A FEW EXPLANATORY NOTES

Before we apply those principles to an image we need to take note of a few basic concepts in image-making and add some explanation to the mentioned principles

Determining Figure and Ground

Perhaps the highest level of image analysis is to break down an image into 2 simple elements: the figure and the ground. A principle, very well described by author Mark Getlein in his book Living with Art. It comes down to establishing what your most important object is, the figure, and your supporting background, the ground. The ground can be anything that is not your figure. A foreground can be ground, and so can a sky or any other type of background. If you want to know more, I’ve also written about it in this post.

Figure isolation and effectively drawing the eye

So what to do after you’ve determined your figure and ground? To effectively draw the eye in, the figure and the area of the ground that intersects closely with the figure should have the highest contrast and the brightest light, and the most details. Ideally, everything else should be lower in contrast and darker to effectively draw the eye in. Ideally, which doesn’t mean, always. If you understand this concept then you could play with ‘tension’ in other parts of the image and break this rule. Or perhaps there is more than 1 figure in your image. Let’s stick with the simplest version of just 1 figure and ground. You will find that even though you know exactly what your figure and ground are and had that in mind when taking the shot in the field, the amount and distribution of contrast and highlights and shadows aren’t as they should be to be effective. In that case, this will need to be corrected in post-production. And to do that effectively with the most control you will need to isolate the figure from its ground. And here’s where masking comes in. At the very least you need to at least have a hard mask from the figure and from the ground. Those two masks are called critical masks. From there, internal masks can be derived that are especially needed when you have geometric or manmade objects. And they are almost always a hard mask as they need to isolate a figure from its ground, not a soft or luminosity mask. Luminosity masks isolate light, not a figure unless the distribution of light intensities coincides exactly with the figure and ground, which is usually not the case. Masking and, often completely neglected, good mask analysis is a separate set of Photoshop and in-the-field skills that, if done the right way, requires more than just learning a Photoshop technique or trick. I have explained everything on masking and the correct methods, analysis, and workflow in my 5-hour Advanced Masking video, and is too elaborate to cover here. I have also written a blog post called Photoshop Masks and Selections Guide that you may use as a starting point.

APPLYING THE HIGH-LEVEL PRINCIPLES TO IMAGES

Now we have described and explained the high-level principles, how can we put this into practice in post-processing, independent of what processing technique or software we use? For that, I have created a sequence of steps presented below. Note that all steps after step 2 are grouped in Figure and Ground steps, and I start with the Ground first, but this is just a personal preference. If you prefer to start with the Figure, you should. Also, note that steps 3 to 10 can be repeated as many times as needed. There’s a special place for step 10 in my personal workflow as that is a step, I would insert frequently after every step after step 2.

PRACTICAL STEP SEQUENCE – A GUIDE

1. Determine figure(s) and ground(s). See my post on how to do this.
2. Isolate Figure from Ground by creating critical masks (hard masks). You can skip this step but then you have less control over the contrast, the light intensity, and the depth perception in both figure and ground. Processing becomes more difficult and less accurate. At the same time, the Figure can be broken down into separate planes with derived masks. Especially geometric objects in which the separate planes are bordered by edges always need separately derived masks.
3. Lower contrast in Ground. Then darken if your Ground should be darker and low-key or lighten if it should be lighter and high-key. But lowering the contrast first is essential before darkening or lightening, else you end up with higher contrast in the ground no matter if it’s lightened or darkened. This is a step most people forget.
4. Darken or lighten the ground – see step 3.
5. Lower contrast in Figure selectively. Same principle as in lowering the contrast in Ground. The idea is that by lowering the contrast first, it is easier to see what needs to be lighter/darker/less or more contrasty. Also, it will be easier to control the tonality and contrasts.
6. Darken or lighten Figure depending on how the light should fall. Essentially the same as in step 3 for the Ground but now more selectively
7. Increase contrast in and around the Figure
8. Bring back details in Figure selectively – often using hard masks with intersected luminosity masks in isolated areas.
9. Bring back some details in the Ground selectively and more subtly than the details in the Figure. The goal is to add points of interest to accentuate a leading line for example. Or to enhance mood by accentuating clouds. There are several reasons why you would want to do this after removing the contrast but always keep in mind that it should be subsidiary to the figure in terms of contrast and light intensity. Use of luminosity masks with intersected hard masks in isolated areas.
10. Create depth per plane using subtle gradual transitions from dark to light and vice versa per plane in Figure and in Ground. Often I would do this step after every step after step 2.