The shadow detail of modern digital sensors never ceases to amaze me.

[sir pball]

I'm finally processing the photos from my wedding (six and a half months ago) and even with our retired-but-out-for-friends photographer using slightly older gear (Nikon D90) and shooting JPG, the things that pop when I break out the Shadow/Highlight tool make my head spin compared to even perfectly exposed Portra 160.

Original file, in-camera JPEG Fine processing:


After Shadow/Highlight, Vibrance and a touch of an S-curve:


Just...wow.

[ManiacJoe]

1. Good example.

Last edited Tue May 5, 2015, 06:07 PM - Edit history (1)

If you want even better results, shoot raw files.

[justiceischeap]

2. One of the things I am trying to remember (thus make a habit of)

is shooting for the highlights because I can revive the details in the shadows later. Of course, I shoot RAW, so there's a boatload of data there to play with when it comes to processing.

Here's a recent example of what I'm referring to (not a great photo but works for the example):

Straight out of camera RAW


Enhanced shadows (this is a couple of minutes in Lightroom adjusting whites, shadows and highlights)


If I were going to use this photo for any purpose, I'd also adjust colors, contrast, curves, etc.

[sir pball]

3. I almost always deliberately underexpose.

I just leave the EV at -0.7 usually, sometimes I'll dial it a bit lower if I have time to check the screen, but that seems like a good compromise spot in general. Along with hacked firmware to save totally uncompressed NEFs, the detail that postprocessing can pull out is amazing!