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Oct 13 2009

Pulling Detail out of the Shadows with Adobe Lightroom

Posted by Jeff in Image Processing, Lightroom

The other day I posted a before and after photo that I had processed in Lightroom.  The really impressive thing about the process is the amount of detail contained in a RAW image.  That and Lightroom’s ability to pull out that detail while protecting some of the highlights.  Several of you wrote in asking to see just how I processed the image to get to that final image.  So without further delay, here is a short video showing just how I processed the image.

By the way, several of you commented that you preferred the before image more than the after.  Truth be told, I do to for this particular image.  The point here though isn’t which image is better, rather just how far you can take a RAW image in Lightroom.

See you Wednesday.

Related posts:

  1. Using the New Topaz Fusion For Adobe Lightroom
  2. Bridge vs. Lightroom
  3. Pulling the Trigger – When to Buy That New Camera
  4. Lightroom 2.0 Goes to the End of the Earth
  5. Lightroom Keyword = Maybe

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 13th, 2009 at 12:05 am and is filed under Image Processing, Lightroom. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

15 Responses to “Pulling Detail out of the Shadows with Adobe Lightroom”
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  1. Alltop says:
    October 12, 2009 at 11:01 pm

    Pulling Detail out of the Shadows with Adobe Lightroom http://bit.ly/PPxiq
    Photography.alltop

    Reply
  2. Steve Creek says:
    October 13, 2009 at 5:10 am

    PhotoWalkPro » Pulling Detail out of the Shadows with Adobe Lightroom http://bit.ly/1IHoIo

    Reply
  3. BA Buras-Elsen says:
    October 13, 2009 at 5:27 am

    PhotoWalkPro » Pulling Detail out of the Shadows with Adobe Lightroom http://bit.ly/1IHoIo (via @screek)

    Reply
  4. Matt Needham says:
    October 13, 2009 at 7:05 am

    PhotoWalkPro » Pulling Detail out of the Shadows with Adobe Lightroom http://bit.ly/15oP6z

    Reply
  5. Sherri Meyer Photo says:
    October 13, 2009 at 8:01 am

    RT @brenisphere: PhotoWalkPro » Pulling Detail out of the Shadows with Adobe Lightroom http://bit.ly/1IHoIo (via @screek)

    Reply
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Comments
  1. George Osborne says:
    October 13, 2009 at 7:15 am

    Jeff many thanks for the tutorial, I will be using your tips on my “failed images”. Just as an aside do you use an external noise reduction plug in and if so which one. Many thanks

    George Osborne

    Reply
  2. Ronnie says:
    October 13, 2009 at 9:28 am

    Wow…the videos in HD on screenr are just great.
    Thanks for all you do Jeff!

    Reply
  3. Ryan S. says:
    October 13, 2009 at 10:17 am

    Great series of posts. I actually did this very same thing recently (although by accident). I hit the “Auto” button on Lightroom as I normally do to just get a baseline. What I thought was a silhouette had a surprising amount of details in the “shadows.” I even took it one step further and did some tests about how much of the resultant noise could be removed with various applications:

    Here’s the original shot compared to the recovered shot:

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/rpsommers/3978210625/sizes/o/

    Noise in a 1:1 crop:

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/rpsommers/3978210625/sizes/o/

    Same after using Lightroom’s noise removal:

    http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3476/3978327809_6529b6c81f_o.png

    Same, but using PS4′s noise removal instead:

    http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2573/3979089650_f49844a799_o.png

    Same, but using NoiseNinja noise removal:

    http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3119/3979079738_3f4b79a067_o.png

    And finally, the same, but using Noiseware noise removal:

    http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2556/3979079472_7bede7d147_b.jpg

    I’m consistently amazed with the dynamic range of the new 5D mark ii compared to previous cameras I’ve used.

    Reply
  4. Ryan S. says:
    October 13, 2009 at 10:19 am

    Blast, no edit button… that’s what I get…

    The noise without any removal in a 1:1 crop should have been this link:

    http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2597/3979038114_f176f610f8_o.png

    Reply
  5. Ryan S. says:
    October 13, 2009 at 10:21 am

    Just not my day… original shot:

    http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3118/3978210625_ebe390409b_o.png

    I’ll drink some caffeine before commenting anymore, I promise.

    Reply
  6. robert says:
    October 14, 2009 at 6:36 am

    Jeff,

    I’ve been using LR2 for a little over a month now (been using Capture NX2 for a long time) and have been quite happy with it. I even wrote a post myself about LR2 and how I was able to fix some old images with it that NX2 wouldn’t do. I learned a new trick from your video as well, using the “TAT” to drag up and down on the sky — I would have used the brush and – exposure on it to darken, but I’ll try your way on some images to see which works best.

    Thanks again!

    robert

    Reply
  7. Hali says:
    October 16, 2009 at 11:20 am

    Great Tutorial Jeff, I’ve got a pretty working knowledge of LR2 but seeing things like this really expands my abilities. Appreciate you taking the time to make it and show us.

    Reply
  8. carey payne says:
    October 21, 2009 at 7:49 pm

    How do i remove a dust particle that is completely covering a person’s face in cs3

    Reply
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