WORKING WITH RAW FILES
1
Read the histogram
Open ty_elements29.dng. By looking at the raw file’s histogram
graph (at the top right of the Camera Raw workspace) we can see
that it has tones in the shadows, midtones and highlights. However,
the blue shadows on the far left don’t peak very high, so they could
be a little darker to give the shot more contrast. The red highlights on
the right are shooting up to the top, indicating some over-exposed
areas in the leaves.3
Boost the contrast
It’s fine if a few clipped highlight patches remain in the
background, because there’s no crucial texture detail in these
blurred areas. Press O to turn off the highlight clipping warning.
A photo should have some bright highlights and dark shadows to create
good contrast. Press U to activate the Shadow clipping warning. Drag
the Blacks slider left to -10. Some blue shadow clipping patches will
appear on the coat, but there’s no crucial detail to be lost here.2
Turn on clipping warnings
To see which areas are over-exposed, click the red highlight
clipping warning triangle at the top right of the histogram (or
press O for over-exposed). The blown-out areas appear as patches of
red in the main image. By sliding Exposure to -0.40 you can diminish
the red clipped patches a little. Drag the Highlights slider to -65 to
restore more clipped highlight detail without under-exposing the
highlights in the subject’s face.4
Before and after
Press U to remove the blue shadow clipping warning patches.
The histogram now has more shadow information peaking at
the far left, and the highlight information isn’t peaking quite so high at
the right. Toggle the Preview button to see a before and after version
of the edited shot. The histogram will also toggle between the original
and edited version. After enhancing the brightest highlights and the
darkest shadows we can now reveal more midtone detail.