alan_varga

I've spent the last week exploring of the interesting suggestions that all of you have offered: duplicating the base layer, then masking further adjustments: increasing exposure by two stops using shadow/hightlight using levels using curves (both on a single layer, or alternately one light layer and one dark layer) using brightness/contrast using a gradient using a spotlight (maybe specific to Affinity) using separate layers for dodging, burning and sponging I couldn't find a setting to preserve shadows when developing from Raw persona to Photo persona, but that doesn't mean it isn't there. One other option was saving an overexposed version as a JPEG, then trying an HDR merge with the original. The result was somewhere in-between. A variant of this was deleting the dark areas on the light version and trying an HDR merge, but with that image having mostly white, that wasn't a great idea. I tried working in the "Wide Gamut RGB Liner" color space, which I expected would give me a wider tonal range to work with (it's supposed to be 32-bit?). My "best" result was adding a Levels layer, setting the white level at 52 (0-100), and carefully masking the right edge of the drapes to set off the area with the china cabinet. I must agree with everyone who said there is too much contrast to salvage this image. Another way to say it is that there isn't enough data in the lower light range to work with and get an acceptable result. Too much light and the shadows are lost, too little light and the highlights blow out. Overcompensating with extreme adjustments just makes for unacceptable noise. This is a similar problem to audio file editing. If there isn't enough data, the low frequencies can't be boosted enough or the high frequencies sharpened enough that background noise doesn't ruin the result. Vinyl records are easier to restore than audio cassettes. Thanks for your input everybody. Although I couldn't fix this image, I will be looking at how to calibrate the exposure meter on my camera, and reading all of the research material you provided. I got a couple of new ideas out of this thread and improved my masking skills; this week was quite a journey.

For some reason I can't see your screen capture. I've had a little trouble getting my images uploaded. OK, with RGB render I see that the china cabinet and the window frame between the two windows is "underexposed", and nothing is overexposed. If I switch to Raw Channel there is somewhat less area flagged as underexposed. Armed with that, how would I proceed (assuming I haven't gotten to trying the other suggestions yet)? Do I go after exposure, brightness/contrast or shadow/highlight? Or combinations?

digitaldog: I'm unable to attach the CSV file from RawDigger because it's not an image. Is there a screenshot I can grab for you? RawDigger has a sale that only runs for another few hours, so if the data I provided is useful to you or anyone else, please let me know so I can purchase it at the discounted price. I'll be happy to learn it in depth, but not if it only provides limited value. mikemorrell/John/paddler4: I have experimented with Affinity's quick selection tool (and earlier the flood selection tool in Paint_Dot_Net) in other images to isolate certain areas and play with all of the various settings, so I know how to use them and what they do. However, after placing selections on new layers and making adjustments, they don't seem to blend in well with the original image. They result in a photo that shouts "...and I made this part lighter". I agree that Affinity's video tutorials are very well done; brief and clear. But they don't help me with my original post. Since I am an amateur trying to get up to speed on both the original image and post-processing, there are still things I don't know. In this thread's example, which tools should I use to fix certain problems. Going back to the airplane analogy, now that I can get the plane up in the air and land it again, and I can turn and change altitude, what do I do in case of bad weather; fly above it, fly around it, or increase speed to plow through and get out more quickly? The JPEG i posted was to save space, but if there is a 1GB limit, I could upload the RAW file, which is 28MB. (I'm used to producing JPEG's that are 5-8 MB). You can't see the china cabinet on the right because it is underexposed, but I can see it if I bump exposure by 2 full stops. (That's not the effect I want for the overall picture, I'm just saying it's possible.) mikemorrell/John: I'll try each of your suggestions; those are what I'm looking for. I appreciate everyone's patience; thanks.

I am definitely shooting in raw. I'll take a look at RawDigger. Affinity Photo has a histogram graphic that I can capture for all channels, or any of the individual red/green/blue channels. There is also something called scope, which has views of intensity waveform, RGB waveform, RGB parade, power spectral density and vectorscope. I would guess that some of these are specific to this software, but I can provide those views as well if they would tell you something they don't tell me.

Here's the EXIF data. My photo editor is Affinity Photo version 1.10. It is capable of HDR merges, but I didn't like the results of any of the combinations of the four RAW images I have.

I have several disappointing photos which I'd like to try fixing, but cannot find any practical references for how to go about that. Specifically, do I need to adjust levels, brightness/contrast, exposure, shadows/highlights, gradients, etc.? I don't want to know how to use a photo editor's tools (there are plenty of tutorials), but how to apply the tools to my needs. I tried uploading a single sample, but I can't see it in the preview. I hope it gets attached; otherwise I'll try with a follow-up post. The lighting on the desk in the center is just right, but I'd like a little brighter yard through the blinds on the left, and if possible, I want to bring out a little more of the china cabinet on the right. I have additional images with similar problems. Are there any guidelines from this example that I can apply to other work going forward?

Thanks for your quick response, John! I'll check them out.

Is there a forum that would allow me to upload an unretouched photo and get feedback on which tool(s) I need to use to correct something I don't like? Specifically, do I need to adjust levels, brightness/contrast, exposure, shadows/highlights, gradients, etc. So far anything I've read or watched falls into one of two categories: 1) how to take a better raw photo and use camera settings correctly, or 2) how to use specific features in photo editing software. What do I do if I don't have control over the lighting contrast in a situation, or I don't know the correct feature to use in the software?