Flaming Pear Mr. Contrast Manual

What it does

How to Install

Controls

Hints

Versions

How to Purchase

Questions

Mr. Contrast

What it does

Mr. Contrast adds dramatic contrast to pictures. It has controls to drag out every last particle of detail and then subdue the result with glows. The effect is suited to black & white photos, especially infrared imagery, and you can colorize the output to resemble a lith print.

How to install

To use this software, you need a paint program which accepts standard Photoshop 3.0 plugins.

Just put the plug-in filter into the folder where your paint program expects to find it. If you have Photoshop, the folder is Photoshop:Plugins:Filters or Photoshop:Plug-ins. You must restart Photoshop before it will notice the new plug-in. It will appear in the menus as Filters->Flaming Pear->Mr. Contrast.

Most other paint programs follow a similar scheme.

If you have Paint Shop Pro: you have to create a new folder, put the plug-in filter into it, and then tell PSP to look there. In PSP's menus, choose File-> Preferences->General Program Preferences (PSP versions 5 and 6) or File->Preferences->File Locations (PSP version 7). Next, click the Plug-in Filters tab. Use a "Browse" button to choose the folder. The plugin will appear in the menus as Image->Plug-in Filters->Flaming Pear->Mr. Contrast.

Controls

When you invoke Mr. Contrast, a dialog box will appear:

Quick start |  |  |

If you just want to see some effects quickly, click the dice button until you see an something you like; then click OK.

Using the dice is the easiest way to use Mr. Contrast. If you want to hand-tune your own effects, it helps to learn the controls, which are arranged into four groups:

> Elements

> Mix

> Curves

> Colors

...and a few other controls that affect the whole image.

dice

1. Elements |  |  |

Mr. Contrast works by making several different gray versions of your image, and then combining them. The controls in the Elements group influence these ingredients.

Color that guides RGB to grayscale conversion:

If your starting image is in color, Mr. Contrast first converts it to shades of gray. Hues in the picture similar to this guide color tend to become paler shades of gray; different hues tend to become darker shades of gray. The effects is much like placing a colored filter on the lens of a camera and then taking a black & white photo.

Click the button to change the color.

If your starting image is grayscale to begin with, this control is ignored.

Nearby is a rainbow button that will pick a random color for you.

The resulting grayscale image is the "dry" version of the picture, and from it the detail, harsh, and soft versions are created.

color & rainbow buttons

original image

result of red guide color

result of blue guide color

Detail Size: This control changes contrsat in a complicated way. When you choose a size with this slider, it emphasizes features of that size; ignores anything smaller; and dimishes the contrast of anything larger.

In parts of the image that are featureless, grain will get amplified. If you are starting with JPEG-format images, use the highest-quality ones you can, because this control will accentuate the blocky JPEG artifacts.

small detail size

large detail size

Glow Size sets the blur radius for the soft glow and the harsh glow. Soft Glow is a soft-focus version of the input image. This slider controls the brightness of the glow. Harsh Glow is a more severe kind of soft focus that tends to make the image dark. This slider controls the strength of the glow. |  | soft glow harsh glow |

2. Mix |  |  |
Dry mix Detail mix Soft mix Harsh mix These sliders set the proportions for mixing the four versions of the image that were created in the Elements section. |  | a mixture of the dry, detail, soft, and harsh versions |

3. Curves |  |  |

Gamma influences the brightness of the image. Black and white don't change, but all the gray levels between do.

Contrast biases dark shades toward black, and light shades toward white. In technical terms, it produces an S-shaped tone-mapping curve.

higher gamma

higher gamma + higher contrast

4. Colors |  |  |

Although Mr. Contrast is geared toward making black & white output, you can keep the original color or add your own.

Original color will combines the greyscale result with the picture's original hues. This control sets the vividness of the color from zero (grey) to double.

Colorize lets you tint the result with your own color. You can choose the color with the color button, or get one randomly from the nearby rainbow button.

'Colorize' overrides 'Original color'. If 'Colorize' is set to maximum, any influence from 'Original color' is discarded.

original color

colorized

color & rainbow buttons

5. Other controls |  |  |

Dice The dice choose a random effect. Click as much as you want to see different effects.

Glue mode popup menu Lets you combine the result with the underlying image in various ways. Modes other than "normal" produce special effects.

Plus, % and minus buttons: If the selected image area is larger than the preview are, these buttons will let you zoom in and out. You can also reposition the preview by dragging it around; your cursor will turn into a hand.

Load preset Mr. Contrast comes with some presets, which are files containing settings. To load one, click this button and browse for a preset file.

Save preset When you make an effect you like, click this button to save the settings in a file.

Undo backs up one step.

Three more buttons:

OK Applies the effect to your image.

Cancel Dismisses the filter, and leaves the image unchanged.

Register Allows you to type in a registration code.

dice

load preset (top)
and save preset

undo

Hints

Mr. Contrast works best on pictures with lots of fussy detail, photos with clouds, and infrared black-and-whites.

If you change the "Colorize" color, but the picture doesn't change: Set the "colorize" slider to 100 and make sure "Auto preview" is checked.

If you click the dice, and everything changes except the color buttons: The color buttons have their own separate randomizers. Try clicking either of the big rainbow-colored buttons.

Marco Pauck has pages and links about infrared photography.

Version History Version 1.00 December 2001 The first public release. |  |  |

How to Purchase

You can place an order online here. A secure server for transactions is available.

Questions

Answers to common technical questions appear on the support page, and free upgrades appear periodically on the download page.

Trouble with your order? Orders are handled by Kagi; please contact them at admin@kagi.com .

For bug reports and technical questions about the software, please write to support@flamingpear.com .