Shadows and Highlights

Talk about Pixelmator Pro, share tips & tricks, tutorials, and other resources.

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2021-06-03 19:43:03

I'm finding the shadows/highlights controls in Pixelmator Pro seem to work very different than in Lightroom. In Lightroom the shadows control is a bit more selective, raising darker shadows first, while in Pixelmator the shadows seem a bit closer to the brightness control and raises most areas a bit more collectively... Is there a way to adjust this in a future release.

I'm trying to brighten the shadows in one's face slightly, which works great in Lightroom, but in Pixelmator the lighter background is brightened as well.
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2021-06-05 01:45:56

Curves are a great alternative to try and mess with, there you can be very selective with what you want to lighten and darken!
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2021-06-11 13:05:18

by Andy Otto 2021-06-03 16:43:03 I'm finding the shadows/highlights controls in Pixelmator Pro seem to work very different than in Lightroom. In Lightroom the shadows control is a bit more selective, raising darker shadows first, while in Pixelmator the shadows seem a bit closer to the brightness control and raises most areas a bit more collectively... Is there a way to adjust this in a future release.

I'm trying to brighten the shadows in one's face slightly, which works great in Lightroom, but in Pixelmator the lighter background is brightened as well.
Interesting! Would you be able to share some examples of what you have in mind?
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2021-06-11 13:34:12

Examples? Not sure what you're asking. I'm not sure how the highlights and shadows sliders work, but it would be great if they were focused a bit more narrowly in the shadows realm of curves. I did use Tali's suggestion of using curves to be more selective with shadows/highlights, but it would be nice if the sliders (which are easier as a first step in photo editing) were more narrow in their effect.

Additionally, it would be nice to have a "whites" slider, as Lightroom has, to complement the black point slider.
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2021-06-14 13:00:59

We've actually got a few related color adjustment improvements in the making, so I thought we could test them out with your image(s) and see whether these improvements bring the results closer to what you're looking for. We could probably still make some adjustments if need be.
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2021-06-14 15:37:07

Got it. Here's the example I was thinking of. When I try and brighten the shadows to reveal the face a bit more, the trees and background brightens a bit much. I didn't encounter this in Lightroom.
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2021-06-16 08:22:01

Thanks! Alright, so I've zipped up both images (v2.0 edited with the current App Store version and v2.1 using the development version) here. In both cases, I've edited the images identically — brightened up the shadows by 40% using the Lightness adjustment. For better comparison, you can drop the images as layers to a PXD document, then toggle the top layer visibility on and off. Well, you know the drill. Let me know what you think of the results!
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2021-06-16 14:13:43

That's pretty good. Leaves some definition in the background. I look forward to the new release! Is there an ETA?
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2021-06-17 13:27:43

Awesome, glad to hear it! I'm not sure about the official release but we'll be launching a beta version really soon.
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2021-06-17 13:37:36

Just downloading the beta version that came out today! Does this version have the color changes? I didn't see anything in the version notes.
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2021-06-17 14:20:00

Ah, my bad — this beta version doesn't include the color adjustment changes just yet. Perhaps the next one will.
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2021-06-30 18:24:24

Does 2.1 Coral have these new adjustments you speak of?
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2021-07-02 10:58:03

The Pixelmator Pro beta you’ve been testing is the same Pixelmator Pro 2.1 we’ve released on the Mac App Store a few days ago, so it doesn’t feature the color adjustment improvements. This update isn’t quite ready for a public launch just yet but it shouldn’t be too long before it’s available. :fingers_crossed:
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2021-09-21 23:41:13

Just checking in regarding new color adjustment changes. Will they soon be available? What will be changing?
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2021-09-27 11:11:22

Hi Andy! We haven't settled on the official release date yet (I guess I spoke about the feature a little too soon) but the developments haven't been canceled or anything like that. I'll try to check with the devs if there's any chance we can an early build of Pixelmator Pro containing those changes for you to test out.
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2022-01-10 02:11:35

Was there any progress in improving the shadow recovery?
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2023-03-01 12:18:37

Update: The texture-aware color adjustments with improved highlight and shadow recovery are (finally) out! You can download the latest Pixelmator Pro version (Pixelmator Pro 3.3 Mosaic) to try them out. We'd love to hear what you think. :pray:
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2023-03-01 13:49:57

I saw that! I waited a while for this! Seems to work much better in my opinion. Thanks for your work on this.