The value and power of PP

[S_J_P]

I've just been reviewing some pictures taken at Chartwell House (National Trust) this weekend, and came across the pic below, grossly underexposed (it was exposed for the sky) and I though "What could LR do with it?"

So, less than a minute in Lightroom straightening and cropping it, WB adjustment, medium-contrast curve applied, adjustments to exposure highlights/shadows/white/black, a little clarity/vibrance increase, a bullseye adjustment to saturation/luminance on the sky (overdone as it looks "HDR"), grass, and house, and some sharpening (No NR added), and in less time than it took me to type that list I achieved the second image.

It's not a good image, but it is amazing from the perspective of what can be retrieved by exposing to the right and then recovering shadow detail!

Anyhow, I just thought I'd share this with you all

Chartwell-2.jpg

Chartwell-1.jpg

[rcarca]

Re: The value and power of PP

Steve

That is a powerful demonstration of the power of PP and the oodles of data that sits in a raw format file.

Great!

Richard

[ST-EOS]

Re: The value and power of PP

You've certainly brought out the data from the raw file, what version of LR did you use Steve.

[wayne2418]

Re: The value and power of PP

That's an unbelievable difference (don't get me wrong I am not doubting you Steve )... amazing even !! ..

[Dave s]

Re: The value and power of PP

Cracking job Steve just shows what can be done with lr when you know what your doing.

[Dave_S]

Re: The value and power of PP

An excellent demo Steve

There is a moral in there too , if its under exposed there's a very good chance of recovering the content, whereas if it is over exposed, then at the very least, the highlights will be burnt out, and gone forever.

Dave

[tesarver]

Re: The value and power of PP

Nicely done Steve

Tom

[AlexR!]

Re: The value and power of PP

So there's always hope then...
Great example, thanks for sharing, Steve.

[mikep]

Re: The value and power of PP

There is a moral in there too , if its under exposed there's a very good chance of recovering the content, whereas if it is over exposed, then at the very least, the highlights will be burnt out, and gone forever.

Funny you say that. I was thinking the same recently, and I now apply some negative compensation in most cases. Blow this highlights, and they're gone, under expose and pull it back in PP. Of course, there's always the motto that you should get it right I camera, but that's not always possible with extreme dynamic range, where you don't want to do HDR.

Excellent example. Well done, and thanks for the demonstration.

Mike

[S_J_P]

Re: The value and power of PP

Glad you all appreciated the example

The processing was performed in Lightroom 5.5, though as far as I'm aware the tools all work in the same way since LR4 (LR3 was different with (if I remember correctly) lights/darks instead of highlights and shadows and was far less tolerant of large adjustments).

No matter how many times I do this sort of thing it never ceases to amaze me just how much detail is available in the shadows when using raw (JPEG is a completely different kettle of fish however), and how clean it can look as long as ISO is kept in check.

Underexposing is a technique I've used successfully in low-light conditions, with -1 (possibly -2 at a pinch) stops exposure-compensation or underexposure in manual allowing hand-holding shutter speeds at medium ISO. It's a balance between higher ISO noise and the noise inherent in the low signal shadow areas at lower ISO, but can give a reasonable result when you can't achieve a perfect exposure without pushing the limits of shutter-speed and/or ISO.