crushed blacks

[Geoff Haas]

A bit of a dumb question perhaps, but what does it mean when the blacks in an image are said to be "crushed"? I've heard this before and generally associate it with a mostly undesirable high contrast look. Just looking for more clarification on the meaning of the term. Thanks

[Phil Rhodes]

Hi,

 

Generally taken to mean unusually dense shadows; dark areas of the frame fall off to a very dark black more quickly than usual. May also mean literally cropping shadow detai off the bottom of the tonal range; to demonstrate, take any photographic image into Photoshop, hit CTRL-L for levels, and drag the leftmost slider up the histogram; the blacks are crushed.

 

Popularised by the bleach-bypass effect as used in Saving Private Ryan et. el., which causes metallic silver to be left in the dark areas of the frame, making them very opaque.

 

I happen to be a fan.

 

Phil

[Paul Bruening]

Hello,

 

I remember all the fuss I heard when Ryan came out. I like cool effects as much as any other guy, but, it is risky. The human brain wants to see "normal". If you goof with the picture too much, you remind the viewer that they are watching a movie instead of getting them captivated by the story.

 

Something to consider, at least.