I have the photo below (full size if you want to play). I know there is rock detail in the black area but how do i get the detail out without lightening the rest of the picture?
Thanks for any advice
Alan
March 12, 2024
53
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Do you have the raw file?
In PS, just use the Adobe camera raw filter/plugin. It has to be embedded in PS. Select the desired layer (you'll probably have just one), make sure it's not locked, then press Ctrl-Shift-A or "Filter" -> "Camera Raw Filter".
Then there's a slider to lift the shadows up.It can be done on a jpeg too, but with this particular image with almost black shadows, you won't get good results if you only have a jpeg.
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Thanks - that worked
Alan
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Here's what I could do with a jpg:
But with a RAW, you can do much better (obviously).
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The reason being that JPEG processing sets a black level which is coded to value zero. The raw file might have levels below that, but you can never access them since the JPEG processing has thrown all that data away.
Also, the shadows in a JPEG have to be really compressed, since it all has to be squeezed into an 8-bit code. When you try to stretch them out again, you're likely to get posterisation. -
With Raw and a good sensor and maybe base ISO you can recover a lot of details form deep shadow, as I found out here.
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From a documentary point of view, the second image is very good. From an artistic and interpretative point of view, the first is more interesting (I'm talking about pareidolia).
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I think the shadows additionally suffer from quantisation errors because of gamma compression in jpeg. That is, tonal levels will be less granular in the shadows than in midtones.
The above recovery attempt from Great Bustard shows all of the above issues: completely lost black areas, posterisation and posterised noise. -
If you want to play with my picture, it's here www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/11hu8tjxn0d0cd6uhm3j6/MSCF0494.RAF?rlkey=rztd36p1fn42ybkewyj62a1y6&dl=1 for you to download. But it's still my picture, so please don't publish it anywhere outside this forum.
Alan
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How's this?
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couldnt open the file in photoshop so i used fast stone levels. the image needed a boat in it.
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Yes indeed. On the other hand, you don't need a lot of quality in the deepest shadows in the final photo. Adam's zone system defines Zone I as 'Near black, with slight tonality but no texture' and zone II as 'Textured black; the darkest part of the image in which slight detail is recorded'. So long as you stay within Zone I you can get away with a lot. This image calls for a lift way past Zone II, probably up to zone IV. But in the end, processing your file differently from the default JPEG is what raw is all about.
I tried downloading, but my raw tools on this computer are too old, so I put it through RawDigger, which shows that there's useful data in those clipped blacks
Then I exported as a 16 bit TIFF and messed around the the Gimp (I don't use Adobe tools). This is just tweaking the tone curve directly.
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This quick attempt before breakfast can certainly be refined, but it shows the shot is not irredeemable.
David
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Here you go:
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good to see you back Bob.
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If you did look at the RAW histogram in RawDigger you did see that there's a lot empty at the right end. Alan should have exposed one or one and half stop more and still he did not clip the highlights. Then there was much more details in shadows to lift.
Now I think you did open shadows a little too much to my taste. I see disturbing posterisation. You also clipped highlights at those foamy waves. But that's me.😎
OK, my take using RawTherapee an Gimp.
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Well, there's a limit to how much I'm going to criticise Alan's technique 😀. In fact his is very normal, because the camera's metering system is set up to expose the midtones to the JPEG reference point - never mind where the highlights fall or how much raw headroom there is - and in Fujifilm cameras there's generally quite a bit.
I agree, it was a quick and dirty effort. Here's one just using RT.
And this is the tone curve:
Looked good in RT. Now I see it on the site, I don't like it so much. Hmm. -
I thought it was a good advice for next time shooting. At so contrasty scene as this I recommend exposure bracketing.
Yes, there's a raw histogram in Therapee and I've seen darker shots in my own ones.😏 But a little more exposure was better.
Color management problem? Did you set monitor profile in RT's preferences? What is your output color profile in RT?
