I found this video and thought it was an interesting way to deal with the mask display issues that are being discussed.
4 Likes
Well, he used (only showed) the colored mask(s) for the selection, whose overlay(s) need to be off for editing. â With less clearly âseparatedâ colors / luminosity range(s) one might make use of the classical B&W mask.
The probably new thing is in this video
(canât check at the moment)
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Itâs always the same problem, In my view.
We rush to Local Adjustment BEFORE weâve worked on the image as a whole.
PhotoLab has been designed to define a balanced image.
Iâm afraid that too much LA, too fast, is detrimental to quality.
These advice never seems to be given.
Pascal
4 Likes
What a clear and straighforward presentation of how LAs work now! I like his approach and rationale - though I also agree with what youâre saying, Pascal.
What most bothers me in PL7 (besides what he mentions in his second video) is that some of the mask adjustments canât be viewed while you drag sliders: one must let go of the mouse button to have the adjustment to the mask applied. While I consider this a serious setback, the DxFlow video seems to demonstrate a certain amount of comfort with the new behavior, in that he doesnât mention it at all.
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This can easily happen, but we can still revisit the global adjustments for balancing.
My current setup for easier use is this:
Starting with my default preset which includes the tools that I use most (without having to use them on every image) and marking LA parts as favourites, I can then filter the tools to get a fairly lean view (after collapsing all).
I begin with GA, then set the filter for favourites to focus on LA. I could also create a custom palette for the GAs, but filtering is easier because it all happens in the same place at the uper edge of the right dock. Iâm still experimenting though and might return to custom palettes because I can sort them as I like, which better serves my editing procedure.
Of course, we know that.
Listeners who want to rush to the LA are never properly oriented.
Pascal
Itâs not practical to hold everyoneâs hand.
I donât like the term ânanny stateâ which is used to (somewhat reductively) describe a governmentâs tendency to control every aspect of peopleâs lives, but I see a similar undercurrent in the forums lately. I guess it happens after any new release with fundamentally new ways of working.
Would it be wonderful if every aspect of the software was obvious, intuitive, and simple? Sure it would! But expecting as much is a foolâs errand, I fear. Lest anyone think PhotoLab is obscure in its ways, I wouldnât wish on anyone some of the enterprise software I have been exposed to in my job.
Software with complexity, which includes PhotoLab, can only meet these lofty goals with the employment of one or more experts in the field of human interface design. The reality is most companies simply donât want the cost. The phrase âwhen good enough will doâ is one that springs to mind.
Should we push DxO to improve in this area? Maybe, but evidence so far shows itâs not somewhere they want to spend significant budget, and that doesnât mark them out as different from the competition.
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If PhotoLab is complex, it has had some success to hide that fact and make it easy to use. I find that some of that ease-of-use and simplicity of interface was at least partially lost by
- reducing contrast in the ui
- tool panels containing tools that deserve separation
- showing features that cannot be used
- âŚ
- convoluted operations in LA
All of the above is not the result of expert knowledge, but sometimes, common sense can be good enough. I really wish that DxO dropped some of its one-way marketing/selling energy and got more active in interacting (here) and refurbishing common sense in their software ui/ux implementations.
5 Likes
I donât think pl7 needs a fundamentally new way of working.
Lot of noise for little changes.
PL7 needs some little ergonomics adjustments (I hope they wil be done fast) but it is about the same as PL6 (same way of working).
1 Like
Coming back to what the presenter showed in his second video âŚ
one has to be in the â âmask edit modeâ
LA in PL7
like â in PL6
LA in PL6
when â to instantly compare without local adjustments
.
BUT again it shows some of the problems with the PL7 GUI.
-
scrolling down the list
the LA header as well the [still fixed size] layerâs box slip out ouf sight
-
while there is no more indication in the top bar about an active âmask edit modeâ
-
really annoying when moving to another pic ⌠and the âmask edit modeâ still active
-
âŚ
