Highlight Control Photoshop plug-in

Note: The new and improved version of Highlight Control, now called Highlight Control Pro is available in DaVinci™, our newest addition and also as a Photoshop and compatible plug-in.

About

The plug-in works by analyzing the image and separating the highlights from the rest of the image and creating the mask. Then, it applies the brightness and contrast correction to highlight areas, leaving the rest of the image intact.

Features

Live preview of the final image
Interactive mask creation
Live preview of the mask
Full control of all aspects of adjustments done to the image
Ability to save and load settings
Full featured demo available

Technical details

Product supports both 8 and 16 bit RGB images
Photoshop 6 and up or Elements required
MAC and PC version available

In action

Before

Mask view - dark areas will be affected:

Result

Let's see that side by side:

Another before/after example:

After

Notice the emerging detail on the wings.

Workflow example

Here's the example of how you could use the Highlight Control in your post-processing workflow. Let's start with this image:

Let's run Highlight Control to extract some some detail out of highlights. Click on the 'Mask' view and adjust the 'Separation' slider until highlights are marked black and the rest of the image is white. Now, click on the 'Result' and adjust the Gamma and Contrast sliders until you see the detail emerge from the highlights. It's a matter of taste. Click 'OK'

Here it is processed. Notice the detail in the lighthouse, such as indentations and glass are accentuated. But, the sky is still featureless and boring.

That can be fixed by invoking the Photographic Filters. Either use one of the Cokin presets, like graduated tobacco, or create your own:

And the result:

Or to create the dusk look use the blue-gray color for the gradient:

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