High Exposure - colour correct with detail.

[lister110]

Hi Everyone,

I need to work on some images shot by a photographer. He has used a nikon camera at a High exposure, which at the moment needs colour correcting. I have oped the file in Bridge/Camera Raw but the exposure setting has to come right down to have some detail in the highlights (clipping).

By doing this the mid-tones start to look very dark, so Im a little unsure the best approach to achieve a food result.

Please could someone take a look at the link provided and comment on how best to correct this raw file using adobe bridge/photoshop.

https://files.me.com/mrlister/e3j6jy

Thanks


lister

[oneredpanther]

Hi lister,

Make two conversions of the RAW, one at -3 exposure and the other at the default of zero. Load both images into the same file, the darker one on top. Add a layer mask (filled black) to to the top (darker) layer and use a soft white brush to paint the details back into the sky and white parts. Once you're happy, flatten the image or use adjustment layers to work on the rest of it.

regards,

panth

[Flashtones]

Not sure what sort of look you're going for. In this attempt I'm toning down the highlights and shadows with Recovery and Fill and increasing midtone contrast with Contrast and Clarity.

Your strongest highlights are in the overcast sky. Whether they're worth fighting for I don't know, but with Recovery and Exposure they're certainly available if you wish to go the multiple conversion route.

[andrewrodney]

Set overall exposure with the exposure slider (alt/option drag to see the clipping; white is all three channels). You don’t want to go too far with Recovery, it will cause some color shifting. You can adjust from there with Fill and to set black, I prefer to use the Shadows slider in curves instead of Black slider. Clarity can be quite helpful for boosting Midtone contrast.

[mistermonday]

The suggestions above are all very good. I am not sure what message the photographer is trying to convey with this image but if you are trying to pull more detail out of the shadows while also trying to recover some of the blown highlights, you might want to try some tonemapping software (example shown attached). This scene is a good example of high contrast daylight and I would have taken bracketed exposures to best capture the dynamic range.
Regards, Murray

[oneredpanther]

Woah. A very rare HDR done right!

[mistermonday]

Originally Posted by oneredpanther

Woah. A very rare HDR done right!

Thanks! I try to avoid the overcooked and grunge looks.
Regards, Murray

[Boneappetit]

Hi there:

First of all, this is a nice picture. I don't know what you want to do with your image, but IMHO, the problem that you are having with it, is that the image "doesn't have a sky". I played with it, and added a sky with a couple of clouds, (quickly done, not perfect to the detail) and I guess it adds DOF to the image, without the sky the photo looks too flat, and even boring... BTW the image is perfect to give it a kinda Dave Hill look because it is scene... But I don't know if this is what you want to do with it... (in fact I gave it a try and it looks so cool) LOL...

The colors are not a problem, they can be adjusted to your like... I didn't use Camera Raw on this one...

This is just a sample, with sky added...

[Flashtones]

Originally Posted by andrewrodney

You don’t want to go too far with Recovery, it will cause some color shifting.

I have it cranked to 100. Which colors do you find problematic?

[lister110]

Thanks for all the tips. It's being a bit problematic as the photographer has allowed too much light into the image which has totally blown any highlights. I have about 10 more images all with the same exposure settings which are pretty difficult to achieve good results.

When shooting in the day with extreme light, would you increase the shutter speed?

Thanks again for all your help..

[mistermonday]

Originally Posted by lister110

Thanks for all the tips. It's being a bit problematic as the photographer has allowed too much light into the image which has totally blown any highlights. I have about 10 more images all with the same exposure settings which are pretty difficult to achieve good results.

When shooting in the day with extreme light, would you increase the shutter speed?

Thanks again for all your help..

Increasing the shutter speed will not necessarily solve your problem. because each scene will be slightly different. It might be more efficient to change the camera's metering setting (matrix, center weighted, or spot). Or if the camera has a tendency to over expose all the time, you can change the exposure bias (-1/3, -2/3, -1 ev). However, all that being said, it is important to note that a camera's sensor can only capture a limited dynamic range. In daylight, where the scenes are very high contrast, the sensors are not able to capture the dynamic range - not even the most expensive cameras. Some part of the scene is either too dark or too light. Your best solution for these high contrast scenes is to take multiple bracketed shots and combine them later using s/w on your computer.

[bmcfadzean]

what is wrong with this result?

http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n49/p3r10/myfile.jpg

It appears quite natural from what i can see. I obviously wasn't there to see what you actually could see. To be honest, I don't mind that you overexposed the image; you actually made it a better file by doing so, the reason I say this is that the image that has less noise particularly in the shadows. Nearly most if not all the detail is there in the image, it doesn't appear to be overexposed by a lot.

Let me know your thoughts.

[Boneappetit]

Too pale, it looks flat... No life. Looks boring. As I said before the photo doesn't have a sky, it looks like a roof of the mall... This pic is perfect to give it a DH look, or at least in that style...

[bmcfadzean]

Good to see that we disagree, on something.

If you actually have a look at the image, it is a improvement on what was taken. I am happy to provide a link to a high res version so you can view it easier. The contrast is increased, the overall dynamic range has been extended, the colours appear more vibrant and true to what was most likely seen by our eyes (rather then what is depicted by our camera).
.
I don't know about you, but wouldn't you prefer an image that reflects what you see? Which represents the scene, and not some special effect, that you've spent 'wanging' on photoshop to achieve?

And yes I do agree with you, it doesn't have a sky.

[Boneappetit]

Good to know we can agree to disagree... First of all, my opinion of the photo was not from your result. If you check my first post above (earlier than yours) I wrote the same thing, just answering lister's question, because he/she was having problems precisely trying to add some life to the photo and/or boost the contrast and colors. There's no use in posting this photo if you are not going to process it in Photoshop. If you saw the version I uploaded, adding the sky made a heck of a difference there... I just added the sky, no further retouch. Everyone is entitled to its own opinion, and I respect yours.
Mine is, that the photo needs more punch (and a sky) because it adds DOF to it... but that's me...