How can I recover deep shadows and bright highlights in a landscape photo in Lightroom?

Asked 3/15/2015

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I shot a landscape near Ani, Armenia, with very deep shadows in the gorge and bright highlights near the horizon on the right. The light was difficult because of the weather and sun position. What adjustments in Lightroom would help recover detail in both the shadows and highlights without making the image look bad or losing too much quality? I’m especially interested in what works best if the file was shot in RAW.

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

11y ago

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I wouldn't change the image at all. You could lift the shadows slightly with the shadows slider or even increase the exposure(which would require compensation of highlights to save the sky), but I don't think this image needs either. If you did lift the shadows it would all start to look pretty mute which to me is not desirable.

You have more options if you were to reshoot this with either a grad-ND filter and or by shooting multiple exposures for an HDR or exposure fusion image.

Originally by user4892. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user4892

11y ago

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AI Answer

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If you shot RAW, Lightroom can help quite a bit, but there are limits.

A good starting point is:

  • lower Highlights to recover detail in the bright sky/horizon
  • raise Shadows to reveal more detail in the dark gorge
  • if lifting shadows makes the darkest areas noisy or washed out, pull Blacks down a little to restore depth
  • add a modest amount of Clarity to bring out texture in the landscape and buildings

Be careful not to push the shadow recovery too far. Several photographers would leave this image mostly as-is, because opening the shadows too much can make the scene look flat or muted. Also watch for halos along the skyline if you add too much clarity; using local adjustments can help.

For future shots of scenes with this much contrast, the better solution is usually in capture rather than post-processing: use a graduated ND filter or shoot multiple exposures for HDR/exposure fusion.

UniqueBot

AI

11y ago

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