Episode 84: Editing Shadows and Highlights

Jeff Carlson & Kirk McElhearn — Fri, 22 Jan 2021 11:30:00 -0800

We often talk about "bringing up the shadows" and "recovering highlights" when editing photos, particularly with raw files. But what does that mean exactly? This week, we walk through some edits to show just how that's done. This episode is available as audio with embedded images, and also as a video—go to photoactive.co and get the video link in the show notes.

Hosts:

Jeff's website, Jeff's photos, Jeff on Instagram
Kirk's website, Kirk's photos, Kirk on Instagram
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Show Notes:

(View show notes with images at PhotoActive.co)

Our Snapshots:

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First photo unedited

Exposure (looks terrible)

Shadows

Whites

Whites plus Shadows

Whites, Shadows, and Exposure

Highlights

Compare: Before

Compare: After

Blacks: Increase

Blacks: Decrease

Editing in the Photos app

Kirk’s edit in Photos app

Lightroom Auto button

Tone Curve in Lightroom

Tone Curve edits

Barn unedited

Barn Shadows

Barn Highlights

Barn Shadows decreased

Barn Contrast

Barn Blacks

Barn Color adjustments

Barn earlier full edit

Shoreline photo before editing

Full edit of shoreline photo

PhotoActive - Episodes Tagged with “Step By Step”

Episode 84: Editing Shadows and Highlights