Shadow and Highlight Sliders in Epson Scan - What do they do?

Hi there,

Is there any place that has a good description of the shadow and highlight sliders in Epson Scan? I would have assumed that they would have functioned like the sliders in Photoshop Levels, that is, anything below the shadow slider would be pure black, and anything above the highlight would be pure white. But it doesn't work that way. Seems like the shadow scanner ends up on a dark grey and the highlight scanner ends up in something less than pure white. I'm really confused as to how they work and how they interact with the output sliders below it. The Epson Scan manual I found online doesn't seem to help much.

Thanks
Paul

sully75 said:

Hi there,

Is there any place that has a good description of the shadow and highlight sliders in Epson Scan? I would have assumed that they would have functioned like the sliders in Photoshop Levels, that is, anything below the shadow slider would be pure black, and anything above the highlight would be pure white. But it doesn't work that way. Seems like the shadow scanner ends up on a dark grey and the highlight scanner ends up in something less than pure white. I'm really confused as to how they work and how they interact with the output sliders below it. The Epson Scan manual I found online doesn't seem to help much.

Thanks
Paul

Click to expand...

My version of Epson Scan (3.04A) has a Histogram Adjust and a Tone Correction button/window (Professional mode), but it doesn't have any shadow/highlight sliders. It does have Brightness and Contrast sliders (Image Adjustment window in Professional Mode; Brightness in Home Mode). What version of Epson Scan are you using? What is the title in the blue bar at the top of the window with the sliders?

I don't use Epson Scan but there is a function in Photoshop CS4 called "Shadows & Hilights." I can tell you how that works then you can work backward from there and see if that helps.

Imagine your standard histogram. On the left end are shadows. On the right are highlights.

When you move the SHADOW slider, you are expanding the left/shadow tail of the histogram toward the right, thereby expanding the shadow information over a larger range of values. You decrease the contrast of your shadows.

When you move the HIGHLIGHT slider, you are expanding the right/detail tail of the histogram toward the left, thereby expanding the detail information over a larger range of values. You decrease the contrast of your highlights.

In other words, you can get more detail in dark areas of the picture by moving the shadow control and you can get more detail in the highlights by moving the highlight control.

But be careful. If you overdo it, you can end up with a picture that has a muddy, gray look to it. There is that "magic spot" in the settings where you'll see the picture look "just right." It can be tricky to find that spot.

Now, I hope we can translate that information to your use in your scanner software.

Personally, I prefer to avoid doing anything to alter the image during the scanning phase of my project. I want to get as clean a scan as possible. Then I import into Photoshop via Camera RAW and do my work there.

I envision it like putting an effect filter over the camera lens. Once you put an effect onto the image on-film, you can never take it back. If you can achieve the same effect in the darkroom or in Photoshop, why permanently alter your image on the film? If you ever decide that a photo would have been one of your "great ones" if it wasn't for that starburst effect around the sun, you could be slapping your self on the forehead.

That has happened to me.

Not to say that you shouldn't use shadow/highlight controls if you need to. I'm just telling you my experience. Last time I checked, we still lived in a free country.

Hi

I thought it was reasonably self evident, you clip (cut off) values on the outside of the sliders with the top row and determine what range to fit it into with the bottom row. The center slider essentially controls the gamma.

Though this is horrifyingly mangled in the negative version (which is one of the reasons I *never* scan neg as negative on the Epson software).

There is some undocumented value with moving the dark slider further over to the left (like to 0) with the Epson seeming to drive slower and act as if it was giving greater exposure time for each row.

Try reading this:

http://cjeastwd.blogspot.com/2008/10/epson-3200-more-optimal-scans.html

for other suggestions in this area:

http://cjeastwd.blogspot.com/2010/02/black-and-white-neg-scanning.html

http://cjeastwd.blogspot.com/2009/05/bulk-scanning-with-epson-flatbed.html

let me know if you have some more specific question