? Crushed shadows

? Blown highlights

RedGreenBlue 111 RedGreenBlue 555 Not all “crushed shadows” are actually black

RedGreenBlue 10 RedGreenBlue 50 As long as pixels aren’t clipped to pure black (or white), detail still exists Transformation: Pixel value x 10

Real-world examples Tools Exposure adjustment -Levels -Curves Better Tools Selective shadow/highlight adjustment High Dynamic Range (HDR) blending

Important side effect Raising shadows reveals noise!

RAW Headroom Original JPEG -4EV adjustment in ACR RAW -4EV adjustment in ACR RAW format gives extra dynamic range headroom to restore crushed shadows and blown highlights

Fill FlashOriginal Shadows adjustment Fill flash Low-power flash can “fill in” shadows Better tones, less noise than shadows adjustment

Color Temperature Light sources can be approximated as “black bodies” of a certain temperature Daylight: similar to 5000K black body (even light across the spectrum) Incandescent light: lower temperature (more red light, less blue) Shade/daylight: higher temperature (more blue light, less red) Human vision system makes corrections for different light sources Cameras aren’t so good at this

<- What we see What cameras see -> (interpreting all wavelengths equally)

White Balancing Auto-white balance White balance preset Color temperature Custom white balance RAW adjustment Last resort: color balance the JPEG