Week 4: Bleach Bypass Filter in Color Efex Pro 4
© Martin Grahame-DunnThe Bleach Bypass Filter in Color Efex Pro 4 simulates a technique used with color film in which the bleach step was skipped to create a high contrast and low saturation effect. This is a great filter to add style and bring out details. Both still photographers and motion filmmakers would use this method to create a stylized image or film with a lot of impact. We’ll look at the controls available and create an image with a lot more drama, style, and impact.
There are four different global adjustments that you can customize to get the look you want.
The Brightness slider will either increase the brightness throughout the entire image by moving the slider to the right, or darken the image by moving the slider to the left.
By adding more Saturation to the image, colors throughout the image will increase in vibrancy. Move the slider all the way to the left to -90% to remove color and create a black and white image.
Contrast will add extra contrast throughout the image, increasing the difference between the lightest and the darkest tones.
To add more structure or texture to the fine lines and details, simply move the Local Contrast slider to the right.
Tip: To retain some of the details that might be lost in the Shadows or Highlights, try moving the Shadows and Highlights sliders to the right.
I am really enjoying your weekly series on filters. Thanks for providing a useful insight into the features in Color Efex Pro!
Thank you for your feedback Tom! We will be posting a new filter from Color Efex Pro 4 every week for a year. (It will give you something to look forward to!)
Ditto on Tom’s comment! Your filters are like “designed plays” in sports, the user really needs to know the advantages and disadvantages of applying in a particular situation. So, please give lots of details, not a 101 type of post!
And of course, keep providing the posts on using two or more filters together. The post on using Details Extractor along with Glamour Glow and how their individual characteristics could be married together was awesome!
I too am loving these weekly in depth filter lessons …but where is the post that Lee mentions about combining the detail extractor and Glamour glow?
Thanks Gillie for your comment! The blog post that Lee is referring to is: “Enhancing the Detail Extractor Filter by Tony Sweet”.
I just found these filter lessons via Twitter. Such a good idea. I bought the book ‘Nik Software Captured’ but they could not go into the detail of each filter like this. Good job! Thanks.
I really like this filter. I find myself going to it quite often. Much more than I expected.
Effective with many images and situations.