Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
As good as digital cameras have become these days, when it comes to exposure,
the human eye totally kicks their butt. That's why we shoot so many photos where
our subject is backlit, because with our naked eye we can see the subject just fine
(our eye adjusts). But when we open the photo, the subject is basically in silhouette.
Or how about sunsets, where we have to choose which part of the scene to expose
for—the ground or the sky—because our camera can't expose for both? Well, here's
how to use Camera Raw to overcome this exposure limitation:
Step One:
Open the photo you want to double-
process. In this example, the camera
properly exposed for the sky in the back-
ground, so the rock formation in the
foreground is a silhouette. Of course,
our goal is to create something more like
what our eye sees, but our camera can't—
a photo where both the foreground rocks
and the sky are each exposed properly.
Plus, by double-processing (editing the
same RAW photo twice), we can choose
one set of edits for the sky and another
for the rocks, to create just what we want.
Step Two:
Let's start by making the rocks visible.
Drag the Shadows slider all the way to
the right, and now at least you can see
them, but it's still not enough, so you'll
have to bump up the Exposure slider, as
well (here, I've dragged it over to +1.00).
The rocks look kind of “flat” contrast-
wise, so bump up the Contrast a bit,
too (let's go to +28). Lastly, since these
are rocks, and we want to accentuate
their texture, let's crank the Clarity up
to around +40, and then make the little
bit of color that's there more vibrant
by increasing the Vibrance to around
+37. Now, press-and-hold the Shift key,
and the Open button changes to Open
Object (as seen here). Click it.
