I just made the jump from Photoshop 5 to v5.5. What is the difference between "Auto Levels" and "Auto Contrast"?

-- MikeB (airlinestuff@yahoo.com), March 20, 2000

Answers

Levels is much much more sophisticated than contrast. You can also learn a lot about digital imaging by playing with the levels controls by hand, both in rgb mode and on the individual color channels. Read adobe's manual. You can learn a lot there too.

-- John Lehet (justme@well.com), March 21, 2000.

Mike, When I first started using photoshop (version 4) I used auto levels a lot, but after gaining more experience through the various upgrades, I have come to rely on level controls much more so than auto levels. I also use the Hue and Saturation controls extensively, especially in the red channel. I highly recommend the "Photoshop Bible" over the adobe instruction manual. I also spend a lot of time in the Adobe "user to user" forums. You will learn a tremendous amound there.

-- fred (fdeaton@hiwaay.net), March 21, 2000.

My favorite method is to create multiple layers of "levels" control. Instead of just making one and modifying it until I get what I want, I make many layers of very small changes. It makes it really easy to compare the "before" and "after" effects, and find out if the most recent change was really for the better. I'm by no means a Photoshop expert, though.. Take my advice with a grain of salt.

-- Defiler (defiler@null.net), March 21, 2000.