Relief Shading

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Last update:
15/11/2006

TECHNIQUES

Different techniques exist for producing a shaded relief. The development of some techniques occurred recently, while others are of historical interest only.

Today’s fastest technique combines analytical shading with refinements in Photoshop.

Photoshop & DEM

Photoshop & DEM

If a digital elevation model is not available for your area, simply working in Photoshop is the best technique.

Photoshop

Photoshop

A digital airbrush used by an experienced expert is a good solution for producing high quality relief.

Airbrush

Airbrush

Manual drawing is rare today, but might be the only solution if a computer is not available.

Drawing

Drawing

Although the Wenschow technique is no longer applicable, legacy Wenschow relief art is still in use today.

Wenschow

Wenschow

Analytical shaded relief is the name given to relief created from digital elevation models. It is important to note that the quality of unaltered analytical shaded relief can be lacking for making appealing and descriptive maps. Nevertheless, graphical improvements to analytical relief are possible in Photoshop.