Week 1 - Review questions

1. How do Adjustment layers work and what are some of the benefits of implementing them?: Adjustments layers work as any other layers. It allows you to work on the original photo or graphic without modifying it. One of the advantage of this technique is that you can come back to any changes you have done and change it again or erase it. You can also switch the correction or change on and off to quickly see the difference between the original and the correction versions, which I find really useful.
2. Explain in your own words what a Histogram is.: A histogram is a graph of your photo or graphic that shows you the different values of intensity of each colors.
3. Explain what is happens to an image's pixels when you adjust the overall brightness and contrast using Levels?: The pixels are redistributed so that there is a better balance between the highlights, shadows and midtones.
4. What does non-destructive mean in relation to working within Photoshop?: It means trying to correct imperfections without destroying or modifying pixels from the original file.
5. List two creative uses for the Non-Destructive Burning and Dodging technique you just learned: You can improve the overall quality of a photo that is both over-exposed and under-exposed, because you can work differently on different parts of the photo. You can also use this technique to highlight or darken small parts of a photo to get a better contrast, especially in faded old photos.
6. What are some of the differences between the Curves command and the Levels command?: The levels command allows you to play with highlights, shadows and midtones values for each color channels. The curves command takes you a step further by allowing you to modify any brightness values between 0 and 255 within individual channels, thus allowing you precise color correction.
7. Why would you want to use the brightest or darkest pixel reading in an image to color correct.: A well color balance photo has pre-determined values for highlights, shadows and neutral grays within each RGB channels. By finding the value of the brightest and darkest pixels in your photo, you can change their value to the pre-determined one, thus correcting color.
8. Explain the purpose of using a neutral gray in an image when color correcting: A neutral gray should have an equal value of red , green and blue. If for example your RGB reading shows a higher value for blue, it means that that is the problem area, although you wouldn't necessarily be able to see that with your eye.
9. How does the Threshold command aid in color correction work?: It helps you identify the brightest and darkest pixels in a photo.