-channel, since Sagelight stores and works with your image in at least 16-bits per-channel at all times.  The 8-bit per-channel process happens when you save as a JPEG or BMP, or initially load your image as a Jpeg.

I only really turn to 16-bits per-channel as a practice when:

• a) I know I am going to creatively edit the image more, or I am not sure if I am done with it.
• b) I have fine gradients, such as a sky, or smooth areas such as the above blur.

I use Jpeg or 8-bit per-channel images (that is, saved on disk; it’s always 16-bits per-channel in Sagelight) when:

• a) Most of the time, because not only are all the edits in Sagelight at 16-bits per-channel, so I really am editing in 16-bits, but also because I do the major core work on the image in one session.
• b) When I want to edit something just for looks, or to tweak it.  But, this sometimes incurs a penalty.  I do have to understand that sometimes I will cause banding.  But, I can handle that, typically with the Median or Image Smooth function and the Undo brush.
• c) Cloning, Dodging and Burning, effects – typically not necessary to use 16-bits per-channel, even though 16-bits per-channel, as a practice, can be better.

 

So why did I write this article if I’m really saying it doesn’t matter that much?

 

Because when it does matter, it matters.  However, one of the things I don’t want to do as the author of Sagelight is to tell you what to do, or to make editing more difficult.  Sagelight is a very pure editor, and contains many purist tools.  I want you to be able to edit at the highest degree possible.

However, I am not a purist about my personal image editing and most people aren’t.  I want to keep editing simple and fun, for people who use Sagelight, which includes myself.

About 85% of the time, most editing – again, since it’s all in 16-, 32, or 64- bits per-channel in Sagelight, as opposed to an editor that only operates in 8- or 16-bit space – isn’t really going to involve issues such as seen above.  But, sometimes they do.

So, I guess my main message is really informational. As you progress in image editing and you see lines, edges, and things of that nature.  Thinking about where either using RAW or saving a file you’ve re-edited in 16-bits per-channel may be a good thing. 

Introducing Sagelight Bokeh (and Fast Depth of Field)

Sagelight Bokeh

Sagelight Bokeh is now available in Sagelight Version 4.2

Overview

Sagelight Bokeh functions consist of fast, comprehensive, and extensive Bokeh, Lens Blur, and Fast Depth of Field functions.

Sagelight Bokeh was written in SSE2 and SSE4 code for ultimate speed and a realtime display as you change settings.  You can use a vignette-style auto-shape mask as well as your own mask (both at the same time).   You can move the auto mask on the screen easily and in realtime, and you can edit your own mask (or load it in) inside the Bokeh/Lens Blur function to make changes without having to exit and come back in. 

Fast. Sagelight Bokeh delivers a realtime display where you can make changes to the blur, masking, and shapes.  When you render your image, Sagelight still maintains a high speed, even with complex blurs.

Sagelight multi-processes with all of your processes for ultimate speed.

Sagelight Fast Depth of Field is amazingly fast, performing the equivalent of over a quadrillion pixel blur in just a few seconds on one processor.  This means you can work in seriously fast real-time.

When you apply the image, a depth of field blur can perform a blur of any size very quickly to the largest of images.

Powerful.  Sagelight has many tools to help create excellent depth of field and bokeh effects.  See the list of features below.  Some of these features in include a highlight mask – the traditional problem of bokeh is that the highlights get too bright very quickly, and you can’t get the other areas to bloom without overruning the highlights in brighter areas. 

With Sagelight Bokeh, you can just mark the highlight areas you want to keep, and they stay that way, allowing you to work with other areas.  See the water image below.  It was created with a highlight mask.

Other advanced features include the ability to select the reflection tone, changing the specular realism/edge/bloom, and many masking controls.

Easy.  The secret to a good depth of field & bokeh blur is the difference between the foreground and background.  Sometimes this involves masking.  Sagelight Bokeh has many tools to help you create a simple mask.  You don’t need to create very sharp and defined masks for most things with Sagelight Bokeh, and you can create a mask in just a few seconds with the inline mask editing support.

You can select and change the shape of the auto-mask so that you only need to edit your own mask on some pictures very lightly.

The above picture shows the auto-mask controls.  You can just move the ring and change the size, shape, and angle easily.

Inexpensive.  This is one of but many incredibly powerful features that come with Sagelight that also are the equivalent (or more) of retail packages out there.  The nearest comparable product sells for $200, and two other products that perform Bokeh sell for $99 each.

How can Sagelight do that (keep it cheap, that is)?  It’s my pleasure to provide Sagelight and its components cheaply, even when they meet and exceed the most expensive counterparts out there.  Bokeh is one of those packages.

Screen Shot

This is a screen shot of the Sagelight Bokeh Function Working. It shows how you can create realistic lens effects with specular distinct, and authentic-looking specular reflections.

Depth and Bokeh Effects

This example shows how you can create depth very simply (there was no mask applied, except the auto mask) as well as realistic specular reflections.  In this image, you can see the varying hexagonal shapes in the upper part of the picture, looking just as if this picture was taken directly into the sun.    Of course, these reflections were never there, but you could never tell it wasn’t in the actual picture.

 

Tilt-Shift Example

With Sagelight Bokeh, it’s very easy to make tilt-shift images.  In this example, all that was done was to decrease the size of the initial radius and add the blur amount.

 

Bokeh Release notes (Sagelight Version 4.2)

• Very fast real-time display.  Though Bokeh, particularly, is a very intensive process, you can change the display and change the masking in realtime to get real feel for what is happening with the result.

• Fast and High Quality Results.  Lens blur and Bokeh can be a slow process because it is very intensive.  Sagelight’s Bokeh routines are written to be as fast as possible as well as very high resolution.

• Extremely Fast Depth of Field function.  Sagelight also has a “Fast Depth of Field” function that can be used on its own, but also within the Bokeh/Lens blur function to help increase speed. The Depth of Field function can perform a blur of effectively over a quadrillion pixels in just a few seconds — on one processor.  It’s this sort of speed that allows the visceral feedback that Sagelight is known for.

• Graphic, interactive interface.  You can change the size, shape, and placement of the auto-mask (i.e. like a vignette) reticle by just dragging it around on the screen.  The display adjusts automatically.

• Multiple Auto Mask Shapes.  You can choose from circle, elliptical, square, rectangular, planar, dual planar, and filled versions of each.  You can change the size, shape, and angle of the mask in realtime by grabbing the edges on the screen image.

• User Mask and Depth Mask.  You can also use your own mask on top of the auto-shaped mask.  You can define the mask to simple block certain items to provide a depth-of-field look to your image, and to blur only selected areas.

• Real-time Mask Editing.  You can edit your own mask from the Bokeh/Lens Blur and Fast DOF functions.  As you work with the function, you can simply edit the mask as you see more of what you’re looking for.  You don’t need to exit the function or take time to change the mask and re-enter the functions and redo the settings.

• Photographically-oriented Aperture Shapes.  You can select from various aperture shapes, such as a circle, triangle, square, hexagon, octagon, etc., as well as filled, semi-transparent and hollow versions of each shape.  The shapes are high-resolution and designed to work best for a truly photographic representation (as opposed to cute shapes).

• Realistic Specular Highlights Controls.  One of the trademarks of Bokeh is the ‘bloom’ on specular highlights — the specular highlights that turn into either circles or whatever the aperture shape.  Sagelight has realistic highlight controls, which can help you define the highlights in your image and make them stand out.

• Extended Highlight Controls.  In addition to the standard Highlight Strength and Highlight Amount controls, Sagelight also has the following controls that help with the Highlights

• Specular Edge.  This is sometimes known as the ‘bloom’ in other programs.  This basically allows the highlights, as they turn into the shape of the aperture and become larger, to become more defined or less defined.  As they become more defined, they tend to look more like an effect (which can look nice, but isn’t necessarily realistic, either), where using the control to bring the edge down can make the specular reflections look much more realistic and naturally photographic.

• Color Edge. This control allows you to decide how your reflections look as they grow into the aperture shape.  This control allows you to move the reflections into their component color.  Instead of getting a pure white reflection from a sunset, for example, the Color Edge control allows you to move the reflections into the golden hues of the sun.  The sun peering through the grass is another example; instead of a white reflection, you can move the reflection into the green & yellows that make for a much more realistic image.

• Highlight Clipping.  As well as the Highlight Strength, you can also clip the highlights. This allows you to establish a highlight range, avoiding too many highlights from the brighter areas, while allowing the mid-tone highlights to stand out.

• Pre-Blur Backlight Control.  This is a powerful tool, as it allows you to make the highlights completely stand out while adding contrast to your image.  While other vignetting features are provided (see below), this performs a backlight function with a Burn algorithm that can make the image stand out and allows the highlights to come through much more defined.   It can add a dramatic dimension to your image.  Contrast this with the Vignette Controls listed below.

• Vignette Controls.  Post-blur, you can add a vignette to the image to darken it or lighten it.  You can use one of 5 modes to get the tone you’re looking for.  The vignette follows the auto-mask vignette, so it is perform in just the right areas for the image.

• Post Color Functions.  You can add saturation or vibrance to your image while your in the Bokeh/Lens Blur or Fast DOF functions.  This can add a lot of depth to your image, especially when combined with the Highlight Backlight Control or the vignetting controls.

• Additionally, you can control the auto-shape mask areas and overall image independenly.  This can help focus on the subject by adding or removing color from one area, and performing the opposite in another area.

• Highlight Mask. Another very powerful function, this allows you to create a mask for the highlights.  The problem with traditional Bokeh is that the highlights get out of control very quickly — you may see one you like, but to get it where you want it means over-highlighting other areas.  With the Highlight mask, you can simply paint the areas you want to keep where they are and then adjust other areas independenly.

• Complete Mask Control.  Listed below are the masking controls within the Lens/Blur and Fast DOF functions

• Edit Mask.  Edit your own mask (which you can import) and see the result immediately.  You can use the normal mask editor for this, and you can edit either the blur/depth mask or the highlight mask.

• Load & Save Masks.  You can loads and save both mask types by saving or loading a preset.

• Enable Mask. You can enable or disable each mask type.

• As Selection Mask.  This is yet another powerful tool, which will be discussed in articles and the documentation.  It allows you to create Depth of Field effects without having to worry about precise edges.  It allows you to, in fact, be very imprecise with your mask without causing edges.

• Lazy Mask.  Another Sagelight innovation, this allows you to create your depth of field blur without a mask.  You can simply put back in what you want later.  This avoids the problem of traditional blurring where the blur also blurs the area you want to avoid ruining the effects.  This allows you to very casually create a depth of field blur without creating a mask, yet it also allows you to keep the foreground areas intact.  As with the “As Selection Mask” setting, this allows you to create a very imperfect mask (i.e. quickly) while not losing the accuracy you want.

• Clip Mask. This allows you to let the blur bleed into the image, allowing the effects from the masked areas into the non-masked areas.  This can make an image look more realistic when you’re blurring foreground items. This will also be a subject of some articles.

• Highlight Mask Multiply Slider.  This allows you to increase or decrease the areas masked with the highlight mask.  As you make changes, this allows you to adjust these areas without re-editing the mask.

• Distortion and Spin.  These controls allow you to distort the image, adding a surreal, zoom-like effect.  This works well with centered images.

• Preset Support.  You can load and save presets, which will also save any masks you have in memory (they do not need to be active). Also, when you come back into the Bokeh/Lens Blur or Fast DOF functions, your last settings are restored automatically (if you’re editing the same file).

• Window Undock.  You can undock the secondary controls window for greater access and speed in using the controls.