Lobster files remain in RGB mode.
The Luminosity and Chromaticity layers are unique
Lobster remedies the RGB tonal display of Levels
Lobster accurately separates tonal (luminosity) values and operations from colour values and operations
Lobster is quick!
Lobster can be used slowly and thoughtfully
Lobster gives more useful histograms
Lobster gives you new uses for tools such as Dodge & Burn
Lobster enables you to make accurate changes to colour
Lobster's manual contains information about Photoshop not easily found elsewhere
Lobster gives Adjustment Layers whole new uses
Lobster is easy to download, install, activate and use
but not everything is a plus! You will need additional disk space for your Lobster files, as splitting them into 4 separate layers can multiply your disk needs by 3 times.
Detailed feature notes:
1. Lobster files remain in RGB mode throughout the operation. Lobster does not convert your file, or the Lobster copy, into another mode at any stage of its operation.
2. The Luminosity and Chromaticity layers are unique.
They have not been borrowed from elsewhere in Photoshop.
It is not possible to make the Lobster layers with a few simple operations.
The values in the Luminosity layer exactly match the Control Points in Curves.
This makes the most important RGB tonal editing tool the most accurate it has EVER BEEN for RGB files with colour information.
In its present form, the tonal expectations of Curve’s RGB interface are often incorrect or confusing – this means Curves cannot work to its potential precision. This marvellous tool is often reduced to a “push it and see” function in the practice of many digital workers. (The proof for these issues is introduced in Experiment with Curves.)
Without Lobster, RGB Curves can actually become a tool for disturbing the structure of your file, instead of a tool for careful editing.
The values in the Chromaticity Set follow a unique brightness order that creates new options for the way colour editing can be controlled. The Chromaticity manual is full of examples of this feature.
FreeGamma Pty. Ltd. has carefully created the Chromaticity Set so that it generally offers the richest choice of editing options. There are other possible Chromaticity Sets that are not as rich.
The Lobster combination of layers reproduces with 100% accuracy, 100% of the range of RGB values in sRGB IEC1966-2.1, Adobe RGB (1998), Pro Photo RGB. (This is true when measured with the Info palette set to 8 bit per channel read-out.)
3. Lobster remedies the Histogram display accuracy of RGB Levels.
The second most important tonal tool in digital photography is Levels. Its RGB interface is usually misrepresented in digital texts. The Luminosity layer corrects this misrepresentation, and the Luminosity manual proves and explains this principle.
4. Lobster accurately separates tonal (Luminosity) values and operations from the colour values and operations.
A “Divide and Conquer” approach is a light-hearted way of describing a basic feature of Lobster: the separation of tonal (Luminosity) values and operations from the colour (Hue and Saturation) operations.
Luminosity can now be locked into place and then the Hue and/or Saturation in the Chromaticity Set modified at will. Luminosity no longer changes when Hue and/or Saturation are changed.
Luminosity can be changed without causing shifts in Hue.
This feature is important for any digital worker, but vital for those who are involved in curatorial, archival or medical work that involves digital tonal correction to a file. Files could be needlessly and incorrectly changed in Hue without using “Lobster”, thus misrepresenting the appearance of records.
But as the manuals point out – it is easy to make tonal edits with errors that go beyond Hue shifts.
5. Lobster is quick!
Lobster can be used quickly. Its accurate breakdown of tone and colour means that basic tonal adjustments through Curves can be truly made from the Curve Control Points. Without Lobster, this is NOT the case in any RGB file of greater than zero saturation.
Saturation and Hue can be adjusted through the Chromaticity set without worrying about causing tonal changes.
A file can look “respectable”, quickly and accurately. The user is always working with, rather than against, their informed intentions.
6. Lobster can also be used slowly and thoughtfully.
The histograms above the Luminosity layer and Chromaticity set gives unique information. Both have different information from those normally supplied by Levels – and both are enormously useful for many operations.
7. Lobster gives more useful histograms.
The histograms above the Luminosity layer and Chromaticity set gives unique information. Both have different information from those normally supplied by Photoshop – and both are enormously useful for many operations.
8. Lobster gives you new uses for many dialogue boxes and tools.
Lobster provides a reliable use for tools such as Dodge & Burn without their irregular Hue changes that sometimes occur.
Apply Image can now be used to mix tonal and colour information from many files allowing for a great enriching of available information.
Lobster gives you more editing options when Hue/Saturation, Selective Color, Color Balance or the channel interfaces on Curves and Levels are applied to the Chromaticity aspect of the image as Adjustment layers.
New sets of options are created when edited through the new Brightness order of the Chromaticity Set. See the Chromaticity manual for examples and explanations.
There are scores of other new possibilities to a file in Lobster.
9. Lobster's manual contains information about Photoshop not found elsewhere.
A basic understanding of Luminosity is one of the keys to the Luminosity Manual – this helps explain many Photoshop operations that are otherwise inexplicable. The Manual contains information about Photoshop not normally published. The Manual does not needlessly repeat information available in other guides.
10. Lobster gives Adjustment Layers whole new editing possibilities.
The “Points of Insertion” in a Lobster file allow an adjustment layer with the same settings to produce a different result in different positions. When this is combined with Layer Blending modes the combinations are endless. The differences range from extremely subtle to gross.
The Lobster Manual provides suggestions to test these features and form an understanding based on objective and subjective qualities.
11. Lobster is easy to download, install, activate and use.
You simply purchase Lobster online, download the application and manual, and away you go. Installation is simple, just drag and drop the application, enter your serial number, and you are ready to work. Processing an image with Lobster is as simple as one click.
You should be sure to keep your serial number for your records.
(Please note that if you are behind a firewall or do not have access to the Internet from your work computer, then you may have to manually activate Lobster.)
12. “Everything in photography is a trade-off”.
All of the features of a Lobster file are not positive. These features come at the price of a larger file size. A basic Lobster file is approximately 3 times the size of its single layered version.
The “Original” layer has been retained for two main reasons.
First: so that you sure that there has not been any change from your original values.
Second: so that it may serve as the source for a selection or mask. Some Lobster users discard the “Original” layer immediately after the Lobster operation so that the file is now twice the size of its single layered version.
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